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GILLIAN MURPHY
In March 2008, Murphy made her debut with the Kirov Ballet dancing Odette-Odile in Swan Lake opposite Kirov Ballet principal Andrian Fadeyev. Murphy is a charter member of Stiefel & Stars and directed a training program for young dancers, Dreamcatchers, on Martha’s Vineyard. Ms. Murphy's performances with American Ballet Theatre are sponsored by Charlotte and MacDonald Mathey. Performing in: Romeo
and Juliet 7/6/2010 Finis: Yesterday I saw you dance Le Corsaire, and your fouetté turns brought the house down. Not only were you turning faster than I had ever seen, you pulled into triple pirouettes, bringing your arms up above your head into high 5th while doing so. And you did four sets of those. You were on fire, and the audience roared! Was that spur of the moment? Gillian: I plan ahead of time, but leave it open to last minute spontaneity. What I try to do is have different combinations of turns for different ballets. I do basically the same combination (fouetté, fouetté, fouetté-triple pirouettes) for Black Swan, but in Corsaire I bring my arms up Finis: I remember seeing your Don Q, and you did fouetté-fouetté-fouetté double pirouette while you raised your fan above your head, opened it, closed it, brought your arm down, and continued into more fouetté turns. I think you did at least four sets of these. My jaw dropped. I had never, in 45 years of ballet going, ever seen a ballerina do that! How did you think of that? Gillian: I'm not sure. I guess it's something I fooled around with when I was younger. Finis: You know, I've been teaching since 1972, and no matter where I teach, the first thing dancers do after barre is get into center floor and practice a pirouette or two. It seems that to dance is to turn. How young were you when you first started doing fouetté turns? Gillian: I first started doing 32 fouettés when I was 11, and I wouldn't say it was necessarily pretty…. Finis: I always tell teachers to let their students be ugly ducklings and try whatever they want, because then they will enjoy dancing and someday be a beautiful swan. Today you are the Swan Queen, most recently in that striking advertisement in The New York Times. You are shown completely wet, hair down, in your Odette tutu, being kissed by (your stage and real life prince) Ethan Stiefel, both of you disappearing into the water. That's a first! Now, tell us how you got started. Gillian: My mother put me in a ballet class when I was three, just for something to do, and to develop my posture, and teach me discipline. My mother had danced when she was growing up, so she had a deep appreciation for it. However, I don't think she ever expected me to get so carried away with it. In kindergarten, I'd walk around on pointe in my sneakers, and my parents began to wonder why my shoes were always so worn out. I started dancing around the house all the time, doing ballet steps. It just seemed the normal thing to do. I wanted to be either a ballerina, or a marathon runner, or a doctor. Finis: And today you are a ballerina with the strength and speed of a marathon runner, and, like a doctor, you help others by giving them inspiration and joy as they see you perform. You've fulfilled your childhood dreams! Gillian: Once I got my pointe shoes, the choice got narrowed down to just being a ballerina. When I was 12, my Mother started driving me to Columbia (South Carolina's capitol) and I began more serious studies with William Starrett at Columbia City Ballet.
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Gillian's repertoire with the ABT includes Polyhymnia in Apollo, Nikiya and Gamzatti in La Bayadère, Cinderella in Cinderella, Swanilda in Coppélia, Medora and Gulnare in Le Corsaire, Kitri in Don Quixote, Titania in The Dream, the Accused in Fall River Legend, second girl in Fancy Free, Lise in La Fille mal gardée, the pas de deux Flames of Paris, Grand Pas Classique, Myrta in Giselle, His Memory and His Experiences in HereAfter, the Queen of Hearts in Jeu de Cartes, Lescaut’s Mistress in Manon, the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Desdemona in Othello, Other Dances, Hagar in Pillar of Fire, Raymonda in Raymonda, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Romeo’s Farewell to Juliet), Princess Aurora and the Lilac Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty, Odette-Odile in Swan Lake, Sylvia in Sylvia, the first and third movements in Symphony in C, the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, and the ballerina in Theme and Variations, and leading roles in Allegro Brillante, Ballet Imperial, Ballo della Regina, Baroque Game, Paul Taylor’s Black Tuesday, Clear, Désir, i>Diversion of Angels, Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes, Études, From Here On Out, Gong, In The Upper Room, Meadow, Les Patineurs, Pretty Good Year, Push Comes to Shove, Sinfonietta, Les Sylphides, Symphonie Concertante and featured roles in Company B, The Elements, Overgrown Path and Without Words.
