UNUSUAL REHEARSALS OR HAPPENINGS AT NYCB (Chapter 22)

         It is time for a description of a few memorable happenings, rehearsals, performances at the NYCB. I will begin with a rehearsal which took place in the large studio at the KENNEDY CENTER Opera House in Washington D.C.  Mr. Balanchine had decided to begin choreographing a new ballet for the RAVEL FESTIVAL called "SONATINE"...a lovely 3 movement work for piano by Maurice Ravel, of course.  Two French dancers were called....Violette Verdy and Jean Pierre Bonnefous.  I was playing for this rehearsal as I was scheduled to perform the work with them on stage.  So we began the rehearsal by placing the piano diagonally across from the two of them.  
         Now if you have ever been around French people, you will know they tend to speak continuously and very fast.  These two  were no exception!  One of my favorite dancers (and people) is definitely Violette.  She is so musical, and I always enjoyed working with her.  I had not worked much with Jean-Pierre, but found him a most pleasant fellow, who was always very polite. Today, however, Violette was in rare form.  She did not stop talking WHILE Mr. B was choreographing!  When he told her to do an 'Arabesque,' for example, she said..."oh J'adore Arabesque!"   I began laughing softly to myself, as I had never heard anyone say that before!  Then he told her to do a 'Promenade' with JP, and she said...."oh, J'adore Promenade!"
This was becoming a comedy....(I looked at Mr. B's face, and could see him laughing softly as well!)  Then he directed them to go to the other side of the studio, but they were chattering so much they didn't hear him!  So he said to me, "well, since they are over there, I will go there....it will save time."  By now I was flabbergasted at the way this rehearsal was progressing...and trying my best NOT to laugh.  When he told Violette to do a Pas de chat, and she AGAIN said..."oh, J'adore Pas de chat!"  I nearly lost it then!   So Mr. B started to choreograph a little solo for Jean-Pierre (who did NOT say..."J'adore"....whatever the step was.   THANK Goodness!)  Things continued in this fashion for the rest of the rehearsal....and somehow Mr. B managed to choreograph the entire piece (3 movements...about 15 minutes) during the time frame!   Balanchine is a very skilled and efficient choreographer.....and when people are paying close attention, things go very quickly.  But this rehearsal was another matter entirely.  I actually couldn't believe it.  There was no one else in the studio to witness this rehearsal....which was probably a good thing....who would believe it?!!  When I described what happened to my colleague, Jerry, he had a difficult time believing me.  
         The next incident was not a rehearsal, but an occurrence. 
In this Opera House, there was only one dressing room with a piano in it, so we 3 pianists were assigned to it.  Also in the same space with us was Hugo, Robert (the two conductors), plus Mr. B. and Jerry Robbins as well!  Of course we did not spend much time in that room, unless someone was practicing, however that seemed like too many people for one dressing area!  I kept my coat, music, and concert dress in the closet....and only practiced (warmed up) before a performance.  One day after rehearsal, I ran in there to get my coat to walk back to the hotel.  There was no one in the sitting room, but I heard water running in the bathroom.  I sat down at the piano to run through a certain passage of music, when the door to the bathroom opened.  And out walked Mr. Balanchine clad only IN A TOWEL!!!  He had no idea I was there and I had zero idea that he had been taking a shower!  I was completely embarrassed, and turning beet red, got up from the piano!  I apologized profusely, and just said..."I am leaving right now...so sorry!  I could see that Mr. B. was MOST amused!   And I ran out of the room as fast as I could!  (This isn't the end of the story...)  The next morning many of the girls entered the elevator on the bottom floor, followed by Mr. B.   I was already there, and when he saw me, he smiled (wickedly, I might add) and said...."well, you see deeeer, TODAY I have my pants ON!!!!!   Every head in that elevator whipped around to stare at me!  I was mortified!  Of course, Mr. B enjoyed that little joke very, very much.   No one said a word....you could hear a pin drop, (if someone had dropped one!)  As we were all walking to the big studio for class, one of my friends came up to me and said...."what was that all about anyway?"  I started to explain when Mr. B came up to us, and I stopped talking.  Then in class, he actually told the entire story...about the shower, my practicing the piano, and all the rest.  Everyone had a good laugh, mostly at my expense!   But at least those girls would know what had happened, and their imaginations could stop working overtime!  
         This is a story about me, performing in the orchestra pit.  There was a young man at NYCB who had been hired as a 'gofer' for the company.  One of his duties was to turn pages for us pianists in performances.  (He was studying piano with Gordon, so he did read music).  One evening I was playing 'RUBIES' (Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, by Stravinsky). 
While I know this music from memory, it is necessary to have the music at hand, just in case.  After all, there are dancers on stage depending on the music, and thus on me.  (This is quite a serious responsibility.)  Turning pages is not an easy task....the page turner has to know the music and anticipate the performer's wishes.  I made a habit of saying "TURN" just before I needed the page turned.  This seemed to work well with most page turners, however this person was not one of them.  He thought he knew BEST when to turn, and actually he did NOT!  So.... on one occasion when he failed to respond to my directive, I told him (while still playing) that he needed to do as I wished, not as HE wished!  Well, he seemed to become annoyed, and when he turned the next page, did it so angrily that the music FELL ON THE FLOOR!!!  I was so shocked that I almost stopped playing, but didn't, of course.  He seemed to be IN SHOCK and just froze.  I had to say to him...."PLEASE pick up the music and put it on the piano to page_______ (whatever it was").  Hmph!!!!  Robert Irving (conductor) noticed the brouhaha at the piano, and began glowering at both of us!  Somehow this disaster didn't affect the performance on stage, thank goodness!  But at the end of the piece, I (furious as could be) yelled at the hapless young man, telling him that was the LAST TIME he would turn pages for me!!!   I told Jerry and Gordon about this incident.  They had never experienced the music falling on the floor, but felt that he did not follow directions well at all.  So....that was the end of that page turner....although he stayed on, working in other areas (but no more page turning!)
        In re-reading this chapter, I see that many might conclude that most of my time spent with the NYCB was fraught with accidents or incidents.....both amusing and ridiculous!  Well, that was partly true.  I had garnered a reputation for being the one who got into 'situations.'  While I was always very meticulous in rehearsals, I guess that 'things' just seemed to happen, for some reason.  One of my friends said she thought a book based on The Perils of Pauline should be written....called The Perils of Dianne....about my rehearsals.  I almost always enjoyed all my performances....either with orchestra or as a soloist...including the very lovely 'SONATINE.'  However, Mr. Balanchine was insisting that I play this work from memory on stage with the dancers.  He didn't want another person onstage turning pages...to disturb the stage scenario.  Now playing from memory was 'par for the course' for any concert pianist, and I was accustomed to this.  But this was a ballet performance, and the dancers depended on me.  So I was a bit nervous about this turn of events.  But Mr. B was adamant in this matter, so I just accepted his decision.  For this onstage appearance, I had a very lovely Spanish dress, which my mother had bought for me in Mexico.  It was black lace with colorful flowers embroidered on the entire dress....very elegant looking.  This dress caused much comment.  Violette thought it was too flamboyant for the ballet...especially since she and Jean-Pierre were wearing muted Blue and Grey.  However, Mr. B loved the dress, and wanted me to wear it...so that was that!  Many of my friends came to the performance to see THE DRESS, including Jerry and Gordon!  On one evening before the performance, I was combing and arranging my hair in front of the mirror just outside the stage area.  Then Mr. B came up to me, took the comb and began re-arranging my hair.  He said, "hair has to look good, in case piano playing ISN'T!"  I was quite shocked at that remark....he had a way of making a person feel uncomfortable.  But I knew that he was trying to rattle me, and I refused to be intimidated.  So I calmly said...."Mr. B, you would be very upset if I actually forgot what I was playing on stage, wouldn't you?"  He chuckled at that one....he knew I would NOT forget the music, and was amused at my cheekiness.
        That was the way it was there....always cat and mouse...(for everyone, I might add!)