Background
Le Clercq was the daughter of Jacques Le Clercq, a French intellectual, and his American wife, Edith (née Whittemore).
Le Clercq was the daughter of Jacques Le Clercq, a French intellectual, and his American wife, Edith (née Whittemore).
Her dancing career ended abruptly when she was stricken with polio in Copenhagen during the company"s European tour in 1956. Eventually regaining most of the use of her arms and torso, she remained paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of her life. When she was fifteen years old, George Balanchine asked her to perform with him in a dance he choreographed for a polio charity benefit.
In an eerie portent of things to come, he played a character named Polio, and Le Clercq was his victim who became paralyzed and fell to the floor.
Then, children tossed dimes at her character, prompting her to get up and dance again. During Le Clercq"s tenure with the company, Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Merce Cunningham all created roles for her.
Personal life
He obtained a quick divorce from her to woo Suzanne Farrell, who gently rebuffed his advances. Le Clercq was actually Balanchine"s fifth wife, as Alexandra Danilova was considered his second (common law) wife.
Le Clercq died of pneumonia in New York Hospital at the age of 71.
