Early days
Stanley Williams was born in England but grew
up in Copenhagen, and was enrolled at the
Royal Danish School of Ballet. His instruction
was steeped in the Bournonville tradition,
training with Harald Lander, although he also
studied with Vera Volkova, a disciple of
Agrippina Vaganova. In 1943, Williams joined
the Royal Danish Ballet, becoming a principal
dancer six years later, and by 1950 he had
begun teaching at the Royal Danish School of
Ballet in Copenhagen.
In the 1950s, Stanley Williams was
performing as a principal dancer with George
Krista's Ballet Comique in London, where he
also stood as balletmaster.
By 1964, Williams's reputation had
reached George Balanchine, who invited him to
instruct at the School of American Ballet in
New York City.
New York
From 1964 until his death in 1997, Stanley
Williams was first among instructors at the
School of American Ballet. As a teacher, he
was soft-spoken.
His original teaching style relied a lot
on exercises to develop speed, foot work and
petit allegro (small jumps), in the tradition
of the Bournonville and Balanchine ballet
styles. Williams contrasted slow movement with
sudden, almost spastic moves, and spoke in
vague terms that some students found hard to
understand. One of his famous phrases was
"You're going out, you have to go in," which
he constantly repeated to correct many
different types of movements and steps without
being too specific.
Williams often stressed his dislike of
certain features of the Russian ballet style,
which in his opinion, lacked the movement
flow, continuity and contrast he was seeking.
He smoked a pipe and was the only person
allowed to smoke in the Rose building, where
SAB and NYCB are situated. He apparently
accepted the job as a teacher on the condition
that he be allowed to smoke in the building.
The smell of his pipe, which often pervaded
the SAB corridors, became associated with him
and SAB. He often worked in class with
pianists like Lynn Stanford
or Katerina Baptist. They played for him using
triolet giving an impression of a soft circle
music. Katerina Baptist released a CD of music
for the class "in memory of Stanley Williams".
In 1992 he was awarded the Mae L. Wien
Award of $10,000 by the School of American Ballet.
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