Capturing Agelessness

July 22, 2024

An Interview with Betti Franceschi

BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT

Betti Franceschi is a visual artist, a dance enthusiast, and the author of the recently published book, Ageless Dancers, which depicts in photographs 40 iconic dancers from the disciplines of ballet, modern, contemporary, tap, and musical theater. Here, Betti shares the story that inspired her to do this project, and some advice on aging as an octogenarian.

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Can you share a little about yourself first – how did you come to be interested in combining dance and visual art?

I am since forever a wannabe dancer. My earliest and remaining obsession is with grace. I have a bad stutter. Stuttering is experienced as the want of grace. Ballet is a pure reaching for grace. My early experiences of fluency in real time were horseback riding and ballet. So of course I love dance, particularly ballet.

My mother gave me ballet lessons at eight for my flat feet and stopped them when I fell in love with it. While majoring in art at Indiana University, I managed to study with the first ballet teacher to teach at an American university, and performed in some productions of the I.U. music school. Later when my daughter Antonia was born, she had such perfect feet and body, so later I moved us to New York for the fast-track training she warranted. In the classes of the great Alfredo Corvino, I made friends with Libby Nye, the Limòn dancer who became Antonia’s unofficial dance mother. My real dance education was watching the physical geniuses of the New York dance world in which Antonia grew up. She has gone on to dance with New York City Ballet, and then to dance, teach and choreograph in London and New York.

I have to tell you how I came to use dancers as my models. Yes, I love dance myself. But in my work, I’m broadly interested in physical intelligence, in the thrill of seeing someone consummately articulate, seeing them think. I have tried working with athletes. They are beautiful. But there is a further dimension that dancers inhabit: it’s conceptual. Dancers think in shapes. If we are chasing an idea that interests a dancer, they will summon whatever it takes to put it before me, so I can record it in tangible form. I am an awestruck dancers’ groupie.

Years ago, when I started to make my Signature movement drawings, I saw immediately that a dancer’s sense of the stage transferred intact to a sense of the page. Those drawings were made flat on rehearsal room floors, so the dancer could watch the drawing and collaborate in its progress. Now in these Ageless Dancers photographs, the dancers’ gestures determine their framing rectangles.

My different bodies of work elucidate different aspects of a dancer’s tool kit. The Still Point drawings show the dancer’s center and how it is used. The Signature drawings show the dancer’s expressive inner line. The Ageless Dancers photographs are about that line and the technique that survives diminished athleticism – the artist’s voice triumphant.

What was the impetus behind Ageless Dancers?

In 1983, I got to accompany Antonia to the New York City Ballet season in Paris. At the season gala, the audience was as exciting as the performance on stage. The Parisian women in their couture were stunning. That said, they could not hold a candle to the few retired ballet étoiles who were there in signature jackets dating from their prime. Exactly 30 years later, I bolted upright in my bed at three in the morning with the realization that I had to photograph those étoiles. Turned out I did it with mostly American stars, and not in Paris but here in my New York studio. It took four photographers to teach me to use a camera. In the session with the fourth photographer, Ken Pao, we came up with the black clothing and background that free and articulate the Ageless Dancers.

How did you decide whom to include in the book?

I didn’t just go for famous ballet stars. I went for the most interesting movers. But the true story is much more embarrassing than that. What happened was I personally knew Hilary Cartwright and Diana Byer. Hillary developed Gyrotonic and danced with the Royal Ballet years ago. Diana ran the New York Theatre Ballet. They were both around 70 years old. I said, “Will you come and pose for me?” And they both said, “Oh my god, no, I look horrible.” It took me three years of beating them up to get them here. Once I got them here and they realized that I wasn’t going to make them look bad, they eased up and said, “I know who else you want to get, I’ll get them here.” The dancers just brought who they thought I would want to use, and they were right. Nobody knows a good dancer like a good dancer. There were still people I couldn’t get, but overall, we did great. In the book there are 40 dancers, but I photographed 57 total.

Did you have any philosophy on how you approached photographing your subjects?

I do have visual opinions, but I was just going for gorgeous.

Did you learn anything over the course of putting together the book?

Yes, but mostly my dance aesthetic was already formed. I just documented the dancers. I couldn’t believe how gorgeous they were. I had 60 senior dancers in and out of my studio, and everyone had a very similar response to me: When people ask, “How do you stay like that?” They all said, “Keep moving.” That’s their mantra. Some do yoga, some do Gyrotonic, Pilates, anything, but they keep going. Suki Schorer is still teaching at the School of American Ballet, and for fun she does serious tango on top of her teaching. Sally Hess does competitive ballroom and she’s gorgeous. I got all these shining examples.

What do you hope readers take away?

I’ll tell you a story that happened recently. This isn’t about dancers. I was walking down the street, and this guy came out of a restaurant and we almost bumped into each other. We started talking, and I said, “Are you from New York?” And he said, “No, I’m from Bloomington, Indiana.” I said, “I went to Indiana University.” It ended up he was a big rockstar. I told him I’m going on 90. He is 72 and we talked about age. I said, “I gotta tell you one thing: don’t let anyone tell you you’re old.” That’s the point. When and if you want to adjourn to a rocking chair, fine, but until then, do what you want. If nothing changes, don’t change it. Keep doing it. I know people expect to diminish. Well, you might, but you might not. Don’t write that script for yourself.

Any other thoughts?

A couple years ago, I had back surgery. The next morning, the nurse came in and said she had to walk me up and down the hall. She said, “How old are you? How come you can walk this easily at your age right after surgery?” I said, “Do you have a computer? Go look at my website and look at the age of my dancers, and that will blow your mind.” She came back and found me and said, “Oh my God, I have to start dancing.” And I said, “Yeah you do.” Dance is so precise; if you’re still working your body, it is going to keep you really mobile.

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To learn more about the Ageless Dancers project, visit www.bettifranceschi.com/agelessdancers

2 Responses to “Capturing Agelessness”

1. stanceondance July 25, 2024

   Indeed, thanks Diana!

2. Diana Turner-Forte July 22, 2024

   I love it! What a beautiful exploration of older bodies in dance. With juust the subtlest gesture older dancers can move with more awareness and feeling than our younger counterparts. The gifts of mature dancers should not be forgotten! Thank you for your contribution.