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Article: Eaten alive: a writer's casual encounter in a coffee shop led to a warm friendship with the irascible Agnes de Mille. (choreographer)
- Article from:
- Dance Magazine
- Article date:
- January 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Dance Magazine, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The came into the University Place coffee shop for breakfast every morning. The imperious nose and raveled-rope hair easily identified her as Agnes de Mille, but the customers were New Yorkers, used to celebrities, and they gave no sign that they noticed. The counterman, however, served her cautiously. "Don't get in her way, buddy," he told me once. "She'll eat you alive."
I didn't doubt him for a moment. Ever since she had burst into public awareness with her stunning choreography, first for Rodeo some twenty years before and then for Oklahoma!, de Mille had earned a reputation for fierce independence. I watched her carefully as she ate her scrambled eggs each ...