March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Feld compelled by some inner need

“Ballet is a little like government,” said Eliot Feld, choreographer for Feld Ballets NY. “It doesn’t want to change. It covets its past.”

Influenced by such American ballet classics as George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, Feld has indeed coveted the tradition of this “extraordinarily strict aesthetic,” but he has also won international acclaim for his innovative and eclectic work both as an artistic director and ballet teacher.

Feld founded his dance company in 1974 and has created ballets for numerous companies including American Ballet Theater, Royal Danish Ballet and The National Ballet of Canada.

Closer to his hometown of Brooklyn, N.Y., however, Feld has also established the New Ballet School, a tuition-free professional ballet training program for talented children in New York City public schools. In cooperation with the New York City Board of Education, the school has auditioned 85,000 public school children and selected 4,000 for training at the company’s studios. Three former students have become members of Feld Ballets NY.

At a time when the economic realities of the arts are bleak, the outreach program benefits interested and talented young dancers who might not otherwise have the opportunity to study their craft, said Feld, who was 16 when he joined the Broadway cast of “West Side Story” and later appeared as Baby-John in the movie version.

“The only reason to dance is because you have to, because you are compelled by some inner need,” said Feld. “It’s a form of aspiration that defies the reason of ordinary life.”

But children should be allowed childish pastimes, too, said Feld.

“Children have to play. If you don’t play, you’re missing part of what dancing is. You can teach a dog to heel and sit, but human beings need to develop other parts of their beings.”

Feld Ballets NY will perform 7 p.m. Oct. 24 at the Maine Center for the Arts. For tickets, call 581-1755.


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