Melissa Hayden
Melissa Hayden, known for her star quality, passed away at the age of 83 at her home in Winston-Salem, NC on August 9. The cause was pancreatic cancer, according to her son, Stuart H. Coleman. Hayden taught at the prestigious North Carolina School of the Arts for 23 years, after an international career than spanned from 1945 to 1973. When she retired from performing, Hayden became head of the ballet department at Skidmore College, the School of the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, and opened her own school in Manhattan. At the NC School, a total of 6000 students had been in her classes.
Born in Toronto, 1923, Hayden studied with Moscow-trained Boris Volkoff and was an avid swimmer. Seeking further training, she went to New York and joined the ballet corps at Radio City Music Hall, running out between shows (there were 5 a day) to take class with the various Russian teachers, who had small studios in the city. In 1945, she joined Ballet Theater, where Antony Tudor suggested she change her name from Mildred Herman to Melissa Hayden. After Ballet Theater (American Ballet Theatre's earlier name) disbanded, she danced briefly on Broadway, and joined a group of BT dancers for a 9-month tour of Cuba and Latin America in Ballet Alicia Alonso (Alonso was at that time, a member of BT). Undoubtedly, Alonso's strong stage presence served as an example for Hayden.
Nicholas Magallanes, who had been in Balanchine's earlier groups, recommended her to Balanchine for his new company, Ballet Society, where her fierce independence clashed with Balanchine over her desire to have new roles created for her and her goal to perform in "Swan Lake." She retuned to BT, then reconciled with Balanchine and rejoined his company after missing the quality of his works, although missing the applause by starring in story ballets, as well. Balanchine's choreography was the "star" and the need to blend with the other dancers onstage was the credo of the company. After her return from BT in 1955, Balanchine began to assign roles to her that demanded passion, energy and dramatic flair, among them "Duel," choreographed by William Dollar (originally known at "Le Combat") and Frederick Ashton's "Illuminations," in which she danced the role of "Profane Love." The London audience screamed at the end "Duel" in which Hayden, as a female warrior, was defeated by her Crusader lover into a melodramatic death.
But it was in Balanchine's Tchaikovsky "Allegro Brillante" and especially in his 1958 pas de deux created for her and Jacques d'Amboise in "Stars and Stripes" that she could show her temperament. She and d'Amboise embodied an American marching-band spirit imbued with Balanchine's humor. In 1973, when she was about to retire, Balanchine created a work for her, "Cortège Hongrois," and presented her with a single flower during the bows. All the former turbulence, defiance and dissention became obliterated.
During company classes, a blunt and feisty Hayden frequently questioned Balanchine concerning the interpretation of a step, as no other member would dare to do. Her versatility and individuality amounted to the performance of 60 ballets in the repertory, mainly of Balanchine's plotless works.
She is survived by her husband, Donald Coleman, her son, a daughter, Jennifer C. Damsky and five grandchildren.