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1. Bené Arnold
- University Press of Florida
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1 Bené Arnold “. . . keep learning . . .” Bené Arnold was the first ballet mistress of San Francisco Ballet, and she is professor emeritus of the University of Utah. She is one of the most respected and distinguished ballet teachers in the United States, and in 2008 she became the interim chair of the Ballet Department at the University of Utah. Believe it or not, I was essentially bedridden from four to nine years of age with a condition known as scrofula, which is a type of tuberculosis of the glands. They didn’t know how it would affect me mentally or physically . My grandmother and I were living in Missouri at the time, and the doctor said I should go to a warmer and drier climate, and so we moved to Los Angeles. You know, dance was often recommended as therapy, and this was the case for me. I couldn’t stand for any length of time, but went to Ethel Medlin’s dance school in L.A., where she did this marvelous Bené Arnold. Photo courtesy of Ballet West. 2 On Technique combination class. She was simply encouraging. When I didn’t have the endurance to do something, she’d have me sit in a chair and she guided me on how to observe the other students and learn visually and also to discern what they did well—the why’s and “how’s.” I think this is where I first got my ability to learn others’ parts. I saw a ballet section in a musical during this time and decided that that was what I wanted to do. I went on to study with several teachers in the L.A. area and went to the summer sessions at San Francisco Ballet School, beginning in 1948. Both Willam and Harold Christensen were there. I joined the company, and in one of my first performances, I danced behind Lew Christensen, who was the Prince in Swan Lake. I was the first ballet mistress of the company. At that early juncture it was not a paid position so in order to earn a living, I taught student classes in the school after I was through with company duties, and sometimes I went back to work with the company at night when I was through teaching . In addition to giving the company its class and rehearsing them, I also ordered their shoes, typed up the schedules, and made programs. Lew was never quite as strong constitutionally as either Bill or Harold. When I went back to San Francisco Ballet to help with Nutcracker in 1962, I was shocked to see how Lew had changed as a result of receiving cancer treatment. It really upset me. Bill was the best PR person of the three brothers. He could take mediocre dancers and make them look great. Lew needed better trained dancers. Bill could move people across the floor and make the audience connect. Lew had worked very hard to build up San Francisco Ballet under difficult conditions. We had lots of successes, including State Department tours. But some business manager problems arose. I talked to Harold about some of the things that were happening. Gordon Paxman was leaving for Salt Lake City at this time, and both suggested that I go there. I had already visited Salt Lake City at Bill’s request, having staged Lew’s Con Amore on the University of Utah group. I knew that Bill wanted to build a professional company. Everything started coming around. I agreed to be unpaid ballet mistress again, which I did from 1962 to 1975, at which time I joined the faculty of the University of Utah. At one point, I calculated the numbers of hours I was putting in and realized I was getting the equivalent of 10 cents an hour, but that was okay, as I [44.221.46.132] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 02:29 GMT) Figure 3. Bené Arnold with Gordon Paxman in “Arabian” from San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker. Costumes by Arnold’s grandmother, Eloise Arnold. Courtesy of the artist. 4 On Technique loved what I was doing. One of my best moments was bringing in all of the Christensen brothers—and their wives, Gisella Caccialanza and Ruby Asquith—to teach for one week at the university. This was the first and last time they all had been together for many years. After I moved to Salt Lake in 1962, I earned two master’s degrees at the University of...