the new york city ballet is also where she met her husband, jean- pierre bonnefoux, a frenchmen who had danced at the paris opera before coming to new york to work with balanchine. >> i just love that gesture. >> brown: they were already a couple but had never danced together when one night his partner fell ill and mcbride had to step in. >> we were in love and we were together but i had never done a pirouette with him, he had never laid his hands on me, and we have five minutes for intermission and there were dancing and it was wonderful, you know, but then later on we started, and we had some ballets together and it wasn't working too well because we'd have little you know how it is but we found. >> brown: wait, you know how it is? >> a couple, you know, usually ballerinas like to tell their partners, "oh, just push me a little more this way" or "get me on my leg." ( laughter ) they worked it out. and married in grand fashion in paris. mcbride retired from the new york city ballet in 1989 at age 46. in a farewell performance that ended in ovations and flowers. the couple turned to tea