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Boston Ballet Alumni Net News and Links

  • My first link is to my First Partner onstage, Alphy, or, as he is known internationally, Alphonse Poulin. He is on the Staff of The Juillard School. You can reach their main page from the above link to Alphonse. Here is a link to a "photo of Alphy as he was when he was my partner."

    I love Alphy's advice to young dancers "Love your teachers"

    Alphy was involved in a book signing for a book called "Knitting With a Smile".

  • One of my very favorite teachers at the Boston Ballet was Miss Chellie, internationally known as Rochelle Zide. Chellie was a student of Virginia's before joining the Boston Ballet Company, and then teaching at the Boston Ballet School. I expect to post in our photo galleries a set of wonderful photos of the gorgeous Rochelle Zide-Booth. It may be the best collection on the internet. If you find a better one, please let me know.

  • My very very dear friend and advisor, Stephanie Marini is in a Nutcracker photo in our Nutcracker Gallery. Stephanie is a lot of fun. She and her youngest son Wyatt visited with us in Tucson during Wyatt's winter break. We all had a wonderful time.

    Stephanie taught some classes at my studio in Tucson, Arizona Ballet Theatre while she was here. She also lectured about auditioning for summer programs and gave individual pointers to each dancer and had long discussions with their parents!

  • Violette Verdy, a distinguished professor in the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, has been named a Chevalier (Knight) in France's National Order of the Legion of Honor, an award from President M. Nicolas Sarkozy. The order is France's highest decoration.

    "I was totally taken by surprise, honored and delighted," said Verdy, one of the premier ballet dancers of the twentieth century. "My whole family has great respect for the order. The men in the family have gone to war. We always thought it was reserved for military heroes, and I never thought of it for myself. I'm amazed; I'm really amazed and deeply, deeply touched."

    The National Order of the Legion of Honor -- the first modern order of merit -- was established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802.

    "This is an incredible and well-deserved honor for Violette," said Michael Vernon, chair of the IU Ballet Department. "It is very fitting for someone who, through her teaching and coaching, has given back so much to so many dancers over the years. We in the ballet department at IU are certainly lucky and privileged to have Distinguished Professor Verdy -- who has worked with the brightest stars of the ballet world in our time -- working on the faculty on a daily basis with our majors."