Susan Hendl

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title: "Susan Hendl" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1947-births", "2020-deaths", "entertainers-from-new-york-city", "american-ballerinas", "new-york-city-ballet-soloists", "balanchine-trust-repetiteurs", "ballet-mistresses", "new-york-city-ballet-balletmasters", "20th-century-american-ballet-dancers", "dancers-from-new-york-(state)"] description: "American ballet dancer (1947–2020)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Hendl" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American ballet dancer (1947–2020) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Susan Hendl
birth_name	Susan Coxe Hendl
birth_date
birth_place	New York City, U.S.
death_date
death_place	NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, New York City, U.S.
education	School of American Ballet
occupation	{{flatlist
organization	New York City Ballet
father	Walter Hendl
website
::

| name = Susan Hendl | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Susan Coxe Hendl | birth_date = | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, New York City, U.S. | nationality = | citizenship = | education = School of American Ballet | occupation = {{flatlist|

• ballet dancer
• répétiteur | years_active = | organization = New York City Ballet | height = | spouse = | partner = | children = | father = Walter Hendl | website = | module =

Susan Coxe Hendl (September 18, 1947 – October 12, 2020) was an American ballet dancer and répétiteur. She danced with the New York City Ballet between 1963 and 1983, then staged and coached works by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins for both NYCB and other companies.

Early life

Hendl was born in New York City to Walter Hendl, a composer and conductor, and Mary Newbold Hendl (née Williams), a visual artist. After Walter Hendl became the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's music director, the family relocated to Dallas.

Susan Hendl took a ballet class with Alexandra Danilova, a Russian-born ballerina who taught at the School of American Ballet, when Hendl was in preschool. Following her parents' separation, she and her mother moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and she continued her training with Pennsylvania Ballet founder Barbara Weisberger. In 1959, Hendl entered the School of American Ballet in New York City and studied at the Professional Children's School.

Career

Hendl joined the New York City Ballet in 1963 at age 16. In 1970, she performed her first lead role, the Strip Tease girl in George Balanchine's Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, She became a soloist in 1972, and created roles in Balanchine's Who Cares?, Coppélia, Le tombeau de Couperin and Chaconne, and Jerome Robbins's The Goldberg Variations and Requiem Canticles. She was also known for her performance in Robbins' Dances at a Gathering.

Hendl worked with choreographer Peter Martins in the 1970s, and in 1979, she assisted Balanchine and Robbins in Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme for the New York City Opera, which starred Rudolf Nureyev. She retired from performing in 1983, the same year Balanchine died. She then assumed the role of assistant ballet master at the New York City Ballet, and staged Balanchine and Robbins' works for other companies, She was a trustee for the George Balanchine Trust, and stepped down from the New York City Ballet in 2018 due to her health.

Death

Hendl died from renal failure on October 12, 2020, at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. She was 73.

References

References

1. Sulcas, Roslyn. (26 October 2020). "Susan Hendl, Ballet Master and Dancer, Dies at 73". New York Times.
2. (September 2, 1970). "Miss Verdy Injects Swan Queen Role With Lyric Quality". New York Times.
3. Roca, Octavio. (February 7, 2002). "Ballet shows Robbins' humanity". San Francisco Chronicles.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::