SUKI SCHORER STILL DANCIN’
Dancer, teacher, coach, répétiteur and author, Suki Schorer has built a successful career around ballet and one particular style and choreographer, George Balanchine.
As an active child, it was rhythms class in Boston, where she was born, that set her on her way. When the family moved to San Francisco, Schorer started ballet at the age of seven with a local teacher. Three years later, her teacher, having taken her as far as she could, suggested she study at the San Francisco Ballet School. Schorer joined the company and danced with San Francisco Ballet for three years under the direction of Lew Christiansen. Following a company tour to Egypt, she spent some time in New York, taking class at different company schools, including School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of the New York City Ballet. The ballet mistress, Janet Reed, spoke with Balanchine, who had noticed her in class and offered Schorer a contract to join the company. With Christiansen’s blessing, she started on a path that would take her from the corps de ballet to soloist and, “with hard work and a belief in Mr. B,” says Schorer, to principal status.
Her teaching skills were championed by Balanchine and the Ford Foundation gave her the opportunity to study teaching techniques. Balancine had her teach at SAB during the company layoffs and she even had the opportunity to teach men’s class. After retiring from the stage, Schorer became a permanent faculty member at SAB and now holds the Brown Senior Faculty Chair. She takes great pleasure in staging Balanchine works at annual student workshop performances.
When doing her own daily barre became “harder and no longer fun,” she discovered ballroom dancing. She started with salsa and American tango and then became fascinated with Argentine tango. The style started in Buenos Aires in the late 19th century in cafes and bars. In the early 20th century, it traveled abroad to big capitals—London, Rome, Berlin and New York. Schorer took intensive tango lessons from Pablo Pugliese in New York and gave him ballet lessons in return.
“The footwork requires articulation and finesse which is similar to ballet but the look is different,” she explains. There are three different tango dances: straight tango, tango waltz and tango milonga, which is like a polka. “You get caught up in the music and you are so connected with your partner. It lifts the spirit,” she says.
Teaching ballet consumes most of Schorer’s time, but when not in the studio she enjoys being with friends, browsing through museums and spending quiet time on her own. She has taken courses in child psychology at Hunter College in New York and has passed along the Balanchine technique through her books, which will soon be published in Italian and French.
“The Balanchine legacy continues more widely than ever in companies all over the world because Mr. B created such an incredible repertoire of ballets,” Schorer contends. “Maintaining top quality teaching takes dedication and a strong vision for the aesthetic that you want your students to achieve.”
Though classical ballet training is emphasized at School of American Ballet, advanced students are required to take a six-week course in ballroom dancing taught by instructors from the American Ballroom Theatre.
By continually expanding her interests, Suki Schorer has earned her staying power. She has done it all with talent, style and integrity. She is dedicated not only to preserving the legacy of Balanchine, but also to the dance profession as a whole. That sets an example to be followed.