John Taras (April 18, 1919 – April 2, 2004) was an American

ballet master A ballet master (also balletmaster, ballet mistress, ''premier maître de ballet'' or ''premier maître de ballet en chef'') is an employee of a ballet company who is responsible for the level of competence of the dancers in their company. In mo ...

, repetiteur, and

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

Early life and education

Born on the Lower East Side of New York City to Ukrainian parents, he was sent at age 16 to study ballet with

Michel Fokine Michael Fokine ( – 22 August 1942) was a Russian choreographer and dancer. Career Early years Fokine was born in Saint Petersburg to a prosperous merchant and at the age of 9 was accepted into the Saint Petersburg Imperial Ballet Sch ...

, Anatole Vilzak, Pierre Vladimiroff and Ludmila Shollar, and later to the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of six, with professional voc ...

Career

He first appeared professionally with Opera on Tour for which Fokine arranged dance. He performed at the

1939 New York World's Fair The 1939 New York World's Fair (also known as the 1939–1940 New York World's Fair) was an world's fair, international exposition at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, New York, United States. The fair included exhibitio ...

with Ballet Caravan at the Ford Pavilion and joined

Catherine Littlefield Catherine Littlefield (September 16, 1905November 19, 1951) was an American ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet teacher, and director. She founded the Philadelphia Ballet (originally the Littlefield Ballet) in Philadelphia in 1935. It was the fi ...

's Philadelphia Ballet for a 1941 tour of the southern states, and in 1942 was in the Broadway revival of

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...

's '' A Kiss for Cinderella''. He then toured South America with American Ballet Caravan. Taras joined Ballet Theatre in 1942 and rose to soloist. He rehearsed the ballets of Lichine,

DeMille DeMille or De Mille is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Agnes De Mille, American dance and choreographer * Beatrice deMille, English-born American playwright and screenwriter * Cecil B. DeMille, American film director * Constan ...

, Nijinska,

Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze;, : April 30, 1983) was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers of the 20th-century. Sty ...

and Tudor, and in 1946 choreographed his first ballet, ''Graziana''. He danced the 1947 season with the Markova-Dolin Company at the Chicago Civic Opera and produced '' Camille'' for de Basil's Original Ballet Russe with

Alicia Markova Dame Alicia Markova Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, DBE (1 December 1910 – 2 December 2004) was a British ballerina and a Choreography (dance), choreographer, director and teacher of classical ballet. Most noted for her ...

and Anton Dolin as the leads. Taras was principal dancer in de Basil's company and regisseur for their

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

and Paris seasons. He produced ''The Minotaur'' for

Ballet Society Ballet Society is a non-profit educational institution founded in 1946 by Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine. At its founding, Balanchine was the Artistic Director and Kirstein served as the Secretary. The president of Ballet Society is Nan ...

that year. In 1949 he choreographed for the experimental Ballets des Champs-Élysées. Taras staged the '' Spring Symphony'' for the

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Fra ...

and '' Designs with Strings'' to music of

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

for the Metropolitan Ballet in Edinburgh in 1948, from which time until 1959 he was choreographer and balletmaster for the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas. Among the ballets he made for that company was ''Piège de Lumière'' from 1952 (which he restaged for

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fir ...

in 1964). He choreographed ''Fanfare for a Prince'' as a '' pièce d'occasion'' at the Monte-Carlo Opera for the 1956 marriage of Prince Rainier and

Grace Kelly Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982), also known as Grace of Monaco, was an American actress and Princess of Monaco as the wife of Prince Rainier III from their marriage on April 18, 1956, until her death in 1982. ...

invited Taras to stage ''

La Sonnambula ''La sonnambula'' (; ''The Sleepwalker'') is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the ''bel canto'' tradition by Vincenzo Bellini set to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ''ballet-pantomime'' written by Eu ...

'' at

in 1959, where served as choreographer and ballet master until 1984; among his works for City Ballet are ''Ebony Concerto'', ''Concerto for Piano and Winds'', '' Scenes de Ballet'', ''

Song of the Nightingale ''Chant du Rossignol'' (English: ''Song of the Nightingale''), as it was published in 1921, is a ''poème symphonique'' by Igor Stravinsky adapted in 1917 from his 1914 opera '' The Nightingale''. Opera Stravinsky's first opera, ''The Nightingale ...

'' and ''

Persephone In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Persephone ( ; , classical pronunciation: ), also called Kore ( ; ) or Cora, is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the Greek underworld, underworld afte ...

'' for the Stravinsky festivals; ''

Daphnis and Chloe ''Daphnis and Chloe'' (, ''Daphnis kai Chloē'') is a Greek pastoral novel written during the Roman Empire, the only known work of second-century Hellenistic romance writer Longus. Setting and style It is set on the Greek isle of Lesbos, whe ...

'' for the 1975 Ravel festival and '' Souvenir de Florence'' for the 1981 Tchaikovsky festival. His 1963

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of ...

ballet, '' Arcade'' was

Suzanne Farrell Suzanne Farrell (born August 16, 1945) is a former American ballerina and the founder of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Farrell began her ballet training as a child in Cincinnati. In 1960, she received a ...

's first featured role, as the young girl whose budding romance with Arthur Mitchell is destroyed by a group of chaperones. He was balletmaster of the

Paris Opera Ballet The Paris Opera Ballet () is a French ballet company that is an integral part of the Paris Opera. It is the oldest national ballet company, and many European and international ballet companies can trace their origins to it. It is still regarded a ...

1969 to 1970, artistic director of West Berlin's Staatsballet Berlin from 1970 to 1972, staged '' Le Sacre du Printemps'' at

La Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...

in Milan for

Natalia Makarova Natalia Romanovna Makarova (, born 21 November 1940) is a Russian prima ballerina and choreographer. ''The History of Dance'', published in 1981, notes that "her performances set standards of artistry and aristocracy of dance which mark her a ...

, and Sir

Frederick Ashton Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton (17 September 190418 August 1988) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He also worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue. Determined to be a dancer despite the oppositio ...

's ''Illuminations'' for the

Joffrey Ballet The Joffrey Ballet is an American dance company and training institution in Chicago, Illinois. The Joffrey regularly performs classical and contemporary ballets during its annual performance season at the Civic Opera House, including its annual ...

and the

Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded ...

, Covent Garden. Taras staged his own version of ''

The Firebird ''The Firebird'' (; ) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine, who c ...

'' for

Dance Theatre of Harlem Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) is an American professional ballet company and school based in Harlem, New York City. It was founded in 1969 under the directorship of Arthur Mitchell and later partnered with Karel Shook. Milton Rosenstock served ...

, which was seen on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

's live show ''Kennedy Center Tonight.'' The original cast of the ballet starred Lorraine Graves as the princess, Donald Williams as the prince, and Stephanie Dabney whose performances as the eponymous character rocketed her to stardom. Additionally Taras has staged and rehearsed Balanchine's ballets for major companies, including the premiere of the

Bolshoi Ballet The Bolshoi Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company based at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi is among the world's oldest Ballet company, ballet companies. In the early 20th century, it ca ...

in a Balanchine work as part of their centenary celebration of Serge Prokofiev.

Mikhail Baryshnikov Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Барышников, p=mʲɪxɐˈil bɐ'rɨʂnʲɪkəf; ; born January 27, 1948) is a Latvian and American dancer, choreographer, and actor. He was the preeminent male ...

asked him in 1984 to join

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant. Through 2019, it had an annual eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) in the spr ...

as associate director. During his tenure at ABT, he served as ballet master and choreographer for the company. In the wake of Baryshnikov's departure from the company, Taras resigned as well. He died on April 2, 2004. He is survived by his wife, Hélène Sadowska, and his stepdaughter, Anne.

Bibliography

* ''George Balanchine: Ballet Master'' by Richard Buckle and John Taras,

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

, New York, 1988.

References

External links

''NY Times'' obituary
by Anna Kisselgoff, April 5, 2004

Reviews

''NY Times'' review of ''Tender Night'', later titled ''Argentina'', segment of ''Panamerica''
by John Martin, December 5, 1960
''NY Times'' review of ''Firebird''
by

Clive Barnes Clive Alexander Barnes (13 May 1927 – 19 November 2008) was an English writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977, he was the dance and theater critic for ''The New York Times'', and, from 1978 until his death, the ''New York Post''. Barnes had sign ...

, March 13, 1971
''NY Times'' review of ''Firebird'' by John J. Connor, May 5, 1982
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taras, John Ballet choreographers 1919 births 2004 deaths Ballet masters Prix Benois de la Danse jurors Choreographers of New York City Ballet Ballets by John Taras American people of Russian descent Paris Opera Ballet artistic directors