1. Walter Patrick Bissell was an American ballet dancer.
34 Facts About Patrick Bissell
1. 2.
Patrick Bissell was a leading principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre.
3.
Patrick Bissell's death prompted investigations into the alleged widespread drug use within the American Ballet Theatre.
4.
Patrick Bissell was one of the five children of Donald and Patricia Bissell; his siblings included his fraternal twin brother William, two sisters Susan and Barbara, and brother Donald.
5.
Patrick Bissell's father was a computer-systems designer with Hiram Walker Inc.
6.
Patrick Bissell was an athlete who enjoyed performing feats of daring: at the age of 8 he jumped off a 30-foot -high diving board, even though he did not know how to swim.
7.
Patrick Bissell was the pitcher on the baseball team, the center on the basketball team.
8.
Patrick Bissell was introduced to ballet at age ten by his older sister Susan, who practiced it before he did.
9.
Patrick Bissell paid him to be her ballet partner; thus he was first paid to dance.
10.
Patrick Bissell found a home and sanctuary in the passion of ballet and decided to make it his life pursuit.
11.
Patrick Bissell began training in ballet and jazz dance and was accepted into a company in Toledo, Ohio.
12.
Patrick Bissell was expelled from his first school for dealing drugs on the premises.
13.
Patrick Bissell was noticed by the American ballet dancer Edward Villella, who encouraged his parents to send him to a performing arts boarding school.
14.
Patrick Bissell then spent a year at the North Carolina School of the Arts which he left when he was informed that he should pay more attention to his academic studies.
15.
Patrick Bissell then won a scholarship to study at the School of American Ballet, where he was encouraged by Lincoln Kirstein, its founder, and Stanley Williams, one of his teachers.
16.
Patrick Bissell was invited to join Balanchine's New York City Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre.
17.
Patrick Bissell decided to join ABT and became a member of the corps.
18.
Patrick Bissell made his way around the city on a motorcycle.
19.
Patrick Bissell danced the lead roles in three of the four ballets performed by the school in its annual workshop and graduated in 1977.
20.
Patrick Bissell became a good friend of Mikhail Baryshnikov, who praised his dancing.
21.
Patrick Bissell joined the corps de ballet of the American Ballet Theatre in 1977, and after three months there, he danced the lead male role in La Bayadere.
22.
Patrick Bissell moved to the Boston Ballet but returned the following year.
23.
For much of his career Patrick Bissell was plagued with injuries, and there were reports of drug and alcohol problems.
24.
Patrick Bissell appeared in many lead roles, including Don Jose in Roland Petit's Carmen, Franz in Coppelia, Basil and Espada in Don Quixote, Albrecht in Giselle, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, James in La Sylphide, Prince Desire in Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Sleeping Beauty and lead roles in George Balanchine's Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Symphonie Concertante and Theme and Variations.
25.
Patrick Bissell created the role of the Prince in Mikhail Baryshnikov's production of Cinderella, the leading male role in Antony Tudor's The Tiller in the Fields, Glen Tetley's Contredances, the title role of Peter Darrell's Cheri and the lead role in Lynne Taylor-Corbett's Estuary.
26.
In 1984, Patrick Bissell starred as a guest artist with the Universal Ballet Company in its first production, Adrienne Dellas's Cinderella.
27.
Patrick Bissell was partnered by its leading ballerina and general director, Julia Moon.
28.
Patrick Bissell performed as a guest artist with the National Ballet of Canada, Scottish Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet.
29.
Patrick Bissell married Jolinda Menendez, a former American Ballet Theatre ballerina and principal ballerina with the Pennsylvania Ballet, on June 26,1982, at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.
30.
Patrick Bissell first met Gelsey Kirkland when the two were partnered for The Tiller in the Fields and they began a romance.
31.
Patrick Bissell started using drugs at a very young age, including shooting up with heroin, and consumed large amounts throughout the course of his life.
32.
Patrick Bissell was arrested in 1981 in Bloomington, Indiana, and charged with public intoxication, disorderly conduct and pushing a policeman.
33.
Patrick Bissell's death prompted charges of extensive drug use in the dance world by Bissell's parents and fellow-dancer Gelsey Kirkland.
34.
The 1988 production of La Bayadere by the American Ballet Theatre was dedicated to Patrick Bissell who had been notable in the role of Solor.