Edward Bigelow, a longtime dancer and administrator at the New York City Ballet who originated many dramatic character roles including the Mouse King in George Balanchine’s “Nutcracker,” died on Monday in a car accident in Sharon, Conn. He was 93 and lived in West Cornwall, Conn.
Mr. Bigelow lost control on Route 7 and collided head-on with a truck, the state police said. He was alone in the car, and the truck driver was not seriously injured, the police said.
Although Mr. Bigelow performed as a dancer from 1946 through the 1960s, he was also known as a versatile aide-de-camp to both Lincoln Kirstein and Balanchine, City Ballet’s founders. He became an assistant to Balanchine in 1949 while still a dancer, was a production assistant from 1951 to 1977 and had the title of manager from 1978 to 1987.
In his recent memoir “I Was a Dancer,” Jacques d’Amboise, the former City Ballet star, said,
Eddie performed in anything and everything,” he added, “and was a lifelong servant to dance and dancers.”
via Edward Bigelow, Dancer With the New York City Ballet, Dies at 93 – NYTimes.com
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano’) about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia’ column for Dancing Times magazine.
