Suzanne Farrell Profile

"I'm thought of as a cool, unemotional dancer, but inside I'm not. As soon as I hear music, something in me starts to vibrate."

The most lyrical American ballerina of her generation was a young student from Cincinnati when, at age 15, she first auditioned for the legendary choreographer George Balanchine. She danced a section of Glazunov's

The Seasons, humming her own accompaniment, and the perfectionist was charmed.

Her talent shone from the moment she joined the New York City Ballet, where she would became Balanchine's "inspiring angel" and partner in the development of the most glorious ballets of our time. Over the next 25 years, with her artful manner and dignity, she proved that any movement could be unimaginably beautiful and mysterious.

This "choreographer's ideal," critic's dream and public star has been saluted recently as "simply the greatest dancer of our century... and one of the most important who ever lived."