Melissa Hayden (dancer)

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Melissa Hayden (born Mildred Herman, April 25, 1923, Toronto; died August 9, 2006, Winston-Salem, North Carolina) was a well-known Canadian ballerina who spent most of her career with the New York City Ballet.

Hayden grew up in Toronto. In the early 1940s, she moved to New York City to join the ballet corps at Radio City Music Hall. From 1945-47, she was a member of the American Ballet Theater; she joined the New York City Ballet shortly after its founding in 1948. She performed there many times with noted dancer Jacques d'Amboise.

Hayden appeared frequently on television, especially The Kate Smith Show and The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1952 she performed as the dance double for Claire Bloom in the film Limelight.

In 1965, she was seen on American TV as the Sugar Plum Fairy in a one-hour German-American adaptation of The Nutcracker. Filmed in 1964, and first shown in the United States by CBS just four days before Christmas 1965, the production, with a heavily altered storyline, featured an international cast of dancers and English narration by Eddie Albert, who was at the time in the first year of the run of Green Acres. Edward Villella and Patricia McBride were also starred.

After appearing in over 60 ballets, mainly works by George Balanchine, Hayden retired as a dancer in 1973. Balanchine honored her on her retirement by creating the ballet "Cortege Hongrois", which is still part of the New York City Ballet's repertoire. At the premiere of the piece, Mayor John Lindsay presented Hayden with the city's Handel Medallion, praising her as an "extraordinary ballerina who has filled the hearts of her audience with joy."

After her retirement, she became head of the ballet department at Skidmore College, and taught ballet at the School of Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, and in New York City, where she opened her own school. From 1983 until just a month before her death, she taught at the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem.

Hayden was also an author of several books, including The Nutcracker Ballet illustrated by Stephen Johnson; Melissa Hayden, Offstage and On; Dancer to Dancer: Advice for Today's Dancer and Ballet Exercises for Figure, Grace & Beauty.

Hayden married Donald Coleman and had two children. She died at her home in Winston-Salem of pancreatic cancer.

[edit] Sources

• Kisselgoff, Anna (2006-08-10). "Melissa Hayden, a Vibrant Star of New York City Ballet, Dies at 83", New York Times. Retrieved on 10 August 2006.