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Tricia Sundbeck
Cincinatti Ballet
Interviewed by Dale Braunerl
published in Ballet Alert! (No. 31-32) 2003
copyright © 2003 Dale Brauner

The Cincinnati Ballet celebrated its 40th anniversary in October. Yes, it commissioned some new works for the occasion, but it also did some thing rare these days—it truly honored its past by looking to the past. And by doing so, it gave ballet a gift for the future. The company staged a tribute to the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, a company that came through town during its frequent tours and made a connection in Cincinnati until its demise in 1962, and to the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo’s danseur and ballet master, Frederic Franklin.

Franklin participated in recon-structing and restaging parts of four ballets: La Sonnambula by George Balanchine and restaged by Franklin and Bart Cook; Frederick Ashton's Devil's Holiday—which had its premiere in New York rather than Britain in 1939 due to the impending war and was thought to be have been lost—restaged by Franklin; Gaite Parisienne by Leonide Massine and restaged by Franklin; and Massine's The Seventh Symphony (third movement) recreated by film and video by Johanna Bernstein Wilt with coaching by Franklin. Also on the program were two world premieres—Reverence by Julia Adam and No Other by Val Caniparoli.

The celebration also showed off the talents of corps de ballet member Tricia Sundbeck who on opening night performed in the pas de deux from Devil's Holiday, danced the Coquette in La Sonnambula, and was part of the ensemble in The Seventh Symphony. Sunbeck trained with Sacramento Ballet and at summer programs with the San Francisco Ballet and Boston Ballet. She was a principal dancer with Sacramento Ballet before coming to Cincinnati. She spoke to me about working with Franklin and the ballets on the program.

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How did the dancers feel about their anniversary being celebrated with a tribute to the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo?

I think it was an amazing experience. Nobody questioned that it was our anniversary so it should just be Cincinnati Ballet. Freddie has so much history here, being one of our former directors. On top of that, he’s such an amazing person. He walks in and gives you so much history every time he speaks. It really put such a beautiful light on the entire experience. There are so many dancers at the Cincinnati Ballet who have been here only a year or two years, so had we done something historical on the actual company, it wouldn’t have had much to do with a lot of people. By having Freddie, it kind of made everybody feel they had a piece of it because he periodically would run a rehearsal or come in and watch a different rehearsal. He is truly one of the most positive individuals I have ever met. For everybody, it’s kind of been better. He watched every show. It was a splendid anniversary.

What kind of coaching style does he have?

He does not talk technique. He’s very much about letting a dancer put their own twist on it. In Devil’s Holiday, we watched a video of him doing it in the ’40s right after they had first come over to the United States. It was with him and [Alexandra] Danilova. It was bits and pieces. You could kind of tell the basic gist of it. Freddie had a hard time watching himself. But after we watched it, we never looked at the video again. He would do the girl and then he would do the boy. We learned the entire pas de deux in about an hour. And we ran it for him. Every time we ran it, he would give us a few different arm gestures and maybe the head. It was very much letting us make it our own. If we did something slightly different, then he [corrected us]. If he liked it, then he would let us keep it. But it was never so much it has to be this way, as much as this is the way it was done when it was first done. He would then give a very strong historical background on the piece.

With Devil’s Holiday, I believe it was one of Frederick Ashton’s first ballets. So (Franklin) told us a lot about working with Mr. Ashton. It puts this air into the studio. You feel very confident that this man is not going to let you go on and change anything that he doesn’t feel is appropriate.

How much research did you do? Did you read the section on Devil’s Holiday in David Vaughn’s book on Ashton’s ballets?

With everything Freddie had given us, they [the ballet masters] gave the dancers each a pamphlet about the Ballet Russe and the ballets we were doing. At the same time, the Cincinnati Art Museum had done an exhibit about the Ballet Russe costumes, set designs and historical background. I went over to the museum and saw the exhibit. That was fun—seeing the original costumes for the Devil’s Holiday and the original sets. Other than that, I had some history on the Ballet Russe just from being a dancer for twenty years. But I just tried to ask Freddie as many questions as possible.

Can you describe the quality of this ballet? Had you performed Ashton before and could you recognized this as being in his style? Did it have the use of the arms and the flexible torso evident in his other works?

I had never done an Ashton ballet. I had seen quite a bit of his work. He’s a beautiful storyteller. That’s what he does well. From what I’ve seen, the female dancers are soft, beautiful and have a graceful flowing quality that came from that era. That’s the Giselles, the La Sylphides—you’re soft, you’re a beautiful ballerina. The Devil’s Holiday pas de deux we did exactly that. I was very much in front and the man was lifting me. It was just a romantic pas de deux. The arms are very soft, there are no jerky motions.

Did it feel good in your body, as dancers like to say?

It felt wonderful. I loved doing that pas de deux. It was simple enough so that you weren’t stressed out, but you felt beautiful. I honestly felt gorgeous.

Let’s speak of La Sonnambula. You performed the role of the Coquette.

I had the pleasure of doing the part of the Sleepwalker in California [with the Sacramento Ballet] and had Allegra Kent [the center of Balanchine’s 1961 revival for the New York City Ballet] coaching me. So I went into doing the ballet again with a lot of faith that I knew how it was done. But Allegra came from a different era. Then to have a totally different part—I went from having the innocent part to the dark and evil [part]. Frankly, the Coquette is not a nice woman. That was fun. But Freddie had a different production. I learned the entire role from him.

What was it like working with Allegra Kent?

That was amazing. John Clifford set the ballet and then she came out and did the coaching of the leads. That was her ballet. Balanchine brought the ballet back for her. She was a kick. She even said, “I have done this ballet a million times and I don’t ever think I did the best I could have.” It was one those ballets she felt had so many layers. Being the Sleepwalker, where you really aren’t allowed to portray emotion you still have to. It has to come through. I would take one step and she would say, “No, let’s do that again.” We would spend hours just working on the ending, when the Sleepwalker steps over [the Poet] and does the yearning motion. I think we spent a good couple of hours on just that. She’s right. It does take that kind of coaching to make it feel like you have enough freedom to do it. It’s a very self-conscious moment for a dancer. There’s so little you feel you can offer.

Did you get a chance to see Franklin coach Kristie Capps in the role of the Sleepwalker?

I was not able to be at too many of those rehearsals. I’m sure it was very different from a male point of view. Because what I got from Freddie when we worked on the Coquette was what the Poet is feeling towards the Coquette. He allowed me to feed off of that. Because the Sleepwalker is so understated and the Poet and the Coquette are sort of overstated, Freddie very much wanted that drama. It was a lot of fun because he would be my Poet periodically. You can definitely tell he was a fine actor.

Is the Coquette just nasty? I’ve seen several accounts where she is portrayed with more depth, bringing out her motivations.

That’s tough. I found it’s like a soap opera to a certain extent. She’s the Baron’s mistress. But that does not mean she’s in love with the Baron by any means. I do believe she falls in love with the Poet. When she sees that he’s not [in love with the Coquette], she’s an injured woman. She does the only thing she knows. I don’t think she intends to get the Poet killed. She’s a bitter woman. But I believe she told the Baron more to get the Poet out of the house. I felt that both times I’ve done it. She’s vindictive, but she found a soft spot for the Poet. I believe she has known him before. I don’t think that is their first meeting.

Freddie said we are very much infatuated with one another. He wanted us to play. He coached me a lot on when [the Poet] gets killed; how she goes up to look at [his dead body] and how it sinks in what she’s done. And the running off. He spent a lot of time on that. I think he was happy with the way I did it. He told us, “You want each other. There’s almost a desperation behind how much you want each other, but you know that in society it has to be covered up.” Especially when there are other characters on stage. He was on the Poet a lot, to stay with her, especially in the partnering. He told him,“You’re doing all of it.” That’s one interesting part about that pas de deux. The Poet has hold of your arms. And I wanted the use of my arms. Freddie said, “He’s controlling your every move.” I think the Coquette is not used to allowing a man have the much power. So there is constant tension between them on how much she will give.

The Poet controls the Sleepwalker, as well. Maybe that’s an aspect of his character. Did Franklin bring up what Balanchine wanted?

I don’t want get Freddie in trouble, but he was very adamant that the New York City Ballet doesn’t do it right anymore. We had different videos of the ballet and when we watched the New York City Ballet tape, he would said, “No, no, no. That’s so wrong. They don’t know it anymore.” He would get angry over the fact that they don’t do it correctly. He said that Suzanne [Farrell] still does it right when she does it on her company. And that’s it.

But as far Balanchine, Freddie said some of the partnering was different and that was what he had done with Danilova. There were a few things that Bart Cook would set with the corp or specific with the divertiments and Freddie would come in and say, “No, no, no. That’s not right.” And then work on it. The big thing is we ended up doing the Hoop Dance, which I had never seen. That was one of the things Freddie had done. That was fun. His memory is pretty phenomenal. Bart was trying to take it off very old videos, but Freddie just said, “No, it’s like this.” With Freddie it wasn’t so much what Balanchine said, but what he recalled of doing it himself and he was going to give it all to you. It was amazing how quickly we learned each piece.

Tell me about doing Massine’s The Seventh Symphony.

I was in the corps. It was a long evening. It was one of the most difficult ballets I had ever done in my entire life. I don’t think any of us can really say why except there are so many steps. Though this ballet was only seventeen minutes long, it felt like you never stopped moving. Even though there were two adagio moments where the principals came out and did pas de deux work, you were still with your arms up, posed. Some of the girls were leaning on a guy’s shoulder or a knee. The posing moments were difficult. And it’s an entirely different style than we’re used to. The arms are very bent, even for the men. Nothing was lengthened out. It was just incredibly fast, and all jumping. More cabrioles than I had ever done in my entire life. And now they want to do the entire ballet next year and we’re very stressed out about that!

Is it musical?

I did find it musical. I found it strange that it was the same piece of music three times in a row (the musical repeats). That was the only thing we found funny. That was what was amazing, all the steps fit. Once you got it under your belt, it was amazing how well it fit.