Photos by Tanya Schmidt

Bruce Marks is here for three more years, and Orlando Ballet (and area balletophiles) couldn't be happier.

Marks, internationally acclaimed artist and director, will be Artistic Director for Orlando Ballet through the 2008-09 season. The appointment follows his service as Interim Artistic Director after the unexpected death of artistic director Fernando Bujones. In the course of his three-year term, Marks will work with Orlando Ballet directing all artistic productions as well as dancer growth and development, and fulfilling Orlando Ballet's artistic mission.

A native of New York City, Marks trained at the New York High School for the Performing Arts, Brandeis University, and The Juilliard School. After five years with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, including appearing at the Spoleto Festival, Marks joined American Ballet Theatre in 1961. After ten years at ABT, he became the first American principal dancer at the Royal Danish Ballet, where he remained for five years. He was named Artistic Director of Ballet West in 1976, and in 1985 was appointed Artistic Director of Boston Ballet. Under his direction, his companies built a reputation for presenting authentic versions of the classics and encouraging daring modern works. Says Russell Allen, Orlando Ballet's Executive Director, "Marks's accomplishments in leading Ballet West and Boston Ballet during the '80s and '90s earned him acclaim as one of the pre-eminent artistic directors in the world today."

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BE: Congratulations on being named Artistic Director. Let's start with where you met Fernando Bujones, and how long you had been friends.
BM: I met Fernando probably 40 years ago. He came up [to New York] from Miami as a 10- or 11-year-old. He came to visit me when I was a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theater. This little boy came up and asked me and my wife, also a principal dancer, if we would have our pictures taken with him. I said I'd be proud to. I didn't know who he was at the time, but seven years later he would be dancing next to me at ABT.

He had joined the chorus ballet, then he went off and won the Gold Medal at the International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria, in 1974, and that was the end of his anonymity in New York. He was fast becoming the most exciting ballet star in America.

I left ABT and went off to the Royal Danish Ballet only to meet him on and off again for many years. Years later, when he and Mikhail Baryshnikov had a falling-out, Fernando came to dance with me in Denmark. I was Director of the Boston Ballet at the time. I said, "How about coming to dance in Boston for me?" Well, of course, he danced all over the world, but he had a permanent place at the Boston Ballet in between his international stops.

And, of course, he changed my company. When you have a dancer of that stature who comes to dance with a company that's not in New York, it gives all of the other wonderful principal men in the world permission to come dance with us, too. He really did help lift that company.

BE: How does it feel to be the leader now of "his" ballet? And how would you assess the quality of the dancers compared with ABT, Boston, etc.?
BM: I was very surprised when I got here to see the level of the company. One doesn't expect a smaller city like Orlando to have this quality of dancers, so I was thrilled. And many of his hallmarks were all over them—the great elegance and the wonderful technique—and it's not surprising that the men in our company are so strong. It's part of his legacy.

I had no intention of ever directing another ballet company. I left Boston Ballet Company in 1998 and was living happily in Fort Lauderdale when I heard that Fernando was ill. I initially called to say, "If there's anything I can do . . ."

I didn't know that Peter Starks was here. Peter Starks—who runs our school—danced for me at the Boston Ballet. After speaking with him, I called Orlando Ballet Executive Director Russell Allen and said, "You may not know me, perhaps you've never heard of me, but I'm the oldest living American ballet director."

I received a call from Peter a few days later saying, "Yes, you could help us out. Why don't you come and just give one class." Well, of course, there's no such thing as "just one" with this company—once you meet them you just have to love them. They're so wonderful and polite and kind, with no attitude. It's just great. I really enjoy it.

[Note: Bujones died a week after that. The board called on Marks to lead a search committee. He moved here on January 1st. Two months into the search he was approached about filling the position himself. —BE]

When I left Boston Ballet, it had a $16 million budget, a new building with 60,000 sq. ft. of studio and office space, a terrific reputation, and I said, "I've done my job. I can retire." And here I am now, with this tiny little budget and this tiny little company, and it feels like I'm in my 30s again and starting all over. So I'm having a terrific time.

BE: You changed Raymonda and added modern dance to the program, right?
BM: Raymonda is a full evening's ballet. Fernando had choreographed the third act for me when he was in Boston. He would have choreographed the first two acts, but when it was clear he wasn't coming back, we had to decide what to do. So I said, "Let's do his third act of Raymonda and put two other things on the program." We did my first ballet here, Lark Ascending, which I'm happy to say got a terrific reception.

BE: That's why I thought I might see more modern dance on the schedule, but it contains many classics.
BM: You're talking to a former modern dancer—I feel great about modern work. What we need to do as we're building the company, though, is to make sure we have a large subscription audience. Most but not all of the subscribers want to see the full-length classics. Once we get those under our belt, I'm looking at the possibility of doing a full evening of Twyla Tharpe's work. It's really high-energy. I want to do some young American choreographers, too—an all-American night. I have many things I've created over the years that I'd like to bring to the stage, both contemporary and classical ballets. I'm working on a five-year repertory plan now and I draw attention to some really exciting new works.

BE: I heard that Orlando Ballet was recently named the Official Ballet of—Tampa?
BM: Yes, we are—we have just taken over the Tampa Conservatory Program. They had a ballet school, and so now we are going to be teaching kids in Tampa, too. We'll also expand our programming there. I would like to have three places in Central Florida to give our company more performing opportunities. There are cities here that don't have ballet companies; we'd like to be their company.

BE: What would you like your legacy to be?
BM: My usual take on ballet companies is growing them. I want to make sure that when I leave here, Fernando's work is well-entrenched, that his company—I still consider this to be his company, and it will be for another year or two—I hope it ranks as one of the nation's most interesting ballet companies, and that's what I'd like to do. I seemed able to do that at Ballet West in Salt Lake City, with the Boston Ballet, and I would like to do that here. What we have here is an exciting population. We are growing so fast. We deserve a great big beautiful ballet company, and I plan to give Orlando one of those.

BE: Any closing thoughts? Anything you'd like to add?
BM: I'd like to invite everyone to come see Bravo Bujones! on November 11th. It's a gala evening celebrating his life. We'll be bringing in some very exciting principal male dancers. I'm going to let the men go loose and have eight or nine men doing what one man usually does on the stage. Rasta Thomas will be here, as well as some very exciting Cuban dancers.

It will be high-energy and very exciting to see all of these great male dancers on our stage. And it will pay tribute to a man who has changed male dancing forever.

S