An icon of the New York City Ballet, Jacques d’Amboise was a protégé of George Balanchine and created roles in many of Balanchine’s best-known ballets including Jewels, Stars and Stripes and the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux. In this interview with Dr. Howard Gardner, an effusive d’Amboise describes his early training and upbringing, his experiences as a dancer, and the events which led to his establishment of the National Dance Institute in 1976.
The recipient of numerous honours and awards, d’Amboise reveals the depth of his passion for dance and dance education, and delivers a memorably idiosyncratic response to Gardner’s question “What is dance?” He also talks about performing Balanchine’s Apollo, taking to his feet to outline the choreographer’s vision for the ballet. By turns an enlightening, engaging and exasperating interviewee, d’Amboise displays all the extraordinary energy and enthusiasm that has enabled him to make such a significant contribution to dance education in America.
Interview recorded in the Radcliffe Gym at Harvard University, Massachusetts, on 24 November 2007.
Region Code: 1
Format & Aspect Ratio: NTSC, 16:9
Number of discs: 1
Run time: 52 minutes
Studio: Kultur
Release date: 2011
