Nicholas Magallanes

Nicholas Magallanes (May 31, 1919 – May 2, 1977) was a Mexican-born American dancer who became a principal dancer and charter member of the New York City Ballet. Born in Santa Rosalia de Camargo, in the eastern part of the Mexican state of Chihuahua — a city now known as Camargo City — he relocated to the United States with his parents at the age of five, settling first in New Jersey before moving to the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

His path into dance began at sixteen, when Pavel Tchelitchev noticed him at the New York Boys' Club on East Tenth Street and brought him to the attention of Lincoln Kirstein as a prospective scholarship student at the School of American Ballet. Magallanes auditioned for George Balanchine and was accepted into the school in 1938, where he studied under Balanchine and Pierre Vladimiroff. His first stage appearance came in 1939, when he performed in American Ballet Caravan's production of A Thousand Times Neigh at the Ford pavilion of the New York World's Fair. That engagement marked the beginning of a lifelong professional relationship with Balanchine and Kirstein.

In 1940, Magallanes danced briefly with the Littlefield Ballet, directed by Catherine Littlefield, and the following year toured South America with American Ballet Caravan. He then joined Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, where he danced from 1943 to 1946 during the period when Balanchine served as ballet master. During those years he originated several roles in Balanchine works, including the Poet in La Sonnambula (The Night Shadow), Cléonte in Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, and Jean de Brienne in Raymonda, the last choreographed by Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova after Marius Petipa. From 1946 to 1948 he danced with Balanchine's Ballet Society, the organization that directly preceded the New York City Ballet. Along with Francisco Moncion, Maria Tallchief, and Tanaquil Le Clercq, Magallanes was among the core group of dancers with whom Balanchine and Kirstein formed that company.

From 1948 until shortly before his death, Magallanes served as a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. He danced in the company's inaugural performance on October 11, 1948, at the New York City Center of Music and Drama, appearing in Orpheus in the title role, as well as in Concerto Barocco and Symphony in C. Over the following decades he created an extensive list of original roles in Balanchine ballets, among them Bacchus in The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne (1948), the Bridegroom in The Fairy's Kiss (1950), and Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1962). He also originated roles in works by other choreographers, including the Poet in Frederick Ashton's Illuminations (1950), the Second Intruder in Jerome Robbins's The Cage (1951), and a principal role in Robbins's The Pied Piper (1951). His final appearance with the company came in 1976, when he performed the mime role of Don Quixote in Balanchine's ballet of the same name.

One of the more documented episodes of his career occurred on February 2, 1954, during the opening night of Balanchine's production of The Nutcracker. André Eglevsky, who had been cast as the Cavalier opposite Tallchief's Sugar Plum Fairy, injured his ankle and could not perform. With no understudy prepared, Magallanes learned the technically demanding role in a single day of rehearsal and danced the part that evening. He was frequently partnered with Tallchief throughout his career and was also closely associated with Balanchine's Serenade, Concerto Barocco, Symphony in C, and The Four Temperaments.

His Broadway appearances spanned 1942 to 1947. He performed in La Parisienne in 1942 and danced in Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo productions on Broadway. He appeared in The Merry Widow Burlesque and, in 1947, in Music in My Heart, which featured choreography by Ruth Page.

Magallanes also maintained a presence in television and film. In 1951 he appeared with Tanaquil Le Clercq in the CBS television special Premier and danced the role of a Dancing Shepherd in the live NBC broadcast of Amahl and the Night Visitors, the first opera composed for American television, on the debut of the Hallmark Hall of Fame. Later television credits included Camera Three for CBS, in which he danced Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake (1956), Omnibus in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1961), and multiple episodes of The Bell Telephone Hour for NBC between 1962 and 1964. His film work included a collaboration with Le Clercq in La Valse (1951), a production of Dionysus in the role of Pentheus with Louis Falco (1963), and a 1967 film of Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream in which he danced Lysander alongside Suzanne Farrell, Edward Villella, and Francisco Moncion.