Director of The Manhattan Ballet School, Inc. and The Manhattan Ballet Company, Elfriede Merman nee von Busse Grapputo
As a child, Elfriede Merman was chosen for classical ballet training at the prestigious goverment-sponsored Staats Oper in Munich. Her renoved teachers were Erna Gerbel, Tatiana Gsovsky and Choreographer Pino Mlakar, then ballet master of the Staats Oper in Munich. At this time t
he Opera House was under the dictatorship of Clemence Kraus and H. The opera's conductor, composer Richard Srtauss, was so taken by the young Elfriede that he influenced Mlakar to give her solo roles in the premiers of his Josef Legende and Capriccio and Verklugene Feste and Tyl Eulenspiegel. It was at this time that she met her lifelong coach and friend, Nathasha Boskovich. Later, in Paris, she was coached by the legendary teacher, Olga Preobrajenska and studied with Victor Gsovsky. She danced with choreographer/ballet master Marcel Luipart and in New York joined Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo under the dictatorship of Serger Denham with Leonide Massine as artistic director. With the Ballet Russe Company, she toured four continents with its stars Alexandra Danilova, Nina Novak, Frederic Franclin and Andre Eglevsky. Her solo roles were in Scheherazade, the Polovstian dances from Prince Igor, Les Sylphides, Three Cornered Hat, Carnival, Firebird, La Bayadere and the "Bluebird" variation in Aurora's Wedding. Through her friendship with Rd. Gertrude Bondi, director of The Windsor Mountain School in Massachusetts, she made teh transition from performer to teacher and developed the ballet department of the school. Her students included Liza Minelli, Jane Fonda and Shari Belafonte. Three years later, former New York City Ballet mamber Patricia Savoia joined her, and together they opened The Manhattan Ballet School. The mission of the school, for past forty years, has been to incorporate traditional ballet technique with music, drama, coaching and performance opportunities, based upon Mrs. Merman's extensive background. The Company
The Company was a natural result of desire to create original choreography. It became a non-profit organization in 1979. The Company performed in East Harlem during the racial riots of the Sixties, receiving television, radio and newspaper coverage. It has since performed in nursing homes, hospitals and school. In 1984, students from the School participated in a company performance of original works set to music by Bizet, Tchaikovsky and Delibes. The collaboration proved highly successful, and the Company decided to incorporate students in the future productions on an opportunity to perform before audiences on stage. The School
In 1963, Elfriede Merman and Patricia Savoia established The Manhattan Ballet School. They developed a method of teaching which, though predominately Russian in style clearly incorporated the best of the French and Cecchetti systems.
