Teacher's wisdom - Robert Barnett

Robert "Bobby" Barnett is one of the few living performers from Colonel de Basil's Original Ballet Russe. He began his ballet study with Bronislava Nijinska, danced with the New York City Ballet from 1944 to 1958, then directed the Atlanta Ballet for 32 years. He is perhaps best remembered as the lead Candy Cane in Balanchine's Nutcracker, but Balanchine also set several other roles on Barnett, including the lead in the men's movement of Stars and Stripes and the third movement lead of Symphony in C At 82, Barnett maintains an international schedule of teaching and staging Balanchine ballets. Sandra Neels, associate professor of dance at Winthrop University, talked with him while he was teaching and coaching at the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities.