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Jacques d'Amboise RIP


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Simply one of the all time greats; ... someone who deserves the title 'legendary' .... not only as a dancer but as a man of dance.  He changed our world forever.  We were VERY lucky to live in his time.  May he rest in the glorious peace he oh, so well deserves.  

Edited by Bruce Wall
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The NYT obituary is here.

 

(Mr. d’Amboise, Clive Barnes wrote in The New York Times in 1976, “is not just a dancer, he is an institution.”  ....  In a 2018 interview, the City Ballet dancer Adrian Danchig-Waring described the qualities that Mr. d’Amboise had embodied as a dancer: “There’s this machismo that is sometimes required onstage — that bravura, that swagger, that confidence, and we all have to learn to cultivate that, and yet it’s such a huge canon of work. Within that, there are poets and dreamers and animals. Jacques is a reminder that all of that can be contained in one body.”)

Edited by Bruce Wall
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Oh, this deeply saddens me!

 

Jacques d’Amboise was one of the first celebrated dancers who I saw when he danced as a guest with Ballets de San Juan (Puerto Rico) during the the early ‘60s. I’ll never forget the overall JOY that he conveyed, even more than the technical steps. 

 

May he Rest In Peace. 

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What an inspirational wonderful man and such a great dancer! From admiring him in Seven Brides and memorised by Carousel.  I spent my youth day dreaming of dancing the pdd from Carousel with him.....thankful we have so much of him on film. 🙏🏽RiP🙏🏽

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  • alison changed the title to Jacques d'Amboise RIP

A man with a very fine career as well as being a very sympathetic human being and social benefactor.

 

As famous as he was as a performer, I always appreciated what he did after.

 

Here from the New York Time's obituary posted above by Bruce :


"He retired from performance the next year and turned his attentions to National Dance Institute, which takes dance into public schools and which he founded in 1976.

 

"Now the goal is to offer free classes to all, no matter the child’s background or ability. Today the institute teaches thousands of New York City children ages 9 to 14 and is affiliated with 13 dance institutes around the world. The institute, which has its headquarters in Harlem, where Mr. d’Amboise lived, was profiled in Emile Ardolino’s 1983 Oscar-winning documentary, “He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin’.”"

Edited by Buddy
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  • 3 months later...

Adrian Danchig-Waring, in a quote I noted above, referred - amongst other major achievements - to Jacques d'Amboise as a poet.  Here is a poem he scribbled down and gave to Tiler Peck, the current NYCB principal.  It is called 'The Staircase'.  I attach this in the hope that you might enjoy it - as I so hugely did all of the performances I was privileged to see Mr. d'Amboise grace.  

 

 

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It was fascinating reading Alastair Macaulay's blog, so helpfully included in today's Links, that Ashton created the first ballet featuring Jacques d'Amboise, two years before Balanchine created a major role for him. The photos were very interesting but it was difficult to recognise him, with the beard and with the poses being so different from the lively movement shown in photos of him performing In Balanchine's ballets, above all Apollo. Although the text rightly referred to Diana Adams dancing the main female role in Picnic at Tintagel, the captions named her as Diana Gould, who of course was the wonderful English dancer who eventually married Yehudi Menuhin. I've not been able to find whether that was the original name of Diana Adams; but I'm pretty sure that she was known as Diana Adams throughout her remarkable career.

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I have edited the video referenced above.  (It would have helped if I had pronounced the word 'ionosphere' properly in the first place.)  You cannot just replace with a file edit in Youtube.  (It's a bit like having to fix any errors in your BcoF posting in the 30 min. (?) window or else your shame(s) stand in permanent place.)  On YouTube you have to delete the file in its entirety and start again.  This I have now done.    The new link - 'currently' working - is here.  

 

Edited by Bruce Wall
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  • 8 months later...

A  wonderful - and rightful - tribute to this master of the art of dance.  One which (hopefully) will last in time - 

 

The northwest corner of West 64th Street and Columbus Avenue, in front of New York’s Lincoln Center, now displays the name Jacques d’Amboise Place.

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One of the first books I ever ordered on The Internets was Jacques d'Amboise's autobiography. A beautiful big blue-dustwrappered hardcover, the bookseller had even added that plastic protective covering. A most wonderful and interesting book, I was a dancer is available as an ebook or - if you can - in hardcover.

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