>> Knowing that Shakespeare existed,

that his work was of
the highest value in the day

and yet there were no texts surviving.

Or that Mozart was living on his
reputation alone,

with no scores remaining for us to study
or practice or be touched by.

Dancers face their history with this,
a sense of loss in a way

and dissatisfaction.

Our records, until recent years, 
and the advent of film and videotape

have been fragmentary.

Our theater dance, based on 400-year-old
traditions has been handed down

not on written text,
but from teacher to student.

And that's what we're here
to honor this week.

The traditions and our heritage
as dancers.

And also we'll hear an important
contributor to that tradition,

Igor Youskevitch.

This is a unique and historic gathering,

and I'm afraid it might
never happen again.

For the next four days,

the people that you will meet are--
and that will teach the classes

are really the national treasures
of American dance.

And there's real joy in their reunion
and it's a joy we can share in.

I know most of them have been
traveling all day today,

or they'll be traveling tomorrow

and so they're not here,
but I'd like to mention them

and if any of them are here
it would be nice if they stood up.

Anatole Vilzak, graduated from the
Imperial School in 1915.

For many here he was their first
teacher and he's loved and revered

by them, by all.

Alexandra Danilova was the last
ballerina with the Diaghilev Company

and she's now in the faculty of the
American Ballet School

and she will be here tomorrow.

Eugene Slavin and Alexandra Nadal

teach here in Austin and they were
with Ballet Russe

and before that they were--
I mean they were with Ballet Russe

and then after that they were
with the Royal Winnipeg Company.

And they taught two classes today.

Anna Scarpova Youskevitch is
sometimes known as Mrs. Youskevitch.

She also was with the Ballet Russe
and teaches in New York.

Roman Jasinski and Moscelyne Larkin
were with Ballet Russe

and they now have their own company
at a school in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Yvonne Chouteau and Miguel Terekhov,

head of the Dance Department at
the University of Oklahoma

and also were with Ballet Russe.

Robert Lindgren who is dean of the
Dance Department

at the North Carolina School
for the Performing Arts

was also with Ballet Russe.
He's arriving tomorrow.

Nicholas and Anne Polajenko
from the Houston Dance Center

were dancers in Europe with
Roland Petit's Ballet to Paris

and the London Festival Ballet.

Helen McGehee who taught a modern
class today and will teach another

modern class tomorrow was with the
Martha Graham Company for many years.

The teachers really stretch
from the, from the...

Imperial School to the Graham Company.

Sallie Wilson who is a Texan born dancer
who brought distinction to the

Tudor and the DeMille repertory 
in American Ballet Theater

will be teaching tomorrow.

And George Zoritch who was
also with the Ballet Russe

and teaches in Arizona will be here.

And we have writers.

Unfortunately, as you have seen,
Agnes de Mille will not be giving

her lecture tomorrow, but she will
be here on Saturday

and will be speaking
on the Gala on Sunday.

She's a writer, a dancer, a choreographer,
a lecturer who really brought

wonderful-- her wonderful
contribution and changed dance

in the American Musical Theater.

Walter Terry, the critic for the Saturday
Review and an excellent historian.

He's just recently completed a couple
of books that are for sale in the lobby.

He'll be arriving tomorrow
and sharing a panel

and the Gala.

Nancy (inaudible) Kaufman,

an Austin dance writer who also
has a radio program on NPR

and does lecture as well.

Jack Anderson, the dance critic
for the New York Times

who has recently completed a book,
"The One and Only Ballet Russe"

which is also in the lobby for sale,
a wonderful book.

Anne Barzel, a wonderful
dance critic from Chicago

who, for many years, wrote for the
Chicago Sun-Times

and has written valuable historical
works that we all use.

John Mueller who is a dance-film
expert and has taken some of the historic

films that will be shown in this theater
while the conference is on

and taken old silent films and slowed
them down and added sound

and done-- really shown us some
of the values of Mersenne

that would have been otherwise lost,
will be here.

Marilyn Hunt, Igor's biographer
and a dance writer for Dance Magazine.

Francis Mason, the editor
of Ballet Review

and Bill Como the editor
of Dance Magazine.

The founder of American Ballet Theater,
Lucia Chase

and the co-director of that company for
many years, the designer, Oliver Smith.

And performers on the Gala,

Eleanor de Antonio from Ballet Russe
and Ballet Theater

and her partner Raymond Smith from the
Royal-- National Ballet of Canada.

I always get that one mixed up.

Adam Luders and Heather Watts
from the City Ballet.

Most importantly, Alicia Alonso
and Jorge Esquivel, her partner,

and perhaps she and Mr. Youskevitch
which will close the conference together.

Close the Gala together.

Now there have been a lot of people
that have worked very hard putting this

together, it's been a joy to do
and a lot of work.

And the person who-- well two people who
believed in it from the very beginning

and have given total support
are our dean Robert Will

and our chairman Coleman Jennings.

(applause)

>> It's been a very exciting experience
and it's going to be even more exciting

as we continue. Certainly today
has gone very, very smoothly

and we're very happy.

On behalf of the Department of Drama
faculty, staff, and students, I wish to

welcome everyone. Especially our guests
who are coming and giving so much

of their time and their talents
to share with our students

and with the general public.

We see this as a major
educational endeavor.

The students are being exposed in various
ways to all of these famous people

in the ballet world and we're very
honored that so many people

have agreed so graciously
to come and to participate.

There are so many people to thank,
they will be officially thanked

in the program, but I would--
I must mention here

American Airlines and the Driskill Hotel
and Volume Services that have

contributed so much to
making this Gala possible.

Certainly the drama faculty, staff,
and students have gone

beyond all expectations in helping
to make this event work.

There are two students that have to
be singled out that have helped create

this program, Carol Clark
and Connie Hutchinson

who have given so much of their time
to help make everything work efficiently.

Also, the staff of the Performing Arts
Center, we have a very difficult

change over Saturday night
after the Pilobolus dance.

We, the department of drama,
the Youskevitch event moves into

the theater at midnight and will
work from midnight til eight o'clock,

the opening. The things that the
general public does not see,

all that behind the scenes, which requires
certainly a lot of dedication

on the part of all of our faculty
and staff and we greatly appreciate this.

President Flawn has also
contributed to this event

as well as the Texas Commission
on the Arts and Humanities.

And certainly, as Barbara pointed out,
the support of our dean

in the College of Fine Arts, Dean Wills,
we have received not only financial,

but moral and encouraging support
all along and we're very happy

to be able to present this tribute
to Igor Youskevitch

and 50 years of ballet in America.

Now I'm asking Dean Wills to say a word.

(applause)

>> I had known that this week would
be a significant event, I was reminded

I guess this afternoon of just how
significant when the telegrams

began to arrive over in our office,

aimed really at the people that were
in this building,

and one of them was addressed to
Igor Youskevitch University.

(audience laughs)

That idea impressed me and I wondered,
Coleman, whether you'd checked

with the president before
you'd changed the name.

(audience laughs)

I was, I was also impressed that that
telegram got delivered

without any question evidently,
whatsoever.

So, Western Union, evidently, joins
all the rest of us in this four days

of celebration of Igor Youskevitch
and perhaps more importantly

of his world, the world of dance
and the world of ballet in America

in the last 50 years.

We, at the university, are delighted,
of course that Igor Youskevitch

has been part of our lives
for the last ten years.

And we're delighted that he has brought
that world of ballet to us,

to the students, to the faculty, to this
community, and to the world at large.

So, on behalf of the University and
the College of Fine Arts

and its Department of Drama, let me
join all the others who welcome you,

who are our honored guests, you who
are our guests to see those that we honor

to this university. And I hope that in the
next four days you come to learn

all the benefits that we, at Igor
Youskevitch University, have to offer.

(audience laughs)
Thank you.

(applause)

>> Yeah, I think now, as you know,
there will be a showing of the film,

"Invitation to the Dance"
and I hope you enjoy it

and I'll see you all tomorrow.

(applause)

♪ (music) ♪

♪ (music intensifies) ♪

>> (inaudible)

(inaudible)

(inaudible)

>> This is why we should have been
for the theater.

>> Mhm.

This is at a nice angle.
>> Yeah, yeah this is a really nice angle.

>> It doesn't matter,
it doesn't matter to me.

It's-- no, it's up to you, however you
want if you want to go fast or slow.

>> Well that's alright, if you (inaudible)

(laughs)
>> Well, that's okay.

>> (inaudible)

If it's okay with the actor it's okay with
the director, nobody gets anything done.

Glad to see he has the
same problem as I do.

>> I mean I can fill it out
on the stage more, too. Yeah.

>> He's so funny, he's really...

♪ (music) ♪

♪ (music intensifies) ♪

♪ (music intensifies) ♪

>> (inaudible)

♪ (drums join in) ♪

♪♪

(inaudible)

(laughs)

>> What?
He's crazier than--

>> He's showing her how to
stagger and die. (laughs)

>> Oh yeah.

>> (inaudible)

>> He's so cute.
(laughs)

He is!