WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.700 --> 00:00:08.640 This is audio on channel one, tone on channel one. 2 00:00:09.520 --> 00:00:15.900 Audio on channel two will be the microphone attached to the Mrs. Page at the dinner at 3 00:00:15.900 --> 00:00:18.540 the Arts Council in Chicago. 4 00:00:19.340 --> 00:00:21.400 It's May 1, 1985. 5 00:00:21.660 --> 00:00:25.120 This will be bars and tone for the next 30 seconds. 6 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:27.580 This is tape number 16. 7 00:00:28.600 --> 00:00:30.180 The Eiffel on production to the Tom Farrity video. 8 00:00:30.200 --> 00:00:31.260 Come on, sit down. 9 00:00:32.540 --> 00:00:34.680 He went to the chapel room. 10 00:00:35.320 --> 00:00:37.520 So get him and bring him so he can sit with us. 11 00:00:37.960 --> 00:00:40.120 I think he'll be more comfortable sitting with us. 12 00:00:49.500 --> 00:00:50.480 Yeah, fine. 13 00:00:51.660 --> 00:00:52.080 Fine. 14 00:00:52.540 --> 00:00:54.040 And we'll put Robbie right there. 15 00:00:54.040 --> 00:00:55.360 You are the sitting piece. 16 00:00:55.660 --> 00:00:56.320 Robbie Shankar. 17 00:00:57.080 --> 00:00:57.620 Do you know him? 18 00:00:58.960 --> 00:00:59.440 Can you go on? 19 00:01:00.740 --> 00:01:02.940 This time he's really losing everybody. 20 00:01:03.300 --> 00:01:04.960 Even the veterans don't like that. 21 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:10.840 You know, it's a long time ago, but on the other hand, he fought in that war. 22 00:01:11.900 --> 00:01:12.660 He's going to be German. 23 00:01:13.140 --> 00:01:18.200 The way they're taking pictures, they're like, can't scratch my nose. 24 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:22.460 I think people are very sympathetic. 25 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:30.900 Where A, you have soldiers who are important people, and B, that's soldiers that fought in your country. 26 00:01:32.100 --> 00:01:33.460 That doesn't make any sense. 27 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:34.940 It certainly does. 28 00:01:35.940 --> 00:01:37.580 It was a cold one. 29 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:39.420 It was not just one in the dark. 30 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:42.480 They struck in the other one before it was in the cold. 31 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:44.540 He made a mistake, too. 32 00:01:44.540 --> 00:01:45.180 I'm sorry. 33 00:01:48.080 --> 00:01:51.500 He seems pretty powerful now, having made that decision. 34 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:53.820 So maybe he's very impressed with the veterans. 35 00:01:54.740 --> 00:01:57.860 Maybe, but I think it's caused too much alienation. 36 00:01:58.360 --> 00:02:01.720 So it's better for the veterans to be kind and smart. 37 00:02:02.260 --> 00:02:03.540 I think adversely. 38 00:02:13.220 --> 00:02:23.700 The next time she came here was when Otto Fowl started the Allied Arts and conductor of the orchestra. 39 00:02:23.940 --> 00:02:28.380 It was Allied Arts because it was new music, new dance. 40 00:02:29.040 --> 00:02:33.520 The new music and the orchestra for the dance was conducted by Eric Dahl. 41 00:02:41.340 --> 00:03:03.400 She was a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina 42 00:03:03.400 --> 00:03:16.600 She did a lot of the arts. She did the rapper in the quarterback, which she danced with Paul Dupont. And there again you get her interest in Americana, things that are new. She always was adventuresome. 43 00:03:17.820 --> 00:03:32.400 At Ravigne, she danced as a premier dansuse and also did the choreography for the opera ballets. The big one was Samson and Delilah. In one of her books she writes that when Madame Butterfly was scheduled 44 00:03:32.640 --> 00:03:41.700 and then without notice when the prima donna was unavailable she was told, oh we're going to do Samson and Delilah. And that has a great big ballet. 45 00:03:42.360 --> 00:03:49.740 Ruth was busy on the telephone calling Chicago dancers and I guess she's been doing that ever since. 46 00:03:51.440 --> 00:03:57.920 That's part of the trade that she has earned. That's one of the things that Ruth Page is loved for. 47 00:03:57.920 --> 00:04:20.500 All through her years Chicago dancers were nurtured, coached, became dancers because she offered them opportunities. While she was at Ravigne she lived near the, with the Fisher family living on Fisher Lane and when that's good later on she had her little house at Hubbard Woods. 48 00:04:20.500 --> 00:04:41.980 Ruth is a great hostess and all the famous people that performed at Ravigne usually stopped at Ruth's house and all the famous people she knew I remember, where she had Paul Graberger, George Gershwin or Salvador Dali or Beatrice Lilly all went to Ravigne either when they were performing there or were her guests. 49 00:04:41.980 --> 00:04:57.320 An important part of the seven years when Ruth was at Ravigne were the Sunday afternoons when they did all ballet concerts. Some of it was designed for children or adult ballets. 50 00:04:57.640 --> 00:05:07.840 She had a commission score by a Marcel Delanois, a French composer and did a Cinderella at Ravigne. She was Cinderella and a very beautiful one. 51 00:05:08.580 --> 00:05:23.320 I remember I was just talking to Edward Gordon about it. One of the stepsisters in her version of Cinderella was Farah Krasnopolski. Some of you connected with music may remember there was a Krasnopolski in the Chicago Symphony. 52 00:05:24.360 --> 00:05:38.980 Farah was a dancer and you may know that there's a very handsome young conductor floating somewhere around by the name of Yuri Krasnopolski. I know when he was guest conductor with ABT the girls were all swooning about him. 53 00:05:40.660 --> 00:05:57.900 Ruth's years at Ravigne were very beautiful. Those years I saw very much of her. I didn't know her personally until a bit later. I've known her only about 50 years. As she confessed to me at 86 now I missed the first 30 or so years. 54 00:06:02.860 --> 00:06:21.880 After Ravigne she had all this great experience of working with ensemble and knowing how to do it. She became the choreographer, ballet mistress, whatever they called it in those days, the leading dancer for the Chicago Civic Opera Company and Chicago dancers. 55 00:06:21.880 --> 00:06:40.020 She worked in many ballets but always there were gala evenings in which her own ballets were done. There was much more ballet and ballet in Chicago was always connected with the opera company, a company that grew out of that. 56 00:06:40.020 --> 00:06:53.100 It's interesting that one of her greatest periods was that she had the company called the Chicago Opera Ballet which toured coast to coast in ballets made from the opera scores. 57 00:06:55.700 --> 00:07:12.120 I must confess I'm not too crazy about sopranos. I'd much rather see a prima ballerina dance traviata than sing it. Ruth really still loves opera. She really goes with opera, she begs to go. She really likes it. 58 00:07:12.120 --> 00:07:28.160 She went deeply into the story. I think it's her Ravigne experience that led her into that. When she did the ballets based on the opera there was a depth of character and they were beautifully done and beautifully designed. 59 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:44.640 Her scenery and costumes were always very wonderful. Interesting that in the opera ballets instead of wearing the usual opera costumes she had first Nicholas Remesov designing for the ballet. 60 00:07:44.640 --> 00:08:05.520 I still remember in Aida how authentic the ballet costumes were much more so than the Egyptian singers were. There's a little anecdote in Ravigne that when the costumes were being assigned Ruth wrote to her mother that the budget was very low. 61 00:08:05.520 --> 00:08:23.520 Couldn't she please make a costume for her? Which I imagine being a mother she did. Ruth went on and on in Chicago much further. The great days of the Chicago Opera Ballet when they toured developed dancers. She brought in stars that nobody else had seen. 62 00:08:23.520 --> 00:08:43.220 I think by now it's a legend. We know she brought in Nuraya first but she had Danish dancers, Henning Kroos, Stanley Kirsten, Simona. More important she developed musicians. Robert Wolfe of Chicago who composed for her, Neil Cairns who did some composing and also conducted the orchestra. 63 00:08:43.220 --> 00:08:57.460 Dancers such as Patricia Klekovich now teaching in her school and Kevin Johnson, Orrin Cain. Chicago has a great deal to remember and thank Ruth Page for which I do now. Thank you. 64 00:08:57.920 --> 00:08:58.500 Thank you. 65 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:04.940 Thank you. 66 00:09:04.940 --> 00:09:04.980 Thank you. 67 00:09:05.040 --> 00:09:05.480 Thank you, Anne. 68 00:09:07.140 --> 00:09:09.120 Thank you, Anne. 69 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:13.920 And now I'd like to introduce Ravigne's Executive Director, Edward Barton. 70 00:09:20.820 --> 00:09:34.780 Thank you, Donald. We've covered some interesting history here tonight. Ravigne and Ruth. And now I have the opportunity to make an announcement regarding Ruth and Ravigne that focuses on the future. 71 00:09:34.780 --> 00:09:45.080 It is my pleasure and privilege to share with you the news of a special tribute to Ruth Page for her great accomplishment which continues right through to the present. 72 00:09:46.400 --> 00:09:55.580 In 1985, Ravigne is inaugurating a Ruth Page Week of Ballet with the San Francisco Ballet Residents from August 20 through 24. 73 00:09:55.580 --> 00:10:09.220 Every season in which the ballet is presented, a week will be identified as the Ruth Page Week of Ballet. Ravigne is pleased to provide this ongoing recognition of Ruth's importance to the world of dance. 74 00:10:09.900 --> 00:10:14.100 And now I am delighted, on behalf of the Festival, to introduce Ruth Page. 75 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:16.080 Thank you. 76 00:10:23.160 --> 00:10:24.680 Thank you. 77 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:40.980 Thank you very much for all these kind words. 78 00:10:40.980 --> 00:10:48.420 You know, I remember Ravigne with such great pleasure. It was the first job I think I ever had. 79 00:10:49.040 --> 00:10:55.000 And when I came to Chicago, I said, I've got to have a job. And I can't remember how I got that job. 80 00:10:55.780 --> 00:11:04.680 I really can't remember anything about it. But that's where I really learned my trade. I learned how to choreograph for operas. And I do love opera. 81 00:11:04.680 --> 00:11:13.680 And I was there, I think it was seven years until Louis Eckstein died. Nobody remembers Louis Eckstein. He was the one who gave Ravigne. 82 00:11:14.400 --> 00:11:21.520 He's the one who financed all the operas alone. I don't know how he did it. But I thought it was very remarkable. 83 00:11:21.860 --> 00:11:28.100 And I'm very delighted to hear that Ravigne now is going to have an Honest to God Music School. 84 00:11:28.100 --> 00:11:33.280 And I wish they'd have a dancing school too. Then maybe I could get a job. 85 00:11:36.200 --> 00:11:42.600 So anyway, we'll go on. I don't know what's going to happen next, but this has been very exciting up till now. Thank you very much. 86 00:11:59.960 --> 00:12:05.500 Thank you, Ruth. And thank you all for making this a very, very special evening. 87 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:12.840 We hope to see you at Ravigne for the dance, for the San Francisco Ruth Page Week, and for all the rest of the summer. 88 00:12:13.700 --> 00:12:17.600 And one day, perhaps we will be able to give Ruth a job again. 89 00:12:18.640 --> 00:12:20.560 I want to say one thing. 90 00:12:22.940 --> 00:12:30.440 We have a very, very distinguished guest with us tonight. And this is he. It's Ravigne Schoenker. 91 00:12:31.040 --> 00:12:40.500 And he's a marvelous musician. He's here to compose some music. But anyway, we're so delighted to have him here.