Suzanne Farrell

Suzanne Farrell (born August 16, 1945, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.) is an American dancer especially known for her performances with New York City Ballet.

Roberta Sue Ficker began studying ballet at the age of eight. In 1960 she won a scholarship to the School of American Ballet, the training school of New York City Ballet. She made her first New York appearance in a minor role in New York City Ballet’s annual Christmas production of The Nutcracker in 1960. She joined the company’s corps de ballet in 1961, by which time she had adopted the professional name Suzanne Farrell. In 1962 she became a featured dancer, making her first appearance in a featured role in Serenade.

Farrell’s first solo performance was in the premiere of John Taras’s Arcade in 1963. That same year she created the lead role in George Balanchine’s Movements for Piano and Orchestra. Two years later Balanchine created for her the role of Dulcinea in Don Quixote; the 1965 performance made her a star. A short time later she was named principal dancer in New York City Ballet. Often thought of as the "Balanchine ballerina par excellence," she combined a light, gentle presence and a certain cool assurance with flawless technique to create her stage persona.

In 1969 Farrell left Balanchine and New York City Ballet, and in 1970 she became the principal dancer in Ballet of the 20th Century, a Brussels-based company whose repertory was largely the work of Maurice Béjart. She created many roles there before she was persuaded to return to New York City Ballet in 1975. Until his death in 1983, Balanchine used Farrell extensively and created many new works for her.

Farrell retired from performing in 1989 following hip surgery, but she remained with New York City Ballet until 1993 as a teacher and coach. She also worked with the Balanchine Trust, formed after his death in 1983. In 1993 Farrell began teaching at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and in 2000 she founded the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, a company affiliated with the centre; the dance troupe disbanded in 2017. Also in 2000 she joined the faculty at Florida State University. Her autobiography, Holding On to the Air, was published in 1990, and a documentary about her life, Suzanne Farrell: Elusive Muse, was released in 1996.