and a strong repertory of Russian classics as well as works by Harold Lander, George Balanchine, George Skibine, and John Taras. Zoritch danced the princely roles but was often cast in works that showcased the beauty of his physical features rather than the artistry of his dancing. He once took eighteen curtain calls after a performance of Le Spectre de la Rose, in a new version choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska. Costumed as the Spectre in a sheer, rose-colored body stocking with a single strand of small roses trailing across his bare chest and over one shoulder, his beautifully proportioned figure was perfectly revealed. It is little wonder at the audience's prolonged applause. There is a famous photograph by Maurice Seymour of Zoritch in this role, standing in repose with arms curved softly aloft, that has been much admired and frequently reproduced. In 1957, at age 40, Zoritch returned to the United States and rejoined Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, then under the direction of Sergei Denham. He soon demonstrated that he was, in the words of Walter Terry, "the perfect cavalier" for the company's current ballerinas and distinguished guests such as Alicia Alonso and Yvette Chauviré. Ann Barzel supported this judgment, claiming that Zoritch's "elegance was the backbone of the classics" in the company repertory. These included Giselle, The Nutcracker, Raymonda, and act 2 of Swan Lake. Basides these Russian classics, Zoritch excelled in other works in the repertory. He was particularly acclaimed as the Poet in Michel Fokine's Romantic reverie Les Sylphides, set to the music of Frédéric Chopin. In the course of his long career, Zoritch's most famous role, however, was in a revolutionary work created in the early twentieth century: Vaslav Nijinsky's L'Après-midi d'un Faune, set to Claude Debussy's symphonic poem in 1912. Debussy's Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un Faune (1894), inspired by an 1876 poem of Stéphane Mallarmé, was considered by some music historians as "the beginning of modern music." Nijinsky's choreography was certainly new and modern, very different from previously seen forms of theatrical dance. George Zoritch was ideally suited to reinterpret Nijinsky's vision of a lusty young woodland creature lounging in the heat of a summer afternoon. With a figure that had been likened to "a Greek youth sculpted by Praxiteles," he projected an elegant eroticism particularly suited to the role. Later years Having become an American citizen, Zoritch settled down in his new, adopted