<\/span>Share<\/span><\/p>\n <\/a> <\/span>Tweet<\/span><\/p>\n <\/a> <\/span>Share<\/span><\/p>\n <\/a> <\/span>Share<\/span><\/p>\n <\/a> <\/span>Email<\/span><\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n It\u2019s the\u00a080th<\/sup>\u00a0anniversary of\u00a0Rodeo<\/em>, the ballet that launched\u00a0choreographer\u00a0Agnes de Mille\u2019s profession in creating\u00a0Americana ballet.\u00a0Rodeo<\/em>\u00a0tells the story of a younger, headstrong,\u00a0misfit cowgirl\u00a0searching for love.\u00a0We\u00a0mentioned its legacy 80 years later with Diana Gonzalez-Ducert\u00a0(former rehearsal assistant to de Mille and Associate Director and Repetiteur for The De Mille Working Group), and two dancers who’ve reprised the unique\u00a0Cowgirl position through the years: Kathleen Moore (former principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre [ABT]) and Jenna Rae Herrera (principal dancer with Ballet West.)<\/p>\n Agnes de Mille herself mentioned of Rodeo<\/em>, in a letter to her future husband, that the ballet is\u00a0\u201cabout Texas, and the way I feel about you.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n So a few years later, the that means of the ballet has compounded \u2013 discovering relevance in new fashionable moments.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gonzalez explains its evolution \u2013\u00a0\u201cRodeo\u00a0<\/em>premiered October 16, 1942, less than one year since America engaged in World War II and young soldiers were shipped overseas. The country was ready for something that could boost morale and try to define an\u00a0\u2018American spirit\u2019\u00a0with both humor and heart.\u00a0Rodeo\u00a0<\/em>is a ballet, and yet the choreographic language was not the codified ballet language brought over from the European continent. Instead, it smacked of American gesture and energy,\u201d which the Russian dancers of\u00a0Les\u00a0Ballets Russes,\u00a0whom\u00a0the ballet was initially set on,\u00a0struggled to mimic.\u00a0\u201cAfter the first few rehearsals of\u00a0\u2018roping,\u2019\u00a0\u2018riding,\u2019\u00a0\u2018lurching,\u2019\u00a0and\u00a0\u2018sitting on a horse,\u2019\u00a0many of the Russians said \u2018It is not dancing\u2019 and left.\u201d<\/p>\n The individualistic spirit of the\u00a0Cowgirl\u00a0is distinctly American.\u00a0\u201cThe story of an awkward outcast still tugs at our heart strings. In one way or another, we can still relate to the Cowgirl, and we cheer her on in the Hoe-Down at the end of the ballet, as she wins the challenge of being proud of who she is.\u201d<\/p>\n Moore notes,\u00a0\u201cThis Cowgirl really was Agnes.\u201d De Mille not solely choreographed the position, she was the primary to bounce it, too. \u201cAgnes at the time hadn\u2019t had big successes; she was fragile.\u00a0She came to ballet late, she didn\u2019t find the classical stuff easy.\u00a0She was great friends with Martha Graham,\u00a0and sought guidance from her,\u00a0but\u00a0Martha\u00a0encouraged\u00a0her to stand on her own two feet and to keep trying. Through that process, Agnes became this confident, courageous, feisty, funny, persistent, imaginative person. Her Cowgirl is\u00a0all\u00a0those things.\u201d<\/p>\n Says Herrera, certainly one of\u00a0Rodeo<\/em>\u2019s\u00a0most up-to-date Cowgirls,\u00a0\u201cI couldn\u2019t help thinking\u00a0she\u00a0is just so determined.\u00a0How many times does she literally get knocked off her horse, get back up, brush herself off and keep trying?\u00a0Staying true to yourself is something that stuck with me while performing the Cowgirl, never apologizing for being who you are.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In the Americana model de Mille grew to become identified for, these qualities resonate as deeply American, particularly in a time when the U.S. was preventing for American beliefs and id. That\u00a0id\u00a0is a part of what retains de Mille\u2019s ballets pertinent and relatable in the present day.\u00a0\u201cDe Mille was passionately interested in history, a people\u2019s culture and human behavior,\u201d\u00a0says\u00a0Gonzalez.\u00a0\u201cShe was always searching what could be\u00a0\u2018intrinsic\u2019\u00a0in a culture. Most of this searching was through women\u2019s narratives that revealed\u2026their inner lives. De Mille created a venue for this expression of women\u2019s stories, which\u00a0are also universal.\u201d<\/p>\n So do dancers discover taking up\u00a0the long-lasting\u00a0Cowgirl\u00a0position intimidating, particularly given de Mille\u2019s\u00a0status for\u00a0specificity?\u00a0Rodeo<\/em>\u00a0was the primary ballet\u00a0de Mille\u00a0did that she demanded\u00a0to have full management of, from music,\u00a0to costumes,\u00a0to casting.\u00a0Even when it was\u00a0being set on ABT\u00a0within the \u201970s, she would deliver on Broadway\u00a0dancers she had labored with\u00a0to play the Cowgirl.\u00a0Moore says with\u00a0that\u00a0sort of management over the ballet, she was comforted in understanding that de Mille particularly\u00a0selected\u00a0her.\u00a0<\/p>\n Moore\u00a0had\u00a0additionally\u00a0been working\u00a0carefully\u00a0with\u00a0de Mille\u00a0beforehand, whereas de Mille choreographed\u00a0The Informer<\/em>\u00a0on her.\u00a0She\u00a0felt a kinship to\u00a0the choreographer.\u00a0They each had lengthy crimson hair, braided for the Cowgirl position, neither recognized because the stereotypical classical ballerina, and each had carried out the identical position in Antony Tudor\u2019s\u00a0Dark Elegies<\/em>.\u00a0Moore was nearly to get married, which is the place de Mille was in life whereas she was creating Rodeo<\/em>.\u00a0De Mille even provided\u00a0Moore\u00a0her wedding ceremony veil.\u00a0<\/p>\n Comparing Moore\u2019s\u00a0private\u00a0expertise to Herrera\u2019s, who was handed down de Mille\u2019s route from secondhand sources, how did Herrera keep true to the unique\u00a0intentions?<\/p>\n Having Gonzalez by her facet with a binder of notes\u00a0and\u00a0quotes from de Mille,\u00a0recorded\u00a0through the authentic choreography course of, undoubtedly helped. \u201cGetting to hear\u00a0what\u00a0Agnes herself had said about\u00a0how\u00a0the Cowgirl is feeling in this moment or that one, that was valuable to have those intentions lead us through the ballet. It always felt to me like a beautiful narrative, like Diana was reading us a story.\u00a0That helped bring the Cowgirl to life for me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDiana and Paul\u00a0also allowed\u00a0me to put my mark (small as it was) on\u00a0the\u00a0role.\u00a0There\u2019s a moment in the ballet, my favorite, after the Cowgirl gets rejected again by the Head Wrangler, where she steps out on the porch and is looking out at the land. Even though I was just standing and looking out at the audience, I loved that moment. And\u00a0then in any of my interactions with the Champion Roper, we got to play around and add our personal touches. Those were moments when I got to see me\u00a0inthe Cowgirl.\u201d<\/p>\n Moore echoes that feeling.\u00a0\u201cThe interactions, the conversations between the dancers that the choreography gave us the structure for.\u00a0Those will be different between different dancers.\u201d<\/p>\n
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