Interview: Marilyn Klaus, Artistic Director/Choreographer

INTERVIEW WITH MARILYN KLAUS, FOUNDER/ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF “BALLETS WITH A TWIST”, NEW YORK CITY

Marilyn Klaus is an American choreographer and artistic director based in New York City.  In 1996, she founded her company, Ballets With A Twist, with her husband, Grammy-nominated composer Stephen Gaboury, (who has arranged songs and accompanied singer Cyndi Lauper), and costume designer Catherine Zehr.  Her ballet, Cocktail Hour: The Show, which consists of classically-trained dancers, will be performed at the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country, in Boone, North Carolina, on Saturday, July 6.   I had the privilege of having a very delightful and informative conversation with Marilyn. 

BWW:  What sparked your interest in dance? 

Marilyn:  When I was three-years old, while living in Los Angeles, California, I started taking hula and tap dance classes at the Los Angeles Athletic Club, the privately-owned athletic and social club where celebrity members like Charlie Chaplin lived.  During that period, Los Angeles had that whole love affair with Hawaii. I started choreographing immediately and would perform dance routines I created for my family.  On one occasion, I got all worked up while trying to impress my family and had an asthma attack. The ambulance was called to transport me to the hospital, and I was given oxygen.  That didn’t stop my passion for dance.  At an early age, I made my parents take me to the store to purchase point shoes.  Although I had never taken ballet classes, I was very interested in the art form.  When I was six years old, I choreographed and performed my first dance routine “Flight of the Bumblebee”.  I decided to put a piece of scotch tape in the middle of the record LP so that when the needle hit the scotch tape that would be the end of the dance routine.  I got in a lot of trouble with the dancing instructor because she said I was doing “impromptu”. My dance teacher had been a Busby Berkeley type of dancer.  Busby Berkeley was an American film director and musical choreographer who produced elaborate musicals that involved complex geometric patterns. Even though I didn’t know what impromptu was – I assumed it was a terrible thing. But her reprimand didn’t stop me – I kept dancing and choreographing my performances.

When I was six years old, I attended ballet lessons with my Dad, Frank Klaus.  We studied with a European immigrate.  Many of the European dance teachers had to leave Europe because of World War II.  The classes were taught at night and were comprised mostly of adults.  I was the only child student.  My dad was an incredible ballroom dancer as well.  I danced with him many times. I also trained with Carmelita Maracci. Carmelita was an American concert dancer and choreographer who creatively combined ballet arts and Spanish technique.

BWW:  Marilyn, Tell Me About Your Parentage.

My parents met at a dance club in Los Angeles.  My mother, Mary Margaret McCurry, moved to Los Angeles from Oklahoma during the Grapes of Wrath period, which took place during the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s. My dad, Frank Klaus is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is the son of middleweight boxing champion, Frank Klaus, Sr. (known as the “Braddock Bearcat”).    Sometimes, boxing matches were fought in the forest (without boxing gloves), that’s how my grandfather was discovered.  He was a coal miner, a very tough guy.   My grandfather claimed the World Middleweight Championship in 1913 and was inducted in the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1974. I believe that my dancing skills evolved from my grandfather.

BWW:  Where Did You Receive Your Formal Education?

Marilyn:  When I was eighteen-years old, I discovered that New York University (NYU) had a very good performing arts and dance program.  I wrote a letter to the university, auditioned, and was accepted into NYU’s performing arts and dance program at The Tisch School of the Arts.  It was a highly creative program.  That is when I really began creating a lot of choreography.  I received a degree in Theatre Dance from New York University.  Once I graduated, I started shopping my work around New York.  From this point on, I never stopped choreographing.  I danced in my own work as well. Dancing and choreographing went hand-in-hand for me.

BWW:  What did you discover differently about your move from Los Angeles to New York?

Marilyn:  When I moved to New York, I thought that musical theatre would be like the great movie musicals that I had seen with Ruby Keeler, the great American actress who was paired with Dick Powell in a string of musicals at Warner Brothers to include 42nd Street, in 1933.   Instead, I was shocked to have arrived in the middle of minimalism when ballet was viewed as an elite art form, which appeared to be a bad thing. That didn’t stop me; I just kept dancing even though it appeared to be bad timing.  Later, I choreographed my own ballets.

BWW: Tell me what inspired you to establish Ballets With A Twist.

Marilyn:  After being in New York for a while, I had an incredible Australian ballet teacher named Valerie Grieg from Melbourne.   I created this dance program and when Valerie saw it, she said I should call it Ballets With A Twist.  So, she is the one who gave the program its name. This program was inspired by my unusual upbringing in Los Angeles.  In the early 1950s, my father was a bartender at the nightclub, the 331 Club, in downtown Los Angeles, which was owned by my godfather, Herb Rose.  The late Nat King Cole was a pianist at the 331 Club, before he became a famous singer.    In 1958, my parents had dance parties on the patio of our home.  They installed a wooden dance floor on the patio and their friends would come to the house and dance.  They called it Les Amis, which means “friends” in French.  It was similar to an adult cotillion.  I would sit on the stairs and watch the ladies arrive – they wore short bouffant dresses – some had pink and blue hair…it was wild.  I would watch them dance and they also had cocktails.  I became really familiar with these cocktails that my parents’ friends ordered at these parties.  The first dance I choreographed was the Mai Tai, again based on the Hawaiian influence.  Because I had studied hula since early childhood, I was familiar with all the classical mudras and arm movements, which was similar to the arm movements in ballet, called port de bras.  So, I choreographed the dance routines and incorporated the hula dance with ballet. Henceforth, the birthing of Cocktail Hour: The Show.

BWW:  Marilyn, what brings you to the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country, in Boone, North Carolina?

Marilyn:  Well, we do our own bookings.  We reach out to program directors throughout the United States to introduce our show.  Suzanne Livesay, the Executive Director of the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country, thought enough of our offering that she decided to take a risk and bring a dance company from New York to North Carolina. 

BWW:  What are some of the cocktail-related performances that the audience will experience during the performance of Cocktail Hour: The Show, at the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country?

Marilyn:  We are opening the show with Martini, which has a James Bond theme.  Then we are doing Champagne, with a Lil Nas X and Beyonce nod.  We will also perform Brandy Alexander that refers back to “Alexander The Great” of Macedonia.  There is a variety of music, pop, jazz, and classical music.

BWW:  What would you like your potential audience to know about the show?

Marilyn:  It is a family-friendly show.  We have two mocktails – The Shirley Temple and The Roy Rogers.  It is an international cast.  There are men in the show, it is not just for the women.  The costumes are amazing.  I want to excite our audience about dance, as American audiences were excited by Fred Astaire and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson.  Dance is our art form! I want it to be entertaining as well as educational and beautiful.  Just like the term “spirits” implies, it is uplifting.

BWW:  Thank you, Marilyn for this insightful conversation.  I want to encourage patrons located in Boone, North Carolina, and surrounding areas to purchase tickets to this great show, Cocktail Hour: The Show, scheduled for Saturday, July 6, at 7pm, at the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country.   

Here is the ticket website:  https://www.apptheatre.org/events-and-tickets/cocktail-hour-the-show

For more information concerning the company, Ballets With A Twist, visit website:  https://www.balletswithatwist.com/

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