Hurt Edgerton: ‘Something Went Wrong’

“Something went wrong,” said an injured Glenn Edgerton, 29, who dislocated a toe and never got to take his curtain calls for the Joffrey Ballet’s “Petrushka” Tuesday night at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

“Apparently, I hoisted myself too high over the partition and used too much force getting there. Instead of flopping over from the waist I hung from the hip and my weight pulled me down.”

Of all the perils that can befall a dancer, pitching over a wall while in relative non-motion has to be the least likely.

Yet, that’s exactly what happened to Edgerton. It was the last scene of “Petrushka” and the puppet’s final gesture. After waving, he is supposed to slump over the roof of the marionette theater with his arms hanging loose and still swinging inanimately.

But he fell 8 feet, hitting his foot on a step and ended up leaving the theater in a wheelchair. Two company doctors sent him for X-rays to an emergency room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

“I suffered no breaks, just a dislocated toe,” he said. “But the full diagnosis--finding out the secondary damage--is not in yet.” Meanwhile, Edgerton has his foot in a splint-cast up to his knee and says he is taking pain pills.

He is one of the Joffrey’s strongest character dancers, the only one who can carry both the major roles--serious and comic--in Ashton’s “Illuminations” and “Wedding Bouquet,” and his temporary loss to the ranks is hard felt.

“It’s always serious when a fine dancer is hurt,” said Joffrey publicity director Rima Corben, “but especially in a small company.”

As a result of his and other injuries “Light Rain” and “Monotones II” will replace “Italian Suite” and “L’Air d’Esprit” through the rest of the season. Otherwise, the scheduled programs will be seen--where need be with cast changes.

“We felt this to be a wiser decision than the alternative,” Corben explained, “putting the burden of extra rehearsals on the dancers.”

As for the very versatile Edgerton, who would also have portrayed the legendary outlaw in “Billy the Kid” at the Pavilion without this mishap, he’s not worried.

“I could have landed on my head,” he said. “It could’ve been very bad, but I got off easy. Someone must have been watching.”