Interview with Margot Small [Barnes]

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Title
Interview with Margot Small [Barnes]
Names
Balanchine, George (Choreographer)
Barnes, Margot Small (Interviewee)
DeFrantz, Thomas (Interviewer)
Caines, Christopher (Videographer)
George Balanchine Foundation (Presenter)
Collection

Popular Balanchine

Dates / Origin
Date Created: 2001
Table of Contents
Disc 1 (42 min.). Margot Small Barnes discusses performing in the Broadway musical House of flowers; her dance background and performing in a club in the village (Savannah Club) in New York City where Truman Capote, Peter Brook and Harold Arlen saw her perform and asked her to audition for House of flowers; meeting her dance partner Malley Jackson and performing in a duo called, Malley and Margot; looking at a picture of the Malley and Margot act; finding a replacement (Audrey Mason) for her in the act and then her replacement was also asked to join House of flowers; the rehearsal process of cutting and adding movements, George Balanchine being warm and friendly and having elegant choreography; Small Barnes dances some movements from the Mardi Gras number that was cut; talks about the parts she danced in the show; dances parts of the Madame Tango's tango number with discussion of the scene and the laughing entrance; the staging for Waitin' with the addition of more singing and dancing by Small Barnes; looking at a photograph of Bamboo cage number (cockfight scene) with identification of each of the dancers in the photograph; Small Barnes dances and sings part of the Bamboo cage number which was a mix of choreography by Balanchine and Herbert Ross; talks about the cockfight scene with clapping. |||| Disc 2 (42 min.). Begins with Thomas DeFrantz playing the music for Two ladies in the shade; discusses the Marti Gras number with the men leaping through a screen; Small Barnes dances and sings the Mardi Gras number; looking at a photograph of the pose at the end of Mardi Gras, she also identifies the dancers in the photograph; she talks about the Voudou scene while indicating the movement; dances and discusses the Turtle number in the Voudou scene; working with Balanchine in rehearsals; looking at several photographs from the show; watching Geoffrey Holder rehearsing his bonda number while listening to the music; discussion of the costumes by Oliver Messel and Balanchine and going to Brooks Brothers for measurements; the Slide boy slide number; the last time she remembers Balanchine at rehearsal; the transition from Balanchine to Ross as choreographers; DeFrantz and Christopher Caines briefly talk about having another session with focus on the movement since she remembers so much of it.
Library locations
Jerome Robbins Dance Division
Shelf locator: *MGZIDVD 5-7306
Topics
Balanchine, George
Barnes, Margot Small.
Ross, Herbert, 1927-2001
Arlen, Harold, 1905-1986. House of flowers
Musicals
Genres
Interviews
Notes
Content: This interview relates to the Popular Balancine dossiers (Boxes 36-37. House of Flowers) (1954) [Dance Division call number: *MGZMD 146, boxes 37-38, House of flowers], compiled by Thomas DeFrantz. Inventory, background materials (photocopies of print sources and one original symposium program), programs (photocopies and one original souvenir program), notices and reviews, photocopies of photographs, and transcripts of interviews with Louis Johnson, Mary Louise, Mary Mon Toy, Walter Nicks, Margot Small, and Glory Van Scott. Also includes photocopy of original working script, photocopies of music selections, and sheet music of Vocal selections from the Off-Broadway musical, House of Flowers.
Venue: Videotaped during an interview at the Balanchine Foundation, New York, N.Y., on Dec. 19, 2001.
Acquisition: Gift; George Balanchine Foundation. NN-PD
Physical Description
Videocassette
Extent: 2 videocassettes (DVCam) (84 min.) : sound, color ; 1/4 in.
Type of Resource
Moving image
Languages
English
Identifiers
NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b19683017
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 97576d00-f79a-0130-60ca-3c075448cc4b
Rights Statement
The copyright and related rights status of this item has been reviewed by The New York Public Library, but we were unable to make a conclusive determination as to the copyright status of the item. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use.

Item timeline of events

  • 2001: Created
  • 2018: Digitized
  • 2024: Found by you!
  • 2025

MLA Format

Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. "Interview with Margot Small [Barnes]" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 2001. https://qa-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/980364c0-f79a-0130-4fc5-3c075448cc4b

Chicago/Turabian Format

Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. "Interview with Margot Small [Barnes]" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed November 25, 2024. https://qa-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/980364c0-f79a-0130-4fc5-3c075448cc4b

APA Format

Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. (2001). Interview with Margot Small [Barnes] Retrieved from https://qa-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/980364c0-f79a-0130-4fc5-3c075448cc4b

Wikipedia Citation

<ref name=NYPL>{{cite web | url=https://qa-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/980364c0-f79a-0130-4fc5-3c075448cc4b | title= (moving image) Interview with Margot Small [Barnes], (2001)|author=Digital Collections, The New York Public Library |accessdate=November 25, 2024 |publisher=The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations}}</ref>

Interview with Margot Small [Barnes]