Todd Bolender letters to Joel Schnee

1974-2003

Todd Bolender was born Feb. 27, 1914 in Canton, Ohio and settled in New York City in 1936 where he studied with Hanya Holm. Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine recruited him for their first company, the American Ballet. Kirstein asked him to join Ballet Caravan and he was a novice choreographer with Ballet Society. When New York City Ballet was founded in 1948, there began a long association between Bolender and the company which included memorable performances in Balanchine's The four temperaments, Symphonie concertante, and Agon, Jerome Robbins' Age of anxiety and Concert, and creating his own works Still point, Souvenirs, and Creation of the world. A period of working abroad included being ballet director in Cologne and Frankfurt, Germany and the Ataturk Opera House in Turkey. He became artistic director of the Kansas City Ballet (later renamed the State Ballet of Missouri) in 1981, retiring in 1996. As artistic director emeritus, he continued to supervise his own works for the company. He died, age 92, in Kansas City, Kan. on Oct. 12, 2006. Personal letters written over a 30 year span to colleague Joel Schnee, discussing their mutual careers as choreographers and ballet directors, especially in Germany and Turkey. People discussed include Heinz Spoerli, William Whitener, James Jordan, Betty Cage, Una Kai, Sevgi Hanim, New York City Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, the George Balanchine Foundation, and State Ballet of Missouri. Passing references are made to George Balanchine, Janet Reed, the United States Information Agency, San Francisco Ballet, John Taras, and George W. Bush.