Coaching, international style: American Ballet Theatre's Russian, English, and American coaches take artistry to the next level

Dance Magazine, July, 2002 by Astrida Woods

Bringing along young talent and helping dancers reach their potential is another aspect of coaching and an area that Parkinson particularly relishes. Today she is working with Gillian Murphy, a 23-year-old up-and-coming soloist who performed her first Odette-Odile last year. Murphy projects an unassuming confidence and an innate affinity with movement.

"Gillian has everything," says Parkinson, "speed, technique, virtuosity, and musicality. I'm just happy looking at her move through space. But she has a long way to go in the way she presents herself." In this session Parkinson works on fleshing out Murphy's Odette by helping her invest the role with dynamism and emotion. Her Prince is Carreno, the serene principal dancer from Cuba whose experience and gentle suggestions put Murphy at ease.

After the initial run-through, Parkinson encourages Murphy to "engage your whole body in every movement ... not just your arms ... so that she [Odette] is never really still. Intensify the bourrees ... retard your arm movements." Murphy assimilates the suggestions, eliciting praise from her coach: "That's great, Gillian, that's the stuff."

Parkinson says there is only so much the dancers can take in before they run dry. "They can absorb the information on one day but not necessarily put it into their bodies. It can be processed overnight and become crystal clear the next day, or it may take years. It can only be a work in progress."

The third member of ABT's coaching triumvirate is Kevin McKenzie, artistic director of the company. When McKenzie assumed the leadership of ABT ten years ago, he had been principal dancer with ABT for more than a decade. With his regal beating, exceptional musicality, and pure American style, he brought unusual depth and emotional power to a wide range of leading roles--from the classics to psychological dance dramas.

"One of my biggest fears when I became director," says McKenzie, "was that I would end up behind this desk and never be able to get into a studio. It has to be a priority," he says, "because I'm not the executive director, I'm the artistic director. I was trained to do what I do in the studio."

What he does in the studio is coach his stellar, international roster of dancers with an unerring eagle's eye. It is here that he shapes the company to fit his vision. "The word `American' in ABT," says McKenzie, "means it's an ongoing experiment.... It can always be better."

Tall and elegantly loose-limbed, McKenzie invigorates and inspires dancers with his energetic, hands-on style of coaching and easy manner. Considered one of the great partners of his generation, McKenzie demonstrates much of the heavy lifting in rehearsals. During a scene in Swan Lake, McKenzie shows 22-year-old soloist Marcelo Gomes how to execute an intricate lift. He asks principal dancer Paloma Herrera, "Can I throw you around a bit, Paloma?" With that, Herrera flies up to McKenzie's shoulder in a fish pose. He tells Gomes, "Just toss her like a pancake."

He tries it, and it works. Gomes says, "Kevin is particularly good at working out the mechanics of partnering. He can simultaneously concentrate on the boy and the girl."