Ballet Dancer Marian Butler Opens Up About Her Role In Rodeo

Ballet dancer Marian Butler plays a starring role in the ballet "Rodeo," an Agnes de Mille's 1942 ballet. Agnes de Mille's rendition of "Rodeo," will be performed by the American Ballet Theatre at the New York City Center until Oct. 20 and Butler who is attached to the American Ballet Theatre opens up about her role in the western style ballet and her life as a ballerina with her ballet company to Time Out New York.

Time Out New York asked the Butler why she started dancing she said.

"My mom put me in ballet for an extra activity and I just fell in love with it. I never stopped. I saw, as I was growing up, the people in my class, you get to a point in your age, where you're like, Should I do this or should I go to school and have sleepovers and all that stuff? And I always wanted to dance. I never questioned it."

When asked by Time Out New York her experience in dancing in Agnes Mille's productions Butler said.

"Yeah. When I first joined, I went right into her ballets. Even with Rodeo, I did other parts: I was a Country Lady and Eastern Lady. One year they asked me to learn the Cowgirl. I rehearsed it for a long time before I actually got to perform it. The first time I did was in a kids' show in Cleveland at ten in the morning. That convinced Kevin McKenzie that I could perform it in New York."

Butler when asked about the character of the "Cowgirl," she said her Southern upbringing helped to understand the ballet and labeled the character as awkward and humorous all while being sad when the moment calls for it.

Butler who is 37 went on to tell Time Out New York that she feels like she is at the end of her career and only has a couple more years to perform. She added that the corps de ballet she is in takes a strong will and it takes a certain individual and hinted that the long hours and that work load is very tedious.