Lawrence Rhodes on the Top of His Efficiency Profession

The cover star for the February 1975 issue of Dance Magazine was Lawrence Rhodes, then 35 years old and a leading dancer with both Pennsylvania Ballet and Eliot Feld Ballet. “Within the relatively small galaxy of major American male dancers,” John Gruen opened the cover profile, “Lawrence Rhodes offers singular and ambiguous rewards…. Dancers admire Rhodes, because, without seeming effort, he unwittingly shows the complexity of dance. They glimpse the methodology of dance, and come into contact with hidden aspects of the art.”

Rhodes’ career had already taken him to the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, The Joffrey Ballet, Harkness Ballet—where for a time he juggled being both a principal dancer and the troupe’s director—and Dutch National Ballet, as well as to Italy for a tour with ballerina Carla Fracci. In 1975, he reflected: “It may be a terrible thing to say, but I feel that being in one place, and doing one set of things would somehow invalidate me. I’m not really interested in being a big star…. I want to be an individual. I’ve come to realize­ that if you’re with a company, then you’re dedicating yourself to the person who directs that company—to his ideas. I’ve come to think that it’s not the healthiest thing to do—at least, not for me. It doesn’t let you do the things you want to do—you’re under someone else. What I’m saying is that I don’t want to end up becoming unrealistic or bitter. I think a dancer should satisfy himself. It’s too hard a profession to do it for somebody else.”

Lawrence Rhodes’ cover package for the February 1975 issue of Dance Magazine featured studio shots by Lois Greenfield. From the DM Archives.

Rhodes would retire from performing in 1978 and go on to a distinguished career as a teacher and director, leading the dance departments of both New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and The Juilliard School and spending a decade at the helm of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal in between.

“I hold on to a vision,” he said in 1975. “For me, dancing has a purpose. It’s about communication…. I know it’s a physical act, and a musical act, and that it has to do with relationships. But the responsibilities have to do with communication. That’s the vision I hold on to.”

Rhodes received a Dance Magazine Award in 2015. He passed away in 2019.

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