Hi, I'm Chita Rivera and this is Playbill's From Ballet to Broadway.
Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero Montes
and that's a very nice Jewish name.
Chita Rivera grew up in Washington, DC. The third of five children. She has
received numerous accolades including three Tony Awards the Kennedy Center
Honors award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
But how did this legend of the American theater get her introduction to dance?
Nobody's ever asked me that that's it's so good.
My introduction I'll tell you when and then I'll tell you why. When was when I
was I guess five years old and I was a tomboy
and I had a lot of energy and I had a very smart mother who also wanted to
save her household and and my mother was always very graceful
because I didn't know what that meant then but I certainly do now mother had
five kids and probably would have been a ballet dancer she had the legs and the
grease and but the reason why I was put in ballet school was because I was this
tomboy and I used to jump from the sofa to the chair to back to the sofa over
the coffee table and one day I missed and I went into the coffee table and my
mother said that's it you're going to ballet school
I just loved going to balance she won a scholarship to the School of American
Ballet the School founded by George Balanchine that opportunity not only
brought her to New York City but also broadened the chances ahead of her we
were told that some people from scouts from New York City were coming down mr.
balantine had heard about some students at miss Jones's and they came down and
they saw Lewis Johnson and myself God he was so we were on our good
behavior that day we were picked and we went to New York and I remember getting
off the elevator New York City Ballet and with Miss Jones turning the corner
and seeing this five foot eight or nine gorgeous fair blonde long liked bhai
dancer and I and I panicked you know and I said to Miss Jones oh my gosh look at
her but she's just beautiful oh not her Miss Jones looked at me and said
couldn't she does she used to go Conchita all you have to do is stay in
your lane just keep your head straight forward don't look left don't look right
do as you're told and everything will work out fine so I
went from the elevator into this room where this wonderful man that was looked
like someone's grandfather was sitting in a chair it was mr. Balanchine
and I had no idea it was mr. belding thank God I didn't know it was mr. Belen
see because had I known I don't know you know I probably couldn't have done it I
shall say I went through my bar and I was I was auditioning for a scholarship
at that time and I had no idea I was told about this audition for call me
madam the Jerome Robbins was giving well I just took that audition and I won one
of the four principal dancers in the road company and call me Madame was a
very how can I say it well Jerry Robbins choreography different kinds of dancing
and I welcomed it it's harder for me to do to be in my ballet classes than it
was in the theater because I was able to be
this character and and and and he didn't see all these kids and different customs
and laughs and and and play with each other in school I I was serious I
probably would have had trouble in the course giggling and because I was a
troublemaker and that that you know that was the door that was a little on the
side of the center door that I had intended to go through that door led her
to creating roles in West Side Story Bye Bye Birdie
Chicago kiss of the Spider Woman just to name a few but ballet gave her the
foundation on which to build upon I think there's everything in joy that
the dancer has to learn I think you do that first you learn the foundation you
learn your body you learn the balance you learn to feel your atmosphere and
connect with it so I would always suggest ballet first and then get to
know who you are but you have to have that you have to have that foundation I
can thank Miss Jones miss Stewart boo cough madam do brusca I can thank all of
those people for me sitting here talking to you right now about dance miss Rivera
returns for a limited engagement to Feinstein's 54 below where she recreates
some of the highlights of her lost Ria's career and that was hard for me when
fuck boom Bob Fosse had his heart attack during the first day of rehearsal of
Chicago Fred Abin John Kander said let's do a club act and I you know and in in
in in during the time that Bobby was going would be recuperating and I went
no I can't do that I mean you have to I don't know who I am
you have to know who you are in order to talk to an audience as yourself
then I learned I learned how to be me with the tremendous help of Fred ebb at
the beginning that stage at 54 is very small and it's a wonderful lesson to
learn how to use a huge stage or tiny stage and you have to make the audience
comfortable so that you don't you're not going to fall over and into their soup
and so you learn how to pull things up as opposed to stretching it out because
you don't have the space and it's a fun place it's it's it's a fun place they're
very very nice over there and I have a great band
the stage is small but there are lessons to be learned we all sat in the room and
we all I remember saying I I don't want to do America and I don't want to do a
bore like that because it'll sound like I'm saying look at what I've done and I
don't want to do that and Freddie said but they they want to hear that because
they've seen that they've heard that they so they are expecting and I
realized he was absolutely right I you know I really came along it's such
a wonderful time thank God those those shows were written around that time yeah
I would love another 25 years I loved doing this party woman I loved doing
Rosie birdie I did Rosie with Dick Van Dyke who would want to miss that that's
crazy you know so there's so many wonderful shows and I was ready that's
what I tell the kids be ready just be ready you know
in case they disco you and you get one