📍Mount Healthy, OH 45231, USA
1945 – 1960“Suzanne Farrell was born Roberta Sue Ficker in Cincinnati in August 1945, and grew up in Mount Healthy, a quiet town on the northern edge of the city, the youngest of three daughters. Her father worked for a meat-packing company, and her mother was a nurse's aide, and the family lived in a four-room house near her grandmother. She was a tomboy who loved climbing trees, playing dodgeball and dressing up, and she dreamed of becoming a clown. At eight she began ballet classes, in the hope that they would make her more ladylike. Tall for her age, she often played boys' roles in recitals, and she preferred tap and acrobatics, but by twelve she had fallen in love with ballet. Her parents divorced when she was about nine, and her mother worked as a nurse to support her three girls, who spent much of their time practising and rehearsing at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Diana Adams, a dancer from New York City Ballet scouting for talent, saw her and invited her to audition for the School of American Ballet in New York. In 1960, her mother sold the furniture, packed the girls into the family Ford and drove to New York, sleeping in the car on the way. Suzanne auditioned for George Balanchine, whose accent she could barely understand, and he was charmed. She won a scholarship, joined New York City Ballet in 1961, and became Balanchine's muse, the ballerina for whom he created Don Quixote, Diamonds and many other works. She later founded her own company at the Kennedy Center and became a beloved teacher, and Cincinnati has honoured her as its own.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today