In Rehearsal – Swan Lake with Ivan Nagy!
(Photos above are from a Swan Lake rehearsal with Ivan Nagy and Marilyn Burr.)
Ivan Nagy and Gelsey Kirkland in “The Leaves are Fading” photo by, Max Waldman
The Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet was honored by having Ivan Nagy and Marilyn Burr come to rehearse with our Swan Lake leads, Katia Raj and Alexander Mays.
Ivan Nagy was born in Debrecen, Hungary, in 1943. At the age of seven he was offered a scholarship to the Budapest State Opera House, upon graduation from the school he was given a contract with the company of the State Opera Ballet.
After winning the bronze medal at Varna in 1965 a judge named Frederic Franklin invited him to dance with his company, the National Ballet of Washington. Ivan can be seen dancing in the 1966 film of Swan Lake starring Nureyev and Fonteyn. In 1968 Nagy joined the New York City Ballet for their spring season. Directly after the season was over Ivan joined the American Ballet Theatre until he retired at the end of 1978.
Ivan Nagy married Marilyn Burr, a ballerina from the Festival Ballet who assited Ivan with restaging many classical ballets we love.
For the Gelsey Kirkland Academy he is most famously known for partnering Gelsey Kirkland in The Leaves are Fading.
I feel so privileged to see these photos.Almost as much as when I saw Gelsey Dance.Thank you for continuing to care about quality.You changed my life.
These photos are amazing! I hope to see many more pictures and great interviews!
These pictures are amazing brings back memories. Flash back to 1976 in San Francisco, when I had bought tickets to see Gelsey and Ivan dance in Ramonda. At the time I remember reading poor Ivan had back and knee problems. What do you know but the performance was about to start when someone came out from behind the curtain to announce that Ivan and Gelsey wouldn’t be performing, because Ivan had to cancel! Anyway…