March 4, 2011
The New York Times
Balanchine’s Golden Boy Looks Back
By Alastair Macaulay
Since Jacques d’Amboise was among the most distinguished American male dancers of his day — his prime was probably 1952-74 — it is startling to read, in his memoirs, of his part in a stabbing. He had been a student at the School of American Ballet for several years when in the summer of 1949, heading home through Washington Heights in Manhattan, he found himself in a clash with a local bully, who produced a switchblade. “Without even thinking, I did a grand battement — a big kick — knocking his hand and sending the knife flying,” ...
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