Dancing For The Master

Tribute To George Balanchine

Dancer on the shore
Lift that heel just a little more
Always reaching for perfection
The perfect arabesque
They never mentioned
It cannot be achieved
So let the music carry you
You can fly as high as you believe

In time came control
Over muscles that felt older
Than they should at seventeen
Somewhere it happened suddenly
To leap like deer
And turn with control
Jump without fear
Free from gravity’s hold
To know freedom in mid-air
To be a picture for the music
Skin white and fair
A body for the notes to share

The dancer is an instrument
In the choreographer’s creative land
Used to highlight the instruments
Playing what was written by the composer’s hand


And of cats and cowboys
And the ballet’s that you crafted
It was for you that we danced
The genius and the master
Now that you are gone
Your legacy of repertoire lives on
The greatest honor my life has ever seen
Was to dance for you
Mr. Balanchine

©  Katherine M. Wyatt 2008







George Balanchine
1904-1983