Linda Michelle Merrill (born December 2, 1950), known professionally as Merrill Ashley, is an American former ballet dancer and ''

répétiteur A (; from the French verb meaning 'to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse') is an accompanist, tutor or coach of ballet dancers or opera singers. The feminine form is . Opera In opera, a is the person responsible for coaching singers ...

''. She joined the

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 1967, was promoted to principal dancer in 1977, and retired in 1997. She is one of the last dancers to have worked with

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

, and coaches his works since she stopped performing.

Early life

Linda Michelle Merrill was born on December 2, 1950, in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

, and raised in Rutland, Vermont. She started ballet at age seven. In 1964, at thirteen, she entered 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 ...

full-time with a scholarship.

Career

She joined the

in 1967, making her debut as a corps dancer in ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...

''. As there was another dancer named Linda Merrill, she performed under the stage name Merrill Ashley. She was promoted to soloist in 1974 and principal dancer in 1977. Ashley was known for her speed. She was one of the last dancers to have worked with

, and created two lead roles for him, in '' Ballo della Regina'' and ''Ballade''. Balanchine also revived '' The Four Temperaments'' and ''

Square Dance A square dance is a dance for four couples, or eight dancers in total, arranged in a square, with one couple on each side, facing the middle of the square. Square dances are part of a broad spectrum of dances known by various names: country dan ...

'' for her. Ashley also originated roles in Robbins' '' Requiem Canticles'', Robbins' and Tharp's '' Brahms/Handel'' and Martins' ''Fearful Symmetries''. Other Balanchine ballets she was known for include ''

Concerto Barocco ''Concerto Barocco'' is a neoclassical ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to Bach's Concerto for Two Violins. Danced by a cast of eleven, the ballet is completely plotless, and according to Balanchine, "has no "subject matter" beyond the ...

'', ''Donizetti Variations'', ''Gounod Symphony'' and ''

Chaconne A chaconne ( , ; ; ; earlier English: chacony) is a type of musical composition often used as a vehicle for Variation (music), variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line (ground bass ...

''. Outside of the New York City Ballet, Ashley toured with Jacques d'Amboise's troupe around the US and with her own group, Merrill Ashley and Dancers, in Hawaii. She also performed ''

Paquita ''Paquita'' is a ballet in two acts and three scenes originally choreographed by Joseph Mazilier to music by Édouard Deldevez and Ludwig Minkus. Paul Foucher received royalties as librettist. History ''Paquita'' is the creation of French c ...

'' and '' The Sleeping Beauty'' with the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet (now the

Birmingham Royal Ballet Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) is one of the five major ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside The Royal Ballet, the English National Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet. Founded as the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet, the co ...

). Her book, ''Dancing with Balanchine'', was published in 1984. Ashley retired from the New York City Ballet in 1997, shortly before she turned 47, after 30 years of dancing. She was the longest-serving dancer at New York City Ballet at the time. She remained in the company as a teaching associate until 2008, then went freelance to coach Balanchine ballets in other companies. The documentary ''The Dance Goodbye'' follows her ten years after she retired dealing with injuries sustained during her dance career.

Personal life

In 1974, Ashley married Kibbe Fitzpatrick, a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashley, Merrill 1950 births Living people People from Saint Paul, Minnesota People from Rutland (city), Vermont New York City Ballet principal dancers School of American Ballet alumni Balanchine Trust repetiteurs American prima ballerinas 20th-century American ballet dancers Dancers from Minnesota Dancers from Vermont