|
 Mother
& Child Reunion
By Nancy Wozny
Dual-generation teams share a unique bond through dance
Jill & Richard d’Alton
Mother/son stories are common in the dance world. Boys learn
to dance from their mothers, leave for distant places, then
return and help their mothers teach. That, and more, happened
to Jill and Richard d’Alton. They have shared success, the
disappointment of divorce, and change together. Their story is
still unfolding,
and recently, a new chapter opened in Houston.
At their newly launched joint venture, International Ballet of
Houston (IBH), mother and son make a synergistic duo even
though they are as different as night and day. “We work
together extraordinarily well,” says Richard. “We bounce off
each other and spark new ideas. That way we can formulate the
best plan.”
Richard grew up watching his parents dance in Ireland. Jill
danced with the now defunct Irish National Ballet from 1972 to
1979, then spent the next decade dancing in Belgium and The
Netherlands. She and her husband, Babil Gandaral, moved to
McAllen, TX, to take over the McAllen Ballet Studio in 1990.
Richard took his time following in his family’s footsteps. At
12 he tried flamenco and jazz. “I didn’t care much for
ballet,” he says. “I used to hide so I didn’t have to go to
class.” Eventually he figured out that in order to improve his
jazz dancing he would need classical training. He was hooked
after his first ballet class. Jill was his first teacher. “In
the studio I was a student,” Richard says. “And at home I was
her son. That was the best way for me to learn to dance.”
Graduating early from high school, at 16 he headed to Houston
Ballet Academy. There he met respected Cuban teacher Lazaro
Carreño, who suggested he finish his training in Cuba. In awe
of Carlos Acosta, who was dancing with Houston Ballet at the
time, Richard wanted the same training. “Although Cuba was my
idea, my mother was instrumental in all of my career
decisions,” he says.
The young dancer left for Cuba in 1996 not knowing a word of
Spanish. “When you have this Cuban teacher yelling at you at
the top of her lungs, you learn Spanish really quickly,” he
says. “Although the written methodology exam was a huge
struggle for me in Spanish, I managed to pass.” He spent four
years in Cuba and gra duated
second in his class (below Rolando Sarabia, now a Houston
Ballet principal dancer). After receiving his diploma from
Ramona de Sáa (see “Making Mirror Dance,” January/
February), he danced with National Ballet of Cuba for a year,
then joined Orlando Ballet. He says the decision to work with
Fernando Bujones (OB’s former director, who died in 2005) was
a crucial move in his career; Bujones’ wisdom has informed his
choices ever since.
In 2003 Jill needed her son by her side to weather a difficult
divorce and run the studio. Richard returned to Texas to help
pick up the pieces. “Richard’s return was a blessing in
disguise because I was able to witness his success firsthand
instead of from afar,” says Jill. “I recognized that we were a
great team that would achieve great things working side by
side.” The timing proved right for Richard, who felt he had
reached a turning point at Orlando Ballet and was looking for
his next challenge.
During that difficult time for both mother and son, Richard
contributed to the health of the studio, forming the McAllen
Studio Ensemble, a pre-professional performance group, in
2004. But eventually the d’Altons were ready for a change.
Richard missed the buzz of a larger city, so they closed the
studio and headed to Houston to start fresh. Both knew the
city well and thought it would be the ideal place to set up
shop. In September 2006 they opened their new studio, in a
prime location near Houston’s theater district. “Dancers need
to be around all the arts,” says Jill. “Our dancers did not
get that kind of exposure in McAllen.”
In their cozy studios at IBH, the d’Altons utilize the best of
Cuban and RAD training systems in working with their students,
some of whom relocated to Houston to continue studying with
the mother–son team. The whip-fast turns and footwork of the
Cuban technique and the RAD’s cleanliness make a good match.
“Richard gives them that Cuban bravado,” says Jill. “And I’m
the one who cleans up the little messes and pulls them back to
reality.” The school’s training includes helping
pre-professional dancers prepare for auditions and ballet
competitions. Classes in pointe, variations, pas de deux, and
repertoire are augmented by private lessons that give students
the extra help they need to move to the next level.
After running a studio for many years, Jill likes being second
in command to her son. Although at times she misses teaching
young children, at this stage of her life she prefers to teach
career-track students. The two directors
share business responsibilities as well: Jill takes care of
the bills and office duties while Richard handles the PR.
Their tasks mirror their training; Jill is detail oriented and
Richard takes a big-vision approach.
The d’Altons have made a serious mark on the Texas dance
scene. Former students now attend several company-affiliated
academies, including those at Houston Ballet, American Ballet
Theatre, Orlando Ballet, The Washington Ballet, and Miami City
Ballet. Four current students attended the final round of the
Youth America Grand Prix, held in New York City. (Richard
received the regional competition’s Outstanding Choreographer
award for the third year in a row.) The d’Altons seek out
performance opportunities for their young troupe; as Richard
says, “the best teacher is the stage.”
He maintains his ties with his Cuban friends, and last summer
he produced a gala, International Stars of the Cuban Ballet,
with Carreño. In addition, he manages Rolando and Daniel
Sarabia’s careers (the latter dances with Boston Ballet) and
has joined the faculty of Houston Metropolitan Dance Company.
The d’Altons’ respect for each other—and the fact that they
simply like working together —is apparent. Jill missed
Richard’s teen years, but she is making up for that by sharing
a dream with him. They are happy to be making a difference to
young dancers.
Debbie Allen &Vivian Nixon
Emmy Award-winning choreographer, performer, and director
Debbie Allen and her rising-star
daughter, Vivian Nixon, make a stunning t eam
both on and off the stage. Last fall Nixon, who has danced on
Broadway,
went to
her mother’s
hometown of Houston, TX, to perform in a Theater Under
the Stars (TUTS) production of West Side Story. She
played Anita, as her mother did some 20 years ago on the same
TUTS stage, and mother and daughter had a celebratory reunion.
“Dance was Vivian’s world from the moment she took her first
breath,” says Allen.
She describes bringing her young daughter to rehearsals
when she was choreographing the musical Carrie for the
Royal Shakespeare
Company in 1988. “Of course I wanted her to dance,” says the
proud mom, “but it was never something I made her do. Dance
training is great for everyone.”
Nixon, 23, started in ballet and tap and showed talent in
gymnastics. “The way she used her body she could have been an
Olympic champion,” says Allen, who had her daughter train with
Russian coaches. Mother and daughter began performing together
when Nixon was quite young, including in a production of
Allen’s Chocolate Nutcracker at the Vision Theater in
Los Angeles when Nixon was 8. Even so, the young dancer felt
that her choices were wide open when it came to her mother’s
wishes and her future. “I felt the freedom to not be a
dancer,” she says.
At 13, Nixon began training at the Kirov Academy in
Washington, DC. “It’s a premier training school, and part of
my inspiration for starting my school,” says Allen, referring
to the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, which she opened in 2001 in
Culver City, CA. A year later, Nixon returned home to complete
her last two years of high school at her mother’s
 school.
“Vivian was my muse for starting this school,” continues
Allen. “I also took part of the Kirov home with me because I
stole Madame Adrienne Dellas-Thornton,” one of Nixon’s
favorite teachers.
“I didn’t actually take class with my mom, but I took classes
at the studio all the time,” says Nixon. She also danced much
of her mother’s choreography in Allen’s shows. Observers say
they see the connection between mother and daughter in their
style
more than in their dancing; Nixon has had more ballet training
while Allen had
more theater arts
experience. “We attack everything with fire and passion,” says
Nixon. “Plus we kick the same—our battements are identical.”
“She has lots of power and energy onstage,” says Allen. “That
reminds people of me.”
As a member of Ailey II, Nixon attended Fordham University
through a program that allows the dancers to continue their
studies online when they go on tour. Maurice Hines got wind of
her talent and popped in one day to watch her in class at the
Ailey studio. An offer to star in Hines’ Broadway show Hot
Feet followed in 2006. The show lasted only a few months,
but Nixon loved it and has been studying voice ever since.
When Nixon played Anita in West Side Story in Houston,
mother– daughter comparisons were flying at high speed. TUTS
founder and producing artistic director Frank Young, who
remembers the young Allen as Anita, was delighted to see Nixon
triumph in the role. “At the opening, I didn’t know who was
more nervous, mother or daughter,” he says. “I have never seen
an artist seize a role with such passion and artistry and make
it her own—except, of course, in 1980, when her mother [did].”
When she accepted the role, Nixon says, she knew she would
have to be strong to manage the inevitable slew of comparisons
to her mother. “We talked about it, but I was just there to be
a guide,” says Allen. She worked closely with Nixon on “A Boy
Like That.” “It’s not a song; it’s a scene ,”
she told her. She says it was incredibly exciting to watch her
daughter play the same part she had done—“the ultimate
full-circle experience.”
On opening night she gave Nixon a purple dress, the costume
she had worn on her opening
night
as Anita. It fit like a dream. “The dress has so much history.
And it fit so much better—I could breathe in it,” says Nixon.
Having
a legend for a mom is no piece of cake. “The hardest part is
the pressure I put on myself,” says Nixon. Still, she has
had
no trouble standing up to her mother’s legacy. “My mother is
so amazing at everything at
she does,” she says. “It’s special to be able follow in her footsteps.”
Regardless of her mother’s accomplishments, Nixon likes to
commend her for being a great parent. “When I am sick, she’s
there just like any other mom.”
Allen’s dreams for her daughter, who was named one of Dance
Magazine’s “25 to Watch” in January 2007, include wishing
for her “everything she wants to be. I hope she is able to see
herself in the universe. I want to be there to watch, to be
the angel in the wings.”
As for Nixon, she’s happy that one of the people watching her
will be her mom.
Photo captions (from top to bottom):
Jill d’Alton cuddles her future business partner—her son,
Richard—in Ireland in 1980. Photo courtesy Jill d’Alton
Richard d’Alton (right) with Fernando Bujones, then artistic
director of Orlando Ballet, in March 2003. Photo by Kathy
Taylor.
Richard and Jill d’Alton meet with Houston Ballet’s wardrobe
manager, Patricia Padilla (center), about costumes for
Le Corsaire Suite
in July 2005. Photo by Kathy Taylor.
Debbie Allen (Anita) and Héctor Jaime Mercado (Bernardo) in
“Dance at the Gym” in West Side Story at Theater Under the
Stars in 1979. Photo by Roger Greenawalt.
Vivian Nixon as Anita in TUTS’ 2006 production of West Side
Story. Photo by Bruce Bennett.
Two generations of TUTS performers— Nixon (left) and her
mother, Debbie Allen—with TUTS founder/producing artistic
director Frank M. Young. Photo by Bruce Bennett.
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