FARRELL, Suzanne

(b. 16 August 1945 in Cincinnati, Ohio), principal ballerina of the New York City Ballet beginning in the early 1960s.

Born Roberta Sue Ficker, Farrell was one of three daughters of Robert and Donna Ficker. Donna, a nurse, prided herself on her daughter's athletic ability and grace. Farrell began studying ballet at the age of eight, about the time her parents divorced. In 1955 she received her first opportunity to perform onstage, as Clara in a touring presentation of The Nutcracker by the Ballet Russe. Two years later she formed the New York City Ballet Juniors.

Farrell, an admirer of Jacques d'Amboise and Diana Adams, never dreamed that she would one day have the opportunity to work with both dancers. While attending Ursuline Academy in Cincinnati, Farrell also attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. In 1958 she auditioned for Diana Adams and the Ford Foundation scholarship program with the New York City Ballet, and although she did not initially receive the scholarship to study at the School of American Ballet (SAB), she did receive an invitation to meet with Adams at SAB.

In August 1960 she auditioned for SAB, although not for Adams but for noted choreographer George Balanchine. Her audition was a success, and on 19 August, at the age of fifteen, she was awarded a full scholarship for the 1960–1961 school year. By the end of the year, she had been offered a position in Balanchine's company despite the fact that her left foot had been injured several years before, leaving her without the arch necessary for a ballet dancer. At the age of sixteen, with the new name Suzanne Farrell, she danced her first solo in Balanchine's Serenade.

Farrell's rise to stardom occurred quickly; by the summer of 1965, at the age of nineteen, she had been promoted to the company's highest rank, that of principal dancer. At five feet, seven inches in height, Farrell was slightly tall for a dancer, but her quick and rhythmical allegro as well as her graceful leg extensions dominated the stage. She began immediately to work on the role of Dulcinea in Balanchine's Don Quixote, a performance that was a personal triumph. She later commented, "Even with the audience, dancing has always been a very private affair."

The role was more than just a stage persona, however. On the night of the premiere, Balanchine danced as Don Quixote, a move critics feel was highly symbolic, as the tale of a romantic artist in pursuit of perfection in the form of a virtuous woman seemed to mimic Farrell and Balanchine's offstage relationship. Although Farrell was flattered by the attention Balanchine paid to her, she was not enamored with him. She wrote in her autobiography, "It broke my heart not to be able to give him everything he wanted, but I couldn't.… Even if it had been bliss, I think we would have lost something on another level." During the next two years, Farrell danced with Arthur Mitchell in Pithoprakta and in Balanchine's memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Requiem Canticles, set to a 1966 score by Stravinsky. In the 1968 season alone Farrell was cast in the leading role of forty-one ballets.

It was at the height of her career that Farrell met Paul Mejia, a Peruvian-born New York City Ballet soloist, two years her junior. Their relationship was a friendship at first, but as their bond strengthened, so did their desire to keep their romance a secret, particularly from Balanchine. Farrell and Mejia married on 21 February 1969, the first Saturday of the layoff at the end of the ballet season, a day that they knew Balanchine would not be in town. Upon his return, Balanchine virtually ignored Farrell and excluded her and Mejia from performances. Farrell and Mejia never had children, and divorced in the mid-1990s.

The two resigned from the company in May 1969, and in September Farrell temporarily joined the National Ballet of Canada. By November 1970, Farrell and Mejia had joined the Ballet of the Twentieth Century, directed by Maurice Bejart and located in Brussels, Belgium. Somewhat more avant-garde and theatrical than Balanchine's style, the Bejart style did not initially appeal to Farrell, but the four years that she and Mejia spent with Bejart strengthened her dancing. In 1974 Farrell and Mejia returned to New York City. Farrell resumed partnering with Jacques d'Amboise and began dancing with Peter Martins, and Mejia assumed the direction of the Ballet Guatemala.

In April 1983 Balanchine died in his sleep, and Farrell danced Ballet d'Isoline in his honor. Farrell's hip soon began causing her pain, and in February 1987 she underwent a hip replacement operation. Farrell danced for the New York City Ballet for almost three more years, formally retiring on 26 November 1989 with a presentation of Vienna Waltzes and Sophisticated Lady. Since her retirement Farrell has remained active, dancing in the Masters of 20th Century Ballet, a ten-city road show that opened in Washington, D.C., and closed in New York City, in 1999. She is a much-sought-after dance instructor, and joined the Florida State University dance department in the fall of 2000.

Further information about Farrell's life and career can be found in her autobiography, Holding on to the Air: An Autobiography (1990, with Toni Bentley), and in Arlene Croce, Sight Lines (1987). Details about Balanchine's influence on Farrell are in Lynn Garafola, "Suzanne Farrell, Teacher: Holding on to Balanchine," Dance Magazine 71, no. 5 (1997): 56–63.

Jennifer Harrison