Pennsylvania Ballet began its 40th season this month at the Merriam Theater. The company was started by two Barbaras and a Patricia, along with the support of George Balanchine. The Barbaras were founder Barbara Weisberger and principal dancer Barbara Sandonato, and the Patricia was principal dancer Patricia Turko. The dancers, like many starry eyed young adults, came to town with empty pockets but with full hearts and big dreams.

“Patty and I came to Philadelphia in 1962 for $20 a week. There were times when we were literally starving; there wasn’t any food. We lived in a second floor walk- up on Pine Street where everybody stayed. It wasn’t like New York City Ballet where Lincoln (Kirstein) gave the money. Pennsylvania Ballet was founded by a few people who gave a few hundred dollars. But the idea was so exciting. We were on a mission,” Sandonato said.

As a scholarship student at the School of American Ballet in New York, some people may have thought that she was making a big mistake, but this is where she wanted to be. “And we had Balanchine behind us. He often talked about the decentralization of ballet. Where were all the dancers trained at his school going to perform? He thought that there should be a ballet company in every American city. Without his support we couldn’t have made this company. He said, ‘I’ll give you the ballets’ and we would dream at night about getting Symphony in C and Scotch Symphony. We needed those ballets because they didn’t require costumes or sets but we had good dancers.”

That strategy proved to be wise. In the company’s early days there wasn’t any money for costumes. “I had to dance the Black Swan pas de deux in Paoli with Andre Prokovsky from New York City Ballet. They were paying him so there was no money for a tutu. Someone graciously made me the skirt but I had no bodice so they bought me a Maidenform long-line bra and attached the skirt. They tried to sew a few rhinestones on the bodice, but it didn’t really work. My partner arrived with a magnificent gold beaded jacket that he brought with him. He looked like a million bucks and I’m from KMart.”

The company’s humble first studio was on the corner of Van Pelt and Walnut. The 30 x 40 foot space was vinyl tile over cement, which caused many injuries but even that far from perfect workplace was in jeopardy. “We got there one day and there was a lock on the front door and we had to beg them to keep the back door open to keep the school going. Overnight somehow someone managed to scrounge up the money for the rent. There weren’t any boys either. They had to come down from New York City Ballet whenever there was a performance and they slept in that little apartment, sometimes on the floor, along with the pianist. But there was a lucky star over us. By the late 1960s we were doing a season in New York. ”

When her future husband, Alexei Yudenich, arrived at the company in the mid-sixties, they teamed up to become a dynamic pair. “We grew up together both as artists and husband and wife. Those were exciting years! There were few married couples at that time.” When motherhood beckoned, she took time from her performing career to concentrate on her family, but the flame continued to burn. “There is a flame of dance inside me. Sometimes it’s been reduced to a pilot light and sometimes it’s a raging inferno but it never goes out.” After a brief hiatus, she returned to dance.

Things have come full circle now that daughter Gabriella Yudenich, 20, is a member of Pennsylvania Ballet. Following in her dancing parents’ footsteps, she spent last year as a member of Pennsylvania Ballet II. “Gabby felt at home here. A lot of people don’t know that she’s my daughter and, in this business, it’s doesn’t work in your favor to have someone in the business. You have to do it on your own. I can help as a teacher but I wouldn’t call anyone for a favor.”

With her daughter continuing in both the family tradition and the Pennsylvania Ballet tradition, she reflected on the past forty years. “It seems like yesterday. The company survived ups and downs, trials and tribulations just like life; it’s never a straight path. But it’s still an entity and doing well. You develop it like a baby — a child. When things were so bleak, it was hard to imagine that 40 years later they would be offering my child a contract. I know I’m proud and Barbara Weisberger is proud and Patty is proud to have had a big part in Pennsylvania Ballet’s history. I’m happy to have helped to make this baby.”