By Alex Gallafent

On a 1）crisp New York morning in a bright apartment high above the city， the dancersdancer introduces himself.

Frederic Franklin： Alright， Im Frederic Franklin， and I was born in Liverpool， England， and Ive spent most of my life， my wonderful life， here in America.

Franklin is 95 years old， a living library of 20th century ballet， and a bit of an 2）imp， something hes happy to play up in the work he still does with the American Ballet Theater in New York.

Franklins journey from Liverpool to New York began with Russia， or rather with Russian dancers.

The famous 3）Ballets Russes came to his home town in 1929.

Franklin： I was 15 at the time， and it was the 4）Diaghilevs Ballets Russes came to the Empire， and I had never seen， none of us had seen a big ballet company.

Just a little bit of history. The Ballets Russes was founded in 1909. It transformed the way dance was presented. But the company wasnt based in Russia. The Ballets Russes made its home in Paris， and， luckily for Frederic Franklin， they liked to travel. The dancing was from another world. There was nothing to compare to it in England， no real ballet school even， so Franklin studied tap dancing and musical comedy instead. Two years later his mother sent him south to London.

Franklin： I would never have gotten sort of any kind of job， theatre job in Liverpool， and thats how it all began.

Fast forward to 1937， Franklins dancing in London. He gets a phone call. “5）Léonide Massine wants to see you.” Thats Léonide Massine， the famous 6）choreographer for the Ballets Russes. Massine was 7）reconstituting the company as the 8）Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo， and he was looking for talent.

Franklin： ...and I looked into those big brown eyes and he looked at me， and before long he said， “You will be a premiere dancer in my new ballet company. Heres a contract for five years. Sign it.” And I just signed it. That was how it all began with the Russian Ballet. Report here. Do this. On the call. I went on the train， on the boat， did it all， got to 9）Monte Carlo， and thats how it was.

With the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo， Franklin partnered 10）Alexandra Danilova， the same dancer hed seen in Liverpool years before.

Franklin： Dancing with her， that was something.

In fact， their partnership lasted 20 years. And， when you hear Frederic Franklin speak， you notice hes always talking about those “starting points，” the moments of new opportunity.

Franklin： ...and that was the beginning of it all...Thats how all of that began...and thats how it all started.

Maybe thats why Franklin has always felt so at home in America， a nation built on the promise of possibility. Franklin came here to dance and stayed. Hes still performing now.

Franklin： If the legs hold me up， Ill be out there.

But if you ask Franklin where it really all began， he wont tell you about New York or London. There wont be a story from Paris or Monte Carlo. Hell go back to a performance he gave long ago， when he was eight years old， back home in Liverpool.

Franklin： After the performance， my mother and I walked through the theatre， and we picked up a program， and we looked， and by my name someone had written， “a born dancer.” And that about sums the whole thing up. That person had seen me， and writ...and just wrote， whomever it was. I know we had the program for so long， “a born dancer.” Maybe thats the whole story.

一個(gè)清冷的早晨，在紐約市一套明亮的高層公寓里，這位“舞者中的舞者”作了自我介紹。

弗雷德里克·富蘭克林：好的，我叫弗雷德里克·富蘭克林，出生在英國(guó)的利物浦，我這奇妙的一生大部分時(shí)間都是在美國(guó)這里度過的。

富蘭克林今年95歲，堪稱一部活生生的20世紀(jì)芭蕾大全，還是一個(gè)老頑童，對(duì)此他頗為自豪，他至今仍活躍于美國(guó)芭蕾舞劇院的舞臺(tái)上。

富蘭克林從利物浦到紐約的人生之旅始于俄羅斯，或者說，俄羅斯的舞蹈演員。1929年，大名鼎鼎的俄羅斯芭蕾舞團(tuán)來到他的家鄉(xiāng)利物浦巡演。

富蘭克林：那年我15歲，佳吉列夫的俄羅斯芭蕾舞團(tuán)來到英國(guó)。在這之前我從來沒有看過，我們都沒有看過大型芭蕾舞團(tuán)的演出。

穿插一點(diǎn)這個(gè)芭蕾舞團(tuán)的歷史。俄羅斯芭蕾舞團(tuán)成立于1909年，它完全改變了舞蹈的表現(xiàn)方式。但這個(gè)舞團(tuán)不是設(shè)立在俄羅斯，而是在巴黎。他們喜歡到處去巡演，這對(duì)富蘭克林來說可是一件幸事。他們的舞蹈仿佛來自另一個(gè)世界。英國(guó)沒有這種形式的舞蹈，連像樣的芭蕾舞學(xué)校都沒有，所以富蘭克林只能學(xué)習(xí)踢踏舞和音樂喜劇。兩年后，他的母親送他南下去了倫敦。

富蘭克林：要是留在利物浦的話，我不會(huì)找到任何跟劇院有關(guān)的工作。就這樣，我的舞蹈生涯開始了。

時(shí)間來到1937年，富蘭克林在倫敦跳舞。他接到一個(gè)電話，說萊奧尼德·馬賽因想見他。萊奧尼德·馬賽因是俄羅斯芭蕾舞團(tuán)著名的編舞家。馬賽因正在重組這個(gè)舞團(tuán)，命名為蒙特卡洛俄羅斯芭蕾舞團(tuán)，并尋找人才加入。

富蘭克林：……我看著那雙大大的褐色眼睛，他也看著我，我們沒談多久，他就說：“你將成為我新舞團(tuán)的首席舞蹈演員。這兒有一份五年的合同。簽了它吧。”我簽了那份合同，就這樣走上了我的俄羅斯芭蕾之路。把所有的流程都走完之后，我乘火車又坐船，到了蒙特卡洛，就是這樣。

在蒙特卡洛俄羅斯芭蕾舞團(tuán)，富蘭克林和亞歷山德拉·丹尼洛娃成了搭檔，這正是數(shù)年前他在利物浦見過的那個(gè)著名舞蹈演員。

富蘭克林：跟她跳舞，那可是一件了不得的事情。

事實(shí)上，他們搭檔了整整20年。聽富蘭克林講述，你會(huì)注意到他總是在談那些“起點(diǎn)”，那些新機(jī)遇來臨的時(shí)刻。

富蘭克林：……那就是一切的開始……一切就是這么開始的……一切就這樣開始了。

富蘭克林一直覺得跟美國(guó)很契合，也許正因?yàn)槊绹?guó)是一個(gè)建立在無限可能性之上的國(guó)家。他來到這兒演出，就留了下來。直到今天他仍在表演。

富蘭克林：只要雙腳還站得穩(wěn)，我都會(huì)一直跳下去。

但如果問起富蘭克林他舞蹈人生的真正起點(diǎn)，他不會(huì)說是紐約或者倫敦，故事的源頭也不是巴黎或者蒙特卡洛。他會(huì)憶起很久以前在家鄉(xiāng)利物浦的一次演出，那時(shí)他只有八歲。

富蘭克林：演出結(jié)束后，我和我母親穿過劇院時(shí)，撿到了一張節(jié)目單，在我的名字旁邊有人寫下了“天生的舞者”幾個(gè)字。這幾個(gè)字差不多就把一切都涵蓋了。那個(gè)人看到我的表演，然后寫下了這些字，我并不知道他是誰。這份節(jié)目單我們保存了很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間?！疤焐奈枵摺?，也許這就是故事的全部吧。