Dance~The Jewish C~o~n~n~e~c~t~i~o~n           by Sheila Orysiek

An interview with Steven Wistrich,
City Ballet of San Diego founder
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Photos by Dale Stokes, City Ballet
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Photo
SAN DIEGO—On November 5, 2005, I reviewed a performance by City Ballet of San Diego, which left me pleasantly surprised; it was the first time I had seen the company.  As a member of the San Diego dance community since 1966, I had about given up on the prospects of a classical company locally based that had truly crossed the line from school recital to company performance.  However, a brochure had been sent to me detailing an upcoming program that included ballets by Balanchine which meant the company had the imprimatur of the Balanchine Trust.  As this requires a particular level of technical and artistic accomplishment, my curiosity was piqued.

I have since attended more performances two of which I reviewed for San Diego Jewish World:  a Tchaikovsky program  and a Balanchine program. Each time a new level of accomplishment was evident as the prospects for further achievement moved from dream to reality. 

Founding and running a dance school and a performing company are probably some of the most difficult and laborious endeavors to undertake.  The challenges are enormous, the pitfalls ubiquitous, and the road littered with casualties.  San Diego has had its fulsome share of all the above.  However, this company has raised my hopes once again.

         Steven Wistrich                Elizabeth Wistrich

On Sept. 18 of this year, I spoke with Steven Wistrich (Artistic Director), who with his wife, Elizabeth (Betsy - Resident Choreographer) has founded this school and company. 

What brought you to dance? 

Wistrich:  My parents were very active in our Temple, especially in the theatricals - musicals - that were put on.  My mother had a natural talent and even though she was untrained, she intuitively could dance and even choreograph.  

You were in the shows?

Wistrich: No, I would watch, but I loved it.  When I was 13, as a present for my Bar Mitzvah, I was taken to New York City and saw Gypsy with Ethel Merman and other shows.  I was entranced; I wanted to dance on Broadway.  I watched it on TV.  I asked my parents for dance lessons.  I came from a typical middle class Jewish family, was the oldest son and my parents wanted us to go to college and become maybe a doctor or a lawyer.  They didn’t want to hear about dance lessons.  Finally one day I said to my mother “I was born to the wrong parents.”  My mother pulled out the phone book and started calling dance studios.  She said that if I was going to go I should go to the best. 

I wanted to do jazz.  I didn’t know anything about ballet.  My mother called the Boston School of Ballet and set up a private audition with E. Virginia Williams (founder - Boston Ballet).  She tested my feet, my flexibility, and told me that if I wanted to take a jazz class I would have to take ballet.  I didn’t want to. Whenever I saw ballet on TV - men in tights - I turned it off.  However, she told me that all the jazz dancers I admired - had taken ballet lessons. 

She put me in an adult beginner ballet class and I was completely lost.  But I began to get a lot of really good feed back; The people around me were excited to have me there.  I began to like it. Williams was a wonderful teacher.  She really kept at me, when I missed class she called me at home, she wrote me letters.  She got after me if I forgot my shoes or something was wrong.  She was very tough - but I owe everything to her.  (Jump to continuation)

 
Gerardo Gil and Ariana Samuelsson in Raymunda Variations
Wistrich...
(Continued from above)

Where else did you study?

Wistrich:  I was studying with Williams in Boston; my parents had to drive me one hour each way for my classes.  Williams and George Balanchine (Founder, Artistic Director, Choreographer - New York City Ballet) were very close; he was interested in Boston Ballet.  I became aware of this and also as students at the Boston School got better they would leave to go into New York City Ballet.  I wasn’t happy in high school.  I was very lonely, I felt out of place, I didn’t fit in, I couldn’t talk about my ballet classes, I wasn’t interested in sports.  So, I decided to audition for SAB (School of American Ballet - affiliated with New York City Ballet).

I was 16 years old, had been studying for a year. Williams tried to discourage me; she didn’t want me to leave.  However, I went to SAB and Diana Adams (Principal Dancer, NYCB) auditioned me.  She was lovely, but very austere.  I was the only boy at the audition and I was thin and gawky.  She checked our feet, flexibility and proportions. After the audition we were called into her office one by one and she told my father:  “Steven appears to be very talented and we are prepared to offer him a full scholarship to SAB.”  My father was very upset; he called my mother and was crying that at 16 they were losing me. 

The scholarship covered the cost of classes, but not living expenses or tuition to the high school for professional children.  My mother had to get a job, driving a school bus, so they could afford my living and tuition expenses.  I had a tiny apartment, lots of roaches, with a radiator, very cold.  That room was a nightmare.  I had to take a bus to high school, then back to ballet class, then back to high school, then back to ballet class.  I thought I had been lonely in Boston, but now I was really lonely and overwhelmed.  But the teachers were wonderful; Muriel Stuart (acclaimed teacher) was there.  However, I was so unhappy after about a year I went back to my classes in Boston.  Eventually, I joined the Boston Ballet.

From there I went to Nederlans Dans Theatre for one year.  The dancers were terrific, but I wanted to do more classical work so I went to Oslo (Royal Norwegian Ballet) with Sonia Arova (Prima Ballerina/Artistic Director) for a year and left because I didn’t like Oslo.  Finally, I joined the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany under John Cranko (Choreographer, Artistic Director); I was in the corps de ballet. 

Did you have any problems in Germany - being Jewish?

Wistrich:  No, I was treated well.  But I was very aware of the history and sometimes I was really uncomfortable.  There were swastikas spray painted on the walls of train stations.  When I saw older people I always wondered if they had been involved, if they had been Nazis.  It was a very uncomfortable feeling.  But, personally, I was never mistreated. 

When the Stuttgart Ballet traveled to Israel, the Israelis were surprised to learn that Cranko was Jewish as were several of the dancers.  Security was very tight - guards holding guns.  But the Israelis loved us and really took us to their hearts.  It was an extraordinary experience being in Israel.  We were the first German company to travel to Israel. (jump to continuation)