Suzanne Farrell

Suzanne Farrell is one of George Balanchine’s most celebrated muses and remains a legendary figure in the ballet world.

Ms. Farrell joined Balanchine’s New York City Ballet in the fall of 1961 after a year as a Ford Foundation scholarship student at the School of American Ballet. Her unique combination of musical, physical and dramatic gifts quickly ignited Balanchine’s imagination. By the mid 1960’s she was not only Balanchine’s most prominent ballerina, she was a symbol of the era, and remains so to this day. By the time she retired from the stage in 1989, Ms. Farrell had achieved a career that is without precedent or parallel in the history of ballet.

During her 28 years on the stage, she danced a repertory of more than 100 ballets, nearly a third of which were composed expressly for her by Balanchine (Diamonds, Chaconne, Mozartiana) and other choreographers, including Jerome Robbins and Maurice Béjart. Her numerous performances with Balanchine’s company (more than 2,000), her world tours, and her appearances in television and movies have made her one of the most recognizable and highly esteemed artist of her generation.

In 2001, Ms. Farrell founded her own company, The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, with a mission to ensure and preserve the Balanchine legacy. The Company was based at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and toured both nationally and internationally to great acclaim until its conclusion in 2017.

Ms. Farrell continues to serve as a guardian of the Balanchine legacy, as a repetiteur for The George Balanchine Trust. She has staged Balanchine’s works for such companies as the Berlin Opera Ballet, The Vienna State Opera Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, the Paris Opera Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet, and many other American companies.

A Krafft’s Professor at FSU’s School of Dance, Farrell has been a member of the faculty for more than 20 years.

Ms. Farrell’s career has garnered her prestigious awards including the American Academy of Arts and Letters, The Kennedy Center Honors, National Medal of the Arts, Library of Congress Living Legend, Distinguished Achievement in the Arts, as well as Honorary Degrees from institutions including Harvard University, Yale University, Georgetown University, Notre Dame, University of Cincinnati, and Brandeis University.