By Margo Sappington
Vicente Nebrada called me in 1973 because he had seen my ballet “Weewis” which I choreographed for the Joffrey Ballet. It was a ballet for 3 couples set to a commissioned score for rock band and chamber orchestra. He said the Harkness Ballet needed something like that for their repertoire and I said, “Well, I do have something else in mind.” He stated that would be up to Mrs. Harkness and I would need to discuss it with her.
A couple of years before I had visited the Rodin Museum in Paris and had fallen completely under the spell of his sculptures, it would be my next ballet and I had been thinking about an appropriate company. Producing such a ballet with Mrs. Harkness on board was just the ticket! I had been introduced to Michael Kamen, member of the New York Rock and Roll Ensemble and graduate of the Juilliard School and started talking to him about writing the music. My other collaborator for costumes and set was Willa Kim with whom I had worked before.
Mrs. Harkness suggested I come to her home in the New Jersey Palisades to present my ideas. I was driven on a Sunday morning by her flamenco teacher and his guitarist. I had with me a bunch of books on Rodin to illustrate the sculptures I wanted to represent and a reel to reel audio tape of Michael playing examples of music we wanted to use.
Upon arrival, Mrs. Harkness greeted me with, “There’s the pool, bathing suits are in the pool house, please enjoy yourself and I’ll see you in an hour and a half when I am done with my flamenco lesson.” I swam, we had lunch, then I was treated to well over an hour of music by Cesar Franck played on the magnificent twin white baby grand pianos in the living room. At the keyboards were the composer Lee Hoiby and Dr. Hughes, an acquaintance of Mrs. Harkness for whom she turned pages. She had the idea that I use this music and she would orchestrate it. I was dying to present my plan, have her agree, and get out of there! So finally it was my turn. I laid out all the books, it was to be a big ballet with 21 dancers and would include 5 solos, 4 pas de deux, the Burgers of Calais and the Gates of Hell. The whole presentation including playing Michael’s tape took about 20 minutes. She said, “I love it. Let’s do it.” Then she said, “We are going to watch a movie later. Would you like to stay?” I graciously declined and couldn’t wait to get home, call Michael and begin what was to become my most precious and beloved ballet.
