Thomas Armour
This is the story of many people who loved ballet. There were those who wanted their children to experience the best of teaching and performing. There were those who wanted a growing city to be able to enjoy quality performances and respected artists. There were the teachers and artists who needed a venue for their gifts. All these people and needs came together when Miami Ballet was officially incorporated.
The parts that created Miami Ballet were like the beauty of nature. They formed, developed and then flowed. The seed of Miami Ballet germinated with Thomas Armour, the founding Artistic Director and guiding light until today. More seeds developed with the addition of co-directors Martha Mahr, Renee Zintgraff, and Robert Pike. By 1968 these four were working together and presenting world famous artists to the Miami community.
Armour and Mahr are repositories of ballet history. The names and places they danced were the ancestral homes of all who love dance. Our journey begins with Armour. Through his life we revisited some of ballet's great historical figures.
Thomas Armour was born in Tarpon Springs, Florida a smallish town near Tampa. He did not start dancing until he was sixteen or seventeen years old. Ines Noel Armour, his mother, was his first teacher. He finished high school in Tampa and studied with his mother for five years. In June 1933, believing in his talent, his mother took him to Paris to study with renowned Mme. Olga Preobrajenska. Ines Noel Armour had studied with Preobrajenska in her youth. By October of 1933, Mme Preobrajenska asked him to audition fro the Ida Rubenstein Company. Indeed, before he could think too much or get worried about it, Preobrajenska herself took him to the audition. Among the judges were Fokine and Anatole Vilzak. Says Armour "since Preobrajenska gave the audition, I guess I didn't have too much to worry about."
The Rubenstein Company did everything in the grand manner. At that time, the gentleman who was enamored of Rubenstein was a Guinness from famous liquor family. Moreover, Rubenstein was financially secure in her own right. As a consequence, no expense for her company was too much. Armour was exposed to the great talents of the time.
"It was a very easy way of getting into ballet for me - living in Paris, daily class as a company member I no longer had to pay for,"--not a bad introduction to the best. Six months of costly rehearsing, resulted in only six performances. The Paris Opera House was the theatre of choice with a full 110 piece orchestra playing for them. After this, Rubenstein scheduled the company to travel to Venice.
After the Rubenstein Company folded, Armour went to Mme. Nijinska's company which had just started rehearsals. (She was the sister of the famous Nijinsky.) Nijinska was doing her own ballets for her company and for the Paris Opera itself. Armour's reputation preceded him. He got the job without an audition. Armour was, to the best of his recollection, only one of two Americans in either the Rubenstein or Nijinska Company at that time.
Nijinska's company had a large repertoire: La Princesse Cygne by Rimsky- Korsakoff, Les Bitches-Poulenc, La Baiser de la Fee-Stravinsky, Etude-Bach, Les Variations-Beethoven, and Hamlet-Liszt. Here, Nijinska danced the title role. "We were sharing the Chatelet Theatre with the Russian Opera Company of Paris. On alternate nights, we performed the ballets in Pince Igor and Boris Godunov. Chapliapin, the world famous singer, was the lead. Among the dancers were Ruth Chanova, Alexis Dolinoff, Nina Tichonova, Anton Dolin, and Dora Vadimova. In spite of the wonderful dance opportunity, Armour decided to return to Tarpon Springs after a year in Paris. "Homesick, you know."
In the spring of 1935, he and his sister, Gail, returned to Paris. Gail also went to study with Preobrajenska. Shortly after Armour's return, he went to a performance of Leon Woijikowski's company. Woijikowski had just left the deBasel company. This was the heyday of the growth of ballet as a more popular art form. Armour went backstage after the performance to congratulate Woijikowski. Armour immediately got a job and spent three years in this company performing most of the classics.
Later, Armour joined Les Ballets de la Jeunesse. After leaving that company, he went to Rio de Janeiro. The theatre in Rio had several seasons. Armour stayed on and staged Prince Igor and Le Spectre de la Rose, in which he danced the leads. There was a two month ballet season followed by an opera season. Besides this schedule, the theatre in Rio brought over the Opera Comique and the Comedie Francaise. By now, it was 1939 and things in Europe were exploding. Armour negotiated to stay in Rio a bit and get paid in American dollars and planned for his return to the United States.
"I had not been home in five year and was anxious to return." While on the boat returning from Rio to the USA, Hitler invaded Austria. "When I disembarked, immigration took my passport which I definitely needed back. Here I was stranded in my own county. I guess the Unites States didn't want any Americans going off to Europe, with that explosive situation and getting themselves in trouble. You could not blame them." Once again, Lady Luck intervened. Armour walked out of his hotel and met Mr. Lidgi, a director of the Australian tour. He told him that Leonide Massine was in New York and suggested he call him. Armour did so. They met the very next day at the grand old Metropolitan Opera in New York. There was a large rehearsal room and no piano. This was the second and final audition of Armour's life. "Well," said Massine, "what can you do?" Armour stood there, no music, no preparation. He decided he could hum the music of the Mazurka from Les Sylphides to himself. He danced on the spot for Massine. This resulted in an immediate three year contract with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as a soloist.
Ballet Russe was scheduled to open shortly in New York. Some of the dancers were stranded in France. The opening night was the day the ship pulled into New York harbor! Boat - rehearsal - opening - it was a day that all involved remember vividly. The company danced through the war. The dancers then included Alexandra Danilova, Andre Eglesky, Frederic Franklin, Rosella Hightower, Nathalie Krassovska, Alicia Markova, Leonide Massine, Mark Platoff, Mia Slavenska, Sonia Woicikowska, Igor Youskevitch and George Zoritch. Later these people each either had their own companies or guested around the world. These were the very dancers who helped train the next generation of American dancers and teachers.
Armour also toured in Florida, where he danced Le Spectre de la Rose at the Gusman Theatre. The Gusman, considered today a reminder of an elegant past, was even more ornate then. Armour remembered a large and elaborate stuffed peacock on the balcony overlooking the stage as well as other objects d'art that have not been restored. The company performed Le Spectre de la Rose and Gaite Parisienne there. "I don't know how we did Scherezade on that size stage with a full company, door staircase, etc. But, we did." The respected ballerina Nathalie Krassovska danced Spectre with Armour on that stage.
Armour served four years in the army signal corps. He never heard a gun fired except in training in the United States. The army sent him from school to school and he even finished military intelligence school. Ultimately, he went to Reims, France as an intelligence officer.
After the war, Armour went to a teaching convention in Jacksonville. There a lady who approached him and asked if he would like to take over her studio in Miami Beach. "No," was his reply. This was 1949 and "After all, I was happily running my own school already." Nevertheless, he went to look at it. "So, I rode over that causeway and saw the sun and the water and the beautiful city across the bay."
At the studio, Armour saw dancers "10 or 12 of them, quiet capably trained in what looked familiar style. Where," he asked the owner, "did you learn to teach like that? It turned out the teacher in Miami Beach had studied with Catharine and Dorothy Littlefield, who had studied with Preobrajenska. In a way, Armour was back at home! He decided to stay.
The owner of this studio was a wonderful lady. She didn't want Armour to buy it. Her husband had been transferred to Atlanta. She stayed in Miami not wanting to abandon her dancers. She wanted to know she was leaving them in good hands. All Armour paid for were the barres and mirrors! She wanted to "give" the studio to someone whose artistic integrity she trusted.
One of the creators of the beauty of nature, of a beautiful tree, Thomas Armour, was now in the place the tree grew - not Brooklyn, but rather Miami.
When Armour first came to Miami, the 1949 season in Miami was a short one. At the end, there was, of course, a recital. This was Armour's first and last recital. "After the season, there were not enough students. During the season, there were between 100 and 110 students. However, afterwards, there were maybe two dozen. I did not think I was going to make it." Armour persisted. Slowly he built a quality school. "I try to keep relaxed class. I think I get more work out of them that way. I know when I was in class with
a teacher who had me uptight, I
couldn't dance."
The school became successful. Armour had to go back to dancing "a little" when it was necessary. "In fact, Anne Barzel, had me partner a girl in a demonstration she was doing." Parent and friends formed a company called "The Miami Ballet Guild of Greater Miami." "That name lasted for two years. In 1951 "The Miami Ballet Guild of Greater Miami" had a name change and became The Miami Ballet. Armour related, "The Miami Ballet Society was formed by a group of truly dedicated ladies. They gave an annual ball that was well attended. This really helped to bring in the money that the company needed for growth. These ladies also gave luncheons with fashion show etc. They really worked hard." As the Miami Ballet Society succeeded in its fund raising, famous dancers were invited for guest appearances more frequently. Swan Lake with Violette Verdy and Edward Villella was their first big ballet. No small feat for a little company just beginning its struggle
to survive.
The years 1951 and 1969 saw a growing school. There was a nucleus of quality dancers who were the base of a basically amateur company. In spite of its amateur status, Armour demanded, as usual, excellence. The company had a real theatre, Dade County Auditorium. "Costumes were no problem. We found a lady who was very good at that." Because of a shortage of funds something had to be sacrificed. The ballets were danced concert style with very little scenery. Nevertheless, Armour insisted on a live orchestra." ...not easy to attain. For a dancer tempo is everything." This was unusual for an amateur company but symbolic of the level of quality he sought. Initially Armour danced several roles himself.
In March of 1969, the company danced Giselle with Violette Verdy as Guest Artist. In November of the same year, the company danced a mixed program. By April of the following year Miami Ballet had a major achievement. They danced Les Sylphides, Prince Igor, Pas de Trois, and Black Swan. They had established enough of a reputation to attract famous ballet principals. Among those who were guested with them were Ted Kivitt and Violette Verdy. Royez Fernandez, Alonso's partner in Cuba, substituted when another scheduled guest artist could not appear. It was the sudden crisis every ballet company faced. Fernandez helped save the day.
In one of the instances Armour remembered vividly Verdy was dancing Giselle. The first act concluded. The curtain came down and the conductor collapsed. He wanted to continue to play, but it was impossible. The intermission lasted fifty minutes. The first violinist took over. He had never rehearsed. He conducted at too fast a tempo. Armour realized it was impossible to dance at that speed. Verdy, the consummate artist, wafted to the front of the stage, signaled the new conductor to please start again more slowly, and recommenced dancing.
Miami Ballet's success continued. In April 1973, the company danced Sleeping Beauty with Verdy and Peter Martins, Frederic Franklin and Kirk Peterson. Said Armour, "We were an amateur company trying to perform on a professional level. For Sleeping Beauty we brought down half of the Washington Ballet. You need so many dancers for that. We wouldn't put on a student who was not up to it." 1974 saw Ben Stevenson stage Cinderella with Gaye Fulton and Desmond Kelly in Miami.
In 1975, Armour invited Natalia Makarova to see the company dance. She watched them closely. Obviously impressed that these were students, Makarova then became a guest artist for a full length Swan Lake in which Ivan Nagy also danced. Armour said, "We brought down a number of dancers from American Ballet Theatre in order to have enough gentlemen." Importing this level of talent and housing them was quiet costly. The ladies of the Ballet Society, clearly successful fund raisers, dedicated themselves to helping provide quality classical ballet to Miami.
In May 1989, there was a "Gala" celebrating Thomas Armour's 80th birthday. Armour brought great artists to Miami. He even influenced the Royal Winnipeg and Houston Ballet to come. At the Galas, Armour had the honor and respect due him accorded by leading dance figures of the day from Cynthia Gregory to Frederic Bratcher, from famous dancers too numerous to mention, from his students to dancers from Miami City Ballet and from around the globe.
Mr. Armour once told me his greatest joy was see his students go on to professional careers. And...there have been hundreds...Owen Goldman (Publisher of Dancer Magazine).