PARAPAR@` `TEXT` RHayden, Melissa 1923 ballet dancer Born in Toronto on April 25, 1923, Mildred Herman began studying dance while a schoolgirl in her native city. In 1945 she went to New York City and found a position in the corps de ballet at Radio City Music Hall. Within a few months she had been accepted by the Ballet Theatre (now American Ballet Theatre) company, in which she rose rapidly to the rank of soloist. In 1949, after a South American tour with the Ballet Alicia Alonso, she joined the New York City Ballet under George Balanchine. She attracted high critical praise in her debut with that company in The Duel in February 1950 and established herself as a great ballerina in creating a role in the premiere of Frederick Ashtons Illuminations the next month. In December she danced a principal role in Jerome Robbinss Age of Anxiety. Other notable performances were those in Todd Bolenders The Miraculous Mandarin in 1951, Robbinss The Pied Piper in 1951, Balanchines Caracole in 1952, and Robbinss The Cage in 1952. In 1952 she appeared in the Charlie Chaplin film Limelight. From April 1953 to May 1954 Hayden was again with Ballet Theatre, and after a retirement of nearly a year she rejoined the New York City Ballet in February 1955. She remained with that company thereafter until her final retirement in 1973. During that long period of stardom she made acclaimed appearances in Balanchines Ivesiana in 1955 and in Bolenders Still Point in 1956, and in premieres of Balanchines Divertimento No. 15 (a longer version of Caracole) in 1956, Agon, 1957, Stars and Stripes, 1958, Episodes, 1959, Liebeslieder Walzer, 1960, A Midsummer Nights Dream, 1962, BrahmsSchoenberg Quartet, 1966, Glinkiana, 1966, and Cortge hongroise, created especially for her, 1973, and in Robbinss In the Night, 1970. She was a frequent guest star with the National Ballet of Canada, the Royal Ballet of London, and other companies. In 1963 she published Melissa HaydenOff Stage and On. Her final performance was in Cortge hongroise at Wolf Trap Farm, Virginia, in September 1973. On her retirement Hayden was awarded New York Citys Handel Medallion. In 1973 she became artist-in-residence at Skidmore College, and in 1974 she established a dance school in Saratoga, New York. In 1976 she was named artistic director of the Pacific Northwest Dance in Seattle. She published Dancer to Dancer, 1981, offering practical advice to dancers based on her own experiences, and The Nutcracker Ballet, 1992, retelling the classic ballet for young readers. In 1983 she joined the dance faculty at the North Carolina School of the Arts. styl`:!555%!I^!If!I!I!I9!IG!I!I!I!I!I!I!I!I!I6!I?!IC 5D!I!I!I!I!I!I!I !I!I!I!!I)!I:!IB!IJ!IR!Ie!Im!I!I!I!I!I!I!I!I !I!I!I!I!I!I, 5-!I V!I f!I !I !Ilink`