On January 16, I’ll be interviewing Mimi Paul and Edward Villella for the Balanchine Foundation, after they rehearse their old roles in Balanchine’s Bugaku with New York City Ballet’s Maria Kowroski and Jared Angle.
Bugaku was created in 1963 for Allegra Kent and Villella; second cast was Paul and Arthur Mitchell. But in London, Paul and Villella were paired in it during NYCB’s 1965 visit. And they had a tremendous success. Two great dancers and each highly original.
So to prepare, I went to the Library for the Performing Arts and watched Paul and Mitchell run through their roles for a practice-clothes video record in 1964, and I also saw three minutes of Mimi dancing it at Ravinia with NYCB in 1963. Oooh.