A ballerina's electric dynamism & magnetic bravura is her Venus Signature.
~ Venus Geist
ARTISTIC EXPERIENCE
In 1983, my artistic career began at age 15 when I became the youngest corp de ballet of Ballet Zurich.
Under the direction of the Russian ballet legend, Rudolf Nureyev, I performed on world-class stages such as The Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in New York City, The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and The Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, IL.
As a professional photographer, I have created dance portfolios for my ballet students who were accepted to The Kirov Ballet Academy and The Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet.
In 1983, backstage with Rudolf Nureyev, after performing his ballet Manfred at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
RIGOROUS CLASSICAL BALLET TRAINING
Memories of the
Ballet World in NYC
1973-1983
I was 5-years old when my 28-year old mother taught me the first 5 classical ballet positions. She had joined the St. Louis Municipal Opera in her late teens. She had also taught dance classes in Manila for two years before I was born in the summer of 1967. My mother was graceful. I watched her take class with David Howard at Harkness Ballet School and legendary Igor Youskevitch. Her sophisticated knowledge of dance shaped my ballet education. Performing ballet nurtured my passion for romantic music, poetry, literature, art, architecture and mythology. At age 29, while residing in The Netherlands, I started uncovering the many archetypal aspects of Venus. My attention turned from ballet to classical piano to architecture to calligraphy to Hellenistic Astrology to archaeology to Syncretism to Karmic Astrology and finally to discovering magnetism explained in the incredible works by Walter Russell as well as the later teachings of Santos Bonacci.
My ballet story began when my mother drove me from my 1st grade school in Key Biscayne to my first classical ballet classes in Coral Gables, Florida. My first teacher, Martha Mahr, the famous Cuban ballet matriarch for over 50 years, whispered to me, "dance as though you are a butterfly."
At age 8 & 9, I attended The Fokine Ballet School on the upper east side in NYC and The Fokine Ballet Camp in Lenox, MA. I will always remember Christine Fokine and Francis Patrelle who later encouraged me to continue pursuing my love for dancing ballet despite being rejected by School of American Ballet (SAB) in NYC.
At age 10, American Ballet Theatre School accepted me, despite my flat feet. At age 12, Pat Wilde granted me an honorary full merit scholarship. I had already been taking pointe classes since age 10 to prepare for the role of young Christina on the soap opera, All My Children. As a scholarship student, Ivan Nagy taught my pas de deux classes. Other ballet instructors I took classes from were Leon Danielian, Michal Maul, Roy Fernandez and Valentina Pereyaslavec.
When I left ABT School at age 13, the school was facing imminent collapse & Pat Wilde left to become the director of the Pittsburg Ballet. Inside details about the school's perilousness were mentioned by Elena Tchernichova, Ballet Mistress of ABT. In her memoire, she disclosed Nureyev's inspired vision to save the school. Had his vision been implemented, who knows how different American ballet history might be?
As a result of my leaving ABT School shortly after its temporary relocation to Richard Thomas' ballet studio on Broadway & 83rd, my formal training became a mixed routine of rushing from early morning high school classes at Professional Children's School followed by 10 am professional classes with David Howard (personal coach of Gelsey Kirkland), to 4pm classes with either Gabriella Taub-Darvish, Robert Denvers or Marcye Haydee, and Saturday morning classes with Maestro Hector Zaraspe, who was teaching on the dance faculty at The Julliard School. I was taking private classical piano lessons, in addition.
Despite not attending a structured ballet school from age 13-15, wonderful things happened! The Maestro took me under his wing. Hector Zaraspe had been the coach of Dame Margot Fonteyn, Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the Royal Ballet, and Rudolf Nureyev when they were a sensation in the ballet world in the 60s & 70s.
The Maestro taught me artistic nuances, like playing castanets and flirtatiously wielding the Spanish fan. I cherished my moments learning from him. My most memorable sessions are him coaching me dancing Kitri's solo variation in Don Quixote Act III and Aurora's solo variation in Sleeping Beauty Act III.
I remember those two years seeking guidance from the best teachers in midtown Manhattan during the '80s. My family moved to Central Park South (now billionaire's row, hard to believe) for its location within convenient walking distance to Lincoln Center. I often bought last minute standing room tickets to watch ABT performances at the Met where the audience would applaud star casts with 40-minute standing ovations. It was fantastic to witness. As an ABT student performing children's roles in ballets, sometimes I had backstage access and watched from the wings. At the ABT studio, I spied on Gelsey Kirkland's rehearsals with Mischa throughout the evenings, which perhaps was most exciting; although, taking classes with Gelsey at David Howard's and later at Robert Denvers' studios was also spectacular. I watched Gelsey's warmup routine with a heating pad, her meticulous footwork and legwork, her intense focus, her special jump technique with this energized pre-hop that only she did just before attacking the final grand jete diagonal combination. I didn't blink while watching her flawlessly execute the center adagio exercise standing on demi-pointe on one leg. She stretched her muscles by placing her front foot on a 1-foot raised ledge off the floor to do her floor splits.
After the closing ceremony, one of the jurors, Robert Joffrey, selected me to attend his intensive private workshop. There I received Joffrey's immaculate polishing, months before the producer of Ballet Zurich watched me in class and offered me to join the company in 1983 on its American tour with Rudolf Nureyev.
I was honored to also receive an unforgettable private session with Russian prima ballerina assoluta, Natalia Makarova on the Solo Variation of Raymonda Act III and the Solo Mazurka Variation from Other Dances, which Jerome Robbins had choreographed for Makarova as a wedding gift.
DANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
I am an internationally licensed photographer with Getty Images & Avanti Greeting Cards and I photograph dancers.
PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER
VIVI'S BALLERINA DREAM SERIES
My 2010 photograph series, “Vivi's Ballerina Dream" became the campaign posters for Dancers Love Dogs in 2012, upon the founding of the not-for-profit organization in South Africa.
My series features the historical pointe shoes that Gelsey Kirkland wore in her 1976 American Ballet Theatre performance of "La Sylphide" at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, New York.
While visiting Ms. Kirkland backstage in her dressing room after her 1976 performance, she sweetly gifted me, with tears, her pointe shoes at my request!
Gelsey Kirkland's magical gift keeps on giving today: Dancers Love Dogs has already assisted more than 26,000 sheltered dogs in Cape Town, Durban & Johannesburg South Africa with the funds they have raised from their countless performances throughout the years.
