The three “Baby Ballerinas” in 1936. From left to right: Tatiana Riabouchinska, Tamara Toumanova, Irina Baronova Photo: Handout

The Baby Ballerinas were 3 young leading principal dancers of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in the 1930s. They were individually selected by George Balanchine, and deemed the “Baby Ballerinas” by ballet critic Arnold Haskell based upon their age.

Tatiana Riabouchinska (May 23,1917 – August 24, 2000)

Tatiana Riabouchinska, ballerina, ca. 1938 by Maurice Seymour

Tatiana Riabouchinska was born in Moscow on May 23, 1917. She studied with Alexander Volinine and Mathilda Kschessinska. Tatiana made her debut in Paris with the Chauve-Souris revue in 1932.  Tatiana was the one of the three “Baby Ballerinas”.  She was only 15 when she joined the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, at the request of George Balanchine.  She was known for her speed, her light, delicate style, her musicality, and her sensitive interpretation of her roles.

Tatiana stayed with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo until 1942.  Afterwards she would go on to guest with Ballet Theatre, now ABT, the Original Ballet Russe, Ballet des Champs-Elysées, and the London Festival Ballet.

Tatiana created the role of the Florentine Beauty in Paganni, which some consider to be her finest work, due to a nearly impossible set of whirling pirouettes that she executed before collapsing at the feet of Paganini. Dance critic Arnold Haskell called her performance, “among the most moving I have seen on the ballet stage.”  Tatiana was also the Junior Girl in Graduation Ball, title roles in Coq d’Or and Cinderella.  Tatiana married fellow dancer and choreographer David Lichine.  She passed away in 2000, just after teaching a ballet class.

Irina Baronova (March 13,1919 – June 28, 2008)

Russian ballerina Irina Baronova in La concurrence, c. 1937

Irina Baronova was one of the three famous “Baby Ballerinas” along with Tatiana Riabouchinska and Tamara Toumanova. She was born in Petrograd in 1919 and moved to Paris during childhood. There she studied with Olga Preobrajenska and made her debut with the Paris Opera in 1930. George Balanchine noticed Irina as he watched classes and engaged her at age 13 for the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo in 1932.

She created roles in Leonide Massine’s Les Présages, Jeux d’enfants, Beau Danube, and Bronislava Nijinska’s Les Cent Baisers. In 1940, she joined Ballet Theatre, now ABT in New York.   Irina also appeared in films and musicals, was a guest artist with the Original Ballet Russe and was an active member of the Royal Academy of Dancing.

Tamara Toumanova (March 2, 1919 – May 29, 1996)

Tamara Toumanova Photo: Baron

Tamara was born in Russian on a train while her mother was trying to flee during the Revolution.  The family eventually settled in Paris. She studied with Olga Preobrajenska.   Tamara made her debut at the Paris Opera at the age of nine in L’Eventail de Jeanne.  Tamara was the second of the three “ Baby Ballerinas”.

George Balanchine saw her in ballet class signed her to the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo.  Balanchine choreographed the part of the Young Girl for Tamara in his ballet Cotillon, Concurrence and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme and Le Palais de Cristal (now Symphony in C) in 1947 at the Paris Opera.  Due to her stunning beauty and dark features, she came to be known as ”The Black Pearl of the Russian Ballet.” She starred in a little known pro-soviet film with, Gregory Peck, called “Days of Glory”.

It Is Said…………….

…….that the publicity of the three “Baby Ballerinas” helped to revive interest in ballet after Serge Diaghilev’s death.  Europe had been left without a major ballet company.

Helen Keller visits Martha Graham’s studio. (1954) Image: Perkins School for the Blind Archive

In 1954 there occurred a meeting of great spirits, this time between Helen Keller, iconic choreographer Martha Graham, and legendary dancer Merce Cunningham (whom you might recall as the love of John Cage’s life).

At seventy-two, already admired far and wide for her extraordinary story of unhinging disability from destiny, Keller meets the Grand Dame of modern dance. Craig Brown writes in Hello Goodbye Hello: A Circle of 101 Remarkable Meetings…

Helen Keeler waits while Martha Graham positions her hands as a male and female dancer look on. (1954) Image: Perkins School for the Blind Archive

“Graham is immediately taken by what she calls Helen’s ‘gracious embrace of life’, and is impressed by what appears to be her photographic memory. They become friends. Before long, Helen starts paying regular visits to the dance studio. She seems to focus on the dancers’ feet, and can somehow tell the direction in which they are moving. Martha Graham is intrigued. ‘She could not see the dance but was able to allow its vibrations to leave the floor and enter her body.’

On one of her visits, Helen says, ‘Martha, what is jumping? I don’t understand.’

Graham is touched by this simple question. She asks a member of her company, Merce Cunningham, to stand at the barre. She approaches him from behind, says, ‘Merce, be very careful, I’m putting Helen’s hands on your body,’ and places Helen Keller’s hands on his waist.

Helen Keller surrounded by a group of young dancers at Martha Graham’s studio, including Graham herself. (1954) Image: Perkins School for the Blind Archive

Cunningham cannot see Keller, but feels her two hands around his waist, ‘like bird wings, so soft’. Everyone in the studio stands quite still, focusing on what is happening. Cunningham jumps in the air while Keller’s hands rise up with his body. ‘Her hands rose and fell as Merce did,’ recalls Martha Graham, in extreme old age.

‘Her expression changed from curiosity to one of joy. You could see the enthusiasm rise in her face as she threw her arms in the air.’

Cunningham continues to perform small leaps, with very straight legs. He suddenly feels Keller’s fingers, still touching his waist, begin to move slightly, ‘as though fluttering’. For the first time in her life, she is experiencing dance. ‘Oh, how wonderful! How like thought! How like the mind it is!’ she exclaims when he stops.”

In this short excerpt from the 1954 documentary The Unconquered: Helen Keller in Her Story, Keller pays a visit to Graham’s dance studio — to watch this is to witness a true triumph of the human spirit:

Martha Graham Dance Company

Mar 19 – 22, 2014

New York City Center

Tickets start at $35

The Martha Graham Dance Company returns to New York City Center for a four-evening engagement March 19-22, 2014. The Company brings exciting premieres by international stars Nacho Duato and Andonis Foniadakis along with the new one-act production of Graham’s Clytemnestra. Join in the 70th Anniversary celebration of Appalachian Spring and the 30th of Graham’s stunning The Rite of Spring, as well as an opening night gala performance with special guests.

Pillar of Fire

Premiered: 1942

Music: Arnold Schoenberg (Verklarte Nacht)
Choreography: Antony Tudor
Scenery & Costumes: Jo Mielziner
Lighting: Jean Rosenthal

American Ballet Theater

(From a Performance in 1973)

Hagar: Sallie Wilson

Older Sister: Bonnie Mathis

Younger Sister: Ellen Everett

Suitor: Gayle Young

Man Across the Way: Marcos Parades

Synopsis

The music for Antony Tudor’s Pillar of Fire, Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night). was inspired by a nineteenth century two-character German poem Weib und die Welt (Woman and the World). Set in a time when a child born out of wedlock was not condoned in polite society, the poem deals with a pregnant woman who is afraid that her fiancé will not marry her. He, being truly in love with her, accepts the fact and tells her that the child will be considered his.

Pillar of Fire is basically the same type of story set in balletic terms and with additional characters. Three sisters, the Eldest Sister, a prim, straight-laced spinster; Hagar, the middle sister, who desperately wants love, marriage and a family; and the Youngest Sister, a spoiled flirt, able to collect men as a bee collects honey, live in a small town at the turn of the century. A Friend, with whom Hagar is in love comes to visit. While he has come to see Hagar, he is a polite, conventional man of his time who is not yet aware of how much Hagar loves him. The other sisters, somewhat jealous of Hagar decide they must have what should be hers and the Youngest Sister flirts outrageously with the Friend. They go inside and Hagar, left outside, is ignored. Frustrated, angry, and seeing her last chance of a happy married life gone forever, Hagar observes the House Opposite, where, it is said, lovers go to spend time together, and, in her imagination, sees into the house and observes what is said to go on there. A man comes out of the house and sees her watching. Under other circumstances, etiquette would require that Hagar, without being rude, not acknowledge him, but since Hagar feels that she has lost her only chance for a traditional love life, she is attracted to him. Her sisters come out of their house and the Friend and her Youngest Sister go off together. Hagar is frantic, and when the Man From the House Opposite returns she welcomes him and they dance together, at the end of which they go into the House Opposite.

Having defied the conventions of the times, Hagar is ostracized by the neighbors and she and her sisters are now outcasts. The Friend comes to visit offering sympathy and help, but the embarrassed Hagar cannot accept it. She wishes help from the townspeople, and, finally, from her seducer, but he observes her as if she had never existed. The Friend returns, and, seeing Hagar’s despair, firmly, but tenderly tells her, in a final pas de deux, that he loves her and will stand by her and give her the happiness she so desperately wants.

Pillar of Fire received its world premiere by American Ballet Theatre on April 8, 1942 at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, danced byNora Kaye (Hagar), Lucia Chase  (Eldest Sister), Annabelle Lyon (YoungestSister), Antony Tudor (The Friend), and Hugh Laing (The Young Man From the House Opposite)

Marly Knoben, Glen Eddy & Nacho Duato in Jiří Kylián’s Stamping Ground. Photo: Jorge Fatauros

Choreography: Jiří Kylián

Netherlands Dance Theater

Music: Carlos Cháve

Lighting Joop Caboort

Set/Stage Design: Jiří Kylián

Costumes: Heidi de Raad

Premiere: 1983

Dancers:

Jean Emile, Joke Martin, Aryeh Weiner, Philip Taylor, Brigitte Martin, DeAnn Deteuil

In 1980 Jiri Kylián, who then served as both artistic director and principal choreographer of the Nederlands Dance Theater, went to Australia to film a gathering of Aboriginal Tribal Dancers on Groote Island, and explore the festival participants’ verbal and nonverbal forms of communication. Mr. Kylián’s experiences during this trip led to his creation of Stamping Ground, which premiered in 1983.  Mr. Kylián sought to find the universal qualities that underlie both modern ballet and a style of dancing that has survived in Australia for over 40,000 years. In his ballet, Mr. Kylián allows the dancers to develop their individual personalities and relationships with each other within the dance group through the idiom of the choreography.

Stamping is the most important element in Aboriginal dance. Each tribe has its own way of dancing and his own Stamping Ground. The Aboriginal people believe that dance ensures the spiritual well-being and social cohesion of community life.

Mr. Kylián filmed the documentary, Road to the Stamping Ground  at this 1980 gathering and the film contains scenes from a spirited group dance inspired by aboriginal rites. Tribes involved in the annual gathering have no common native language and can only communicate in basic English. Kylian points out that each tribe brings with them traditional dances from their local areas, and through movement or stamping, finds a way to share their mystical experiences with other tribes.

Danilova in a studio shot capturing the glamour and dramatic charisma that made her a beloved star with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.(Photograph by Constantine; from the Collections of the Music Division, Library of Congress.)

Born in Russia, Alexandra Danilova (1903-1997) studied under Agrippina Vaganova at Imperial Ballet School in Saint Petersburg. In 1920 she entered the former Mariinsky Company, where she was quickly dancing solo roles.  In 1924 she visited Western Europe with a small ballet ensemble headed by George Balanchine but the group never returned to Russia instead they joined Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.

Ms. Danilova soon rose to prominence in the Diaghilev company, creating leading roles in Apollon Musagète, La Pastorale, and The Triumph of Neptune and created roles in works by Balanchine as well as Léonide Massine.

In 1933 she joined Colonel de Basil’s Ballets Russes, where she remained until 1938, when she became the prima—and much loved—ballerina of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.

Danilova had a sparkling personality that endeared her to audiences and a repertory that encompassed nineteenth- and twentieth-century classics, dancing soubrette as well as dramatic roles. In 1946 she collaborated with Balanchine on a staging of the full-length Raymonda and created the role of the Sleepwalker in Night Shadow.

Alexandra Danilova as a star of Colonel de Basil’s Ballet Russe, 1936. (Photo by Maurice Seymour. Courtesy of Ronald Seymour/Maurice Seymour Archive.)

In 1951 she left the Ballet Russe and appearing as guest artist with several ballet companies, including Sadler’s Wells Ballet, and formed her own company (Great Moments of Ballet, 1954–56) touring Japan, the Philippines, and South Africa. She danced her farewell performance in Tokyo in 1957. In 1964 she joined the faculty of the School of American Ballet (the official school of the New York City Ballet) and brought to American ballet the training and traditions of both the classical Russian and the modern Diaghilev repertoires. She staged excerpts from classical ballets for the annual workshops and staged, with Balanchine, the full Coppélia for the New York City Ballet (1974–75).

Ms. Danilova also appeared in musical comedy (Oh Captain!, 1958), taught, and made lecture tours. She played a small but significant role in the motion picture The Turning Point (1977). She also staged ballets for other companies. She died in at her home in New York City (July 13, 1997). She was 93 years-old.

She won note both for her extensive repertoire, ranging from romantic to abstract Balanchine roles, and for the individuality of her characterizations, particularly the street dancer in Le Beau Danube, the glove seller in Gaîté Parisienne, Odette in Swan Lake, and Swanilda in Coppélia.

Arden Court

Paul Taylor Dance Company

1981 Performance with David Parson & Daniel Ezralow

Choreography: Paul Taylor

Music: William Boyce

Set & Costumes: Gene Moore

Lighting: Jennifer Tipton

Premiered: April 15, 1981

“One of the few great art works created in [the 20th] century… exploring a new movement field of love and relationship. The women dance into the men’s arms as if Shakespeare had only written Romeo and Juliet the day before yesterday. I am convinced that this is one of the sentimental works of our time… something extraordinary in the history of dance. It bounces to a different drummer.” – Clive Barnes, New York Post

Mary Anthony, recognized as one of the leaders of the modern dance movement as well as a national treasure and legend of modern dance, died in her studio home in the East Village in New York City on May 31, 2014 at the age of 97.  Former company member, Daniel Maloney who is the Artistic Director of the Mary Anthony Dance Theater Foundation, was like a son to her and took care of her to the end. Among her students were Donald McKayle, the modern-dance choreographer, and Arthur Mitchell, the New York City Ballet star and co-founder of Dance Theater of Harlem.

Others who studied and performed with her include Ronald K. Brown and Elisa Monte, as well Ulysses Dove and former major dancers in the Martha Graham company like Yuriko Kimura, Ross Parkes, Daniel Maloney (all close associates of Ms. Anthony in her own troupe), Richard Kuch and Steve Rooks.

Mary Anthony, a native of Kentucky, began her career with a scholarship in dance with Hanya Holm in the early 40’s, eventually joining the Holm Company and becoming her assistant. She was an original member of the radical modern dance organization The New Dance Group in the 1940’s. Ms. Anthony danced in concerts with Joseph Gifford as well as appearing in many Broadway Shows. Her staging of the London production of Touch and Go, in which she danced one of the leading roles, resulted in a long association as choreographer for Italian Musical Theater.

Mary Anthony

Ms. Anthony started the Mary Anthony Dance Theater in 1956. Following the premier of Ms. Anthony’s signature work Threnody – for which composer, Benjamin Britten gave his special permission to use his Sinfonia da Requiem – Louis Horst wrote, “Here is the most beautiful and complete dance composition this observer has seen.” Her company performed throughout the United States for over 40 years, including appearances at Jacob’s Pillow, The American Dance Festival, the Berkshire Music Festival at Tanglewood and toured as part of the Dance Touring Program of the National Endowment for the Arts, and for over 30 years presented home season performance in New York City. Jennifer Dunning of the New York Times described Ms. Anthony’s Songs as “hauntingly lyrical with the emphasis on simplicity and ageless craft.” In 1996, Mary Anthony Dance Theater celebrated its 40^th Anniversary seasons at The Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse in New York City. In 2004 Ms. Anthony reconstructed one of her oldest works, Women of Troy, on Dancefusion, which was presented in Philadelphia along with her legendary solos Lady Macbeth danced by Mary Ford Sussman. In 2009 her work The Devil in Massachusetts from 1952 was reconstructed by the 360º Dance Company.

An internationally recognized choreographer, Ms. Anthony has had her works added to the repertory of Pennsylvania Ballet, Bat-Dor Company of Israel, the Dublin City Ballet, Dancefusion in Philadelphia and the National Institute for the Arts of Taiwan. Ms. Anthony taught at the Herbert Berghof Studio for Actors in New York City for many years.  She taught at her own studio at 736 Broadway for over 50 years, retiring only last year.   In November 2013 a Tribute to Mary Anthony was presented as part of Fridays At Noon at the 92nd Street Y, honoring her legacy in modern dance and her 97th Birthday.

Mary Anthony has been an extraordinary presents in the dance community and the artistry and depth of her choreography is timeless. She will live on through the dancers she trained and the people who loved her. Andrea Pastorella, one of her long-time students stated the following, “Mary continued to teach, she never lost her “Eagle Eye” even when the right eye failed she never missed a blink. She would only give a compliment if she really meant it. Her honesty was relentless. One of the things that she loved most was teaching her choreography workshops which culminated twice a year at her studio with performances. She used to say: ‘These shows are what I live for’!”

Ms. Anthony was the 2004 recipient of the Bessie Award for lifetime contribution to the field of modern dance. In 2006 she received the Martha Hill Award. Other awards and honors include: Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke’s Balasaraswati Award from American Dance Festival, American Dance Guild Award of Artistry, American Dance Association Award, New York State Dance Education Award, and Channel One New Yorker of the week. In 2004 she was entered into the Dance Hall of Fame as part of an installation for the New Dance Group at the Saratoga Dance Museum and in 2011 she received a Citation from New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer at her 95th birthday, declaring November 11 as Mary Anthony Day.

Donations in Mary Anthony’s memory can be made to the Mary Anthony Dance Theater Foundation and sent to 736 Broadway, New York NY 10003.

Édouard Lock’s works have appeared on film. 1987′s La La La Human Sex duo no 1, directed by Bernhard Hébert and starring Louise Lecavalier and Marc Béland, is a short black-and-white film which won six international prizes including one from the Festival international du film sur l’art de Montréal. Also directed by Bernhard Hébert, Le petit musée de Velasquez (1994), is a free adaptation of eight choreographed pieces from Infante, c’est destroy. Actress Markita Boies appears alongside the La La La Human Steps dancers in this colour feature film which blends contemporary dance with the world of the great Spanish Baroque painter Diego Velázquez.

As recorded from a PBS broadcast of Alive From Off Center back in the late 1980′s, this is an adequate VHS capture of a La La La Human Steps’ performance of Human Sex. There are a couple other releases of this performance at You-tube right now, but I think this one is probably a higher-quality capture. I hope everyone will enjoy it. I find it impossible to keep my jaw closed while I watch this. Truly amazing…

…In 1986 Mr. Lock won a Bessie Award for his 1985 work Human Sex, after the piece was shown during the Awards show Mark Morris screamed out “Genocide” at the top of his voice….

Carlo Blasis 1797-1878  

Widely regarded as one of the fathers of modern ballet, Former ballet mistress  for the Royal Ballet, Ursula Hageli explains how Carlo Blasis’s writings have inspired the ballet techniques of today. With demonstration from Royal Ballet dancer Marcelino Sambé. Piano – Tim Qualtrough.

Blasis is well known for his very rigorous dance classes, sometimes lasting four hours long. Blasis insisted that his students learn theories and definitions of dance steps. He trained all of Enrico Cecchetti’s teachers and it is thought that Blasis’s influence in his training is what led Cecchetti to create the Cecchetti method of ballet.

Auguste Vestris 1760-1842

Join Ursula Hageli as she introduces “le dieu de la danse” – Auguste Vestris. With performance from Royal Ballet dancer Valentino Zucchetti. Trained solely and with the greatest care by his father, Gaétan Vestris, Auguste Vestris made a single unofficial appearance at the Opéra (and was dubbed Vestr’Allard by a newspaper critic) in 1772, at age 12. Although he revealed extraordinary promise, his father withdrew him for further training before permitting his formal debut in 1776. Being admitted into the company, bearing the name Vestris alone, he rose rapidly to the forefront. As a dancer possessing unprecedented virtuosity, Auguste Vestris’s dazzlingly athletic style was very different from his father’s.

August Bournonville 1805-1879

Former Principal with The Royal Ballet, Johan Kobborg introduces the style of August Bournonville in rehearsal with Artist Marcelino Sambé, with former ballet mistress Ursula Hageli and pianist Tim Qualtrough.

August Bournonville, the man known as the father of the Danish ballet style of ballet. He studied under the Italian choreographer Vincenzo Galeotti at the Royal Danish Ballet, Copenhagen, and in Paris, France, under French dancer Auguste Vestris. He initiated a unique style in ballet known as the Bournonville School.

The Bournonville method appears fluid and effortless, even though it is technically challenging. One of the key features of the Bournonville technique is its emphasis on quick footwork, beaten jumps and batterie. Graceful epaulement , or placement of the shoulders, is also important. In addition, the technique requires graceful, basic arm movements as well as a lifted torso.

Many of the movements begin and end in fifth position, and pirouettes are executed by placing the foot into a low develope position. A Bournonville dancer’s eyes often follow the moving leg, striving for an expression of kindness.

Marius Petipa 1818-1910

One of the greatest ballet choreographers, Marius Petipa, created over fifty ballets. His exotic La Bayadère was given its premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre in St Petersburg in 1877. It was regularly performed within the former Soviet Union throughout the 20th century but was almost unknown in the West until 1961, when the touring Kirov Ballet performed the famous Kingdom of the Shades scene. Natalia Makarova saw the ballet as a child in Leningrad and created this version for American Ballet Theatre in 1980.

Enrico Cecchetti 1850 – 1928

Enrico Cecchetti was one of the most influential ballet teachers of all time, coaching greats such as Pavlova and Nijinsky. He trained under Lepri, a pupil of the great Carlo Blasis who codified the technique of Classical Ballet in 1820. Blasis ideas were developed further by Cecchetti who grouped the Classical vocabulary into six sets of exercises, one for each day of the week. This work was recorded and published in 1922 by Cyril Beaumont, assisted by Stanislas Idzikowski and Enrico Cecchetti himself. Further volumes were compiled by Margaret Craske and Derra de Moroda. In 1918, Cecchetti settled in London, laying the groundwork for the formation of The Royal Ballet. Join Ballet Mistress Ursula Hageli and dancer Nicol Edmonds as they demonstrate one of Cecchetti’s fiendishly hard adage exercises. Piano – Tim Qualtrough

On Jan. 6th, 1993, that’s 22 years ago today, Rudolf Nureyev died in Paris of complications related to AIDS at the age of 55. One of the most celebrated dancers of the 20th century, he trained at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg and danced with the Kirov (Mariinsky) Ballet before defecting to the West in 1961. (Photo: Lord Snowden, 1986)

American Masters teams up with Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Ric Burns to co-produce a new documentary about American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in honor of the ballet company’s 75th anniversary.

American Masters – American Ballet Theatre: A History …premieres nationwide Friday, May 15, 2015 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings)…rthe rise of the company from its earliest days as a small, financially struggling collective, to its pinnacle as one of the most respected and revered dance companies in the world. Beginning film production in 2006, Burns was given unprecedented access to the company and shot hundreds of hours of original footage, including dramatic live performances in Paris and Havana, grueling rehearsals at ABT’s flagship studio in New York City and slow-motion captures at Kaatsbaan International Dance Center in Tivoli, N.Y.

The footage from Kaatsbaan features iconic dances by nine ABT dancers, including Copeland, Murphy, Seo, Gomes, Isabella Boylston, Herman Cornejo, Daniil Simkin, Joseph Gorak and Cory Stearns, chosen by McKenzie for their diversity and breadth of talent to illustrate the ABT dancers’ formidable technicality, intricate artistry and nuanced emotion. Shot by Emmy-winning cinematographer Buddy Squires and a 30-person crew using Phantom Flex cameras — which capture up to 2,500 frames per second and brings to life even the smallest of movements — the footage brings a new dimension to the understanding of the extraordinary efforts made in the perfection of form: from the delicate placement of a fingertip to the perfectly executed jeté.

American Masters on PBS

Friday, May 15, at 9 pm EST

(check local listings)

Filed under: Ballet, Dance History Tagged: ABT, ABT Studio, Ameican Masters, American Ballet Theater, American Ballet Theater 75th Anniversary Season, “American Ballet Theatre: A History”, “American Masters – American Ballet Theatre: A History”, Buddy Squires, Cory Stearns, Daniil Simkin, Gillian Murphy, Hee Seo, Herman Cornejo, Isabella Boylston, Joseph Gorak, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, Kevin McKenzie, Marcelo Gomes, Misty Copeland, PBS, Ric Burns

In some of Mat Ek’s former choreographies, the traditions of Kurt Jooss and of his mother, Birgit Cullberg may be apparent. He uses classical as well as modern dance techniques. Social engagement of psychological dilemmas combined with subtle humor, form the basis of his choreographies. For Ek, movement is a means of individual expression. Aesthetic value is not his first priority.

In 1983 Ms. Guillem won the gold medal at the Varna International Ballet Competition, which later in the year earned her her first solo role, dancing the Queen of the Dryads in Rudolf Nureyev‘s staging of Don Quixote. In December 1984, after her performance in Nureyev’s Swan Lake, she became the Paris Opera Ballet’s youngest-ever étoile, the company’s top-ranking female dancer.^[3] In 1987 she performed the lead role in William Forsythe‘s contemporary ballet In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated with one of her favorite partners, Laurent Hilaire.

Sylvie Guillem from French Vogue 1981

In 1988 she was given the title role in a production of Giselle staged by the Royal Ballet to celebrate Nureyev’s 50th birthday. Her performance was a success, and in the following year she left Paris for London, to become a freelance performer and one of the Royal Ballet’s principal guest artists. Her desire to work independently from a company gained her the nickname “Mademoiselle Non”. In 1995 Ms. Guillem created the dance television program, Evidentia, which won several international awards. In 1998 she staged her own version of Giselle for the Finnish National Ballet, and in 2001 restaged the ballet for La Scala Ballet in Milan.

Sylvie Guillem performs “Techné” in Life in Progress Photo: Bill Cooper

In 2001 she became the first winner of the Nijinsky Prize for the world’s best ballerina, although in her acceptance speech she criticised the “supermarket culture” of such awards. In the same year, she controversially appeared nude and without make-up in a photo-shoot for French Vogue. In 2003 she directed the central section of a Nureyev tribute program, but was criticised for having the dancers perform in front of a giant projected backdrop of Nureyev, which the audience found distracting. By 2006 she had moved from ballet to contemporary dance, working with such performers as Akram Khan as an Associate Artist of the Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London, England.

Score: George Bizet

Carmen is a ballet created by Roland Petit and his company ‘Les Ballets de Paris’ at the Prince’s Theatre in London on 21 February 1949, which has entered the repertory of ballet companies in France and around the world. This version is in five scenes and represents a striking admixture of classical ballet, Spanish-style movement, mime, and freshly invented dramatic dance action.

Spitfire – An advertisement  divertissement (1988) was Matthew Bourne’s first hit, and something of a signature piece. It places Perrot’s famous Pas De Quatre form 1846, made as a kind of diva-off for the four leading ballerinas of the 19th Century, (in order of appearances was based on age from youngest to oldest, to squelch further confrontations between them , Lucile Grahn, Carlotta Grisi, Fanny Cerrito, and Marie Taglioni. (The fifth great Romantic ballerina of the time, Fanny Elssler, was invited to take part in the gala event but declined to do so; the young Lucile Grahn accepted without hesitation). Spitfire takes place im the world of men’s underwear advertising and mail order catalogue photography. Both a celebration of male vanity and an affectionate comment on the preening grandeur of the danseur noble, “Spitfire” was last seen at the Dance Umbrella 25th Birthday Gala in 2006 in a 6 man version. Here it will be seen in its original 4 man version with all of the original solos restored.

Matthew Bourne’s “Spitfire”

Matthew Bourne’s Early Adventures is a trio of works he made between 1988 and 1991, to celebrate his 25 years in dance making. In this remastered format for the digital age each piece easily withstands the test of time, most notably in that their strong sense of humor is retained. That it remains very funny derives from keen satirical observation merged with some good-old seaside postcard humor. Gentle fun is poked at nineteenth century classical ballet in Spitfire, a parody of a grand pas de deux in the form of a pas de quatre for four men, sporting stiff brylcreemed hair while advertising brilliant white underwear (a whole catalogue range of string vests, Y-fronts, boxers and long johns). With a patchwork of familiar pas de deux tunes from Glazunov and Minkus, the four performers satirized the aloof, elitist occupational “look at me” requirement that is common to both ballet principals and fashion models.a qui

Lithograph by A. E. Chalon of Carlotta Grisi (left), Marie Taglioni (center), Lucille Grahn (right back), and Fanny Cerrito (right front) in the Perrot/Pugni Pas de Quatre, London, 1845

Great Stars, Bitter Rivals: Pas de Quatre

(A Quick History of the Four Ballerinas and the Making of Pas de Quatre)

Geoffrey Holder as the Baron of The Cemetery in “Banda” (1957)

Geoffrey Holder’s Banda dance debuted in the 1954 Truman Capote/Harold Arlen musical House Of Flowers. Holder the Baron of The Cemetery (based on the Haitian Loa of Death Baron Samedi) and received both a performer and choreographer credit in the program. The Broadway musical takes place somewhere in the West Indies during Mardi Gras weekend.

The cast of the musical was a who’s who of African-American talent including Pearl Bailey, Diahann Carroll, Juanita Hall, Ray Walston, Carman de Lavallade, Alvin Ailey, Ada Moore, Arthur Mitchell, Walter Nicks Louis Johnson, and Glory Van Scott.  Oliver Messel won the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design, the show’s only nomination. The show closed on May 21, 1955 after 165 performances.

Photo by RJ Muna

From Network of Pointes to further discourses on contemporary ballet May 20-21, 2016 An SDHS Special Topics Conference at the Center for Ballet and the Arts, New York University, and at Barnard College, Columbia University.

Contemporary ballet is undoubtedly a recognizable genre for most dancers. It is identifiable. It appears to be flourishing. It has a bit of an “it” factor. It piques students’ interest. But what is contemporary ballet?

The conference seeks to cultivate a discourse of “contemporary” ballet in relation to traditional ballet vocabularies, narratives, and iconography. The 2015 issue of Conversations across the Field of Dance Studies: Network of Pointes began to articulate features of this genre, and this conference offers those interested in contemporary ballet’s historiography a forum for discussion

Event Locations

The Center for Ballet and the Arts (CBA) and Barnard College, Columbia University in New York City will serve as conference locations.

Event Sponsors:

This event is co-hosted by the CBA and Barnard College, Columbia College. It is sponsored by the Faculty of Education at the Royal Academy of Dance, the Dance Department at Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles), the Dance Department at Skidmore College and SLIPPAGE: Performance|Culture|Technology.

Society of Dance History Scholars advances the field of dance studies through research, publication, performance, and outreach to audiences across the arts, humanities, and social sciences. As a constituent member of the American Council of Learned Societies, SDHS holds wide-ranging annual conferences; publishes new scholarship through its proceedings and book series; collaborates regularly with peer organizations in the U.S. and abroad; and presents yearly awards for exemplary scholarship, including the de la Torre Bueno Prize®.

Follow us on Social Media

…on Twitter @Ballet2016 and on Facebook.

You can also email us on contemporaryballet2016@gmail.com

Martha Graham in Letter to the World, 1940. Photo: Barbara Morgan (1900-1992)

It is perfectly acceptable to be imitative, particularly when you are young, when you are trying to understand the shape of a stage and how your body works on it. You use your history, whatever it is, and mine included so many people with whom I had studied or who had lived in my mind and heart for so long. People were correct to see traces of these people in my movements and in my choreography.

Art is memory. It is the excavation of so many memories we have had–of our mothers, our best and worst moments, of glorious experiences we have had with friends or films or music or dance or a lovely afternoon on a sloping, green hill. All of this enters us and, if we are artists, must be shared, handed over to others. This is why it is so important to know what came before you. It is also important to understand that things will follow you, and they may come along and make your work look pedestrian and silly. This is fine; this is progress. We have to work with what life presents to us, and we have to work as well as we can while we can. We have limitations as well as the occasional resources to overcome them.

This is why I feel it is best to exhaust yourself as much as possible: to expunge all the memories, all the bad habits, all the energy you have. And then begin again. There is always worth in the true artist, but there is also the reality of time and energy expiring, of the world moving on, of the art changing.

Live in your time. Work well in your time. And extend a hand to the past and keep your eyes on the future. There’s my advice.

Portrait of Martha Graham . Photo: Imogen Cunningham (1931)

Mary Wigman

From a choreographic and aesthetical production perspective, Mary Wigman (1886 – 1973 Germany) is, after Laban, the first relevant, European, modern dance figure reported by modern dance history.

As much as Laban, Dalcroze and Delsarte (who are of an extreme importance mainly because of their ideological contributions), Wigman develops her own understanding of dance and introduces it in a significant amount of choreographic pieces.

She opposes radically to classical dance values and methods, in a search for a dance that would accomplish an expressive function of the dancer’s soul.

Mary Wigman in Hexentanz

Concerned about a close relationship between spirituality and movement, she defends the idea of invisible forces that would give life to dance. From this point of view, she somehow recreates the cathartic function attributed to dance in ancient societies.

Her choreographic work and thought are considered as part of the artistic trend called German expressionism. Her practice itself receives the name of dance of expression or “Ausdrückstanz” (in German).

Wigman’s dance pieces are remembered for their tragic, dark character and are described as introspective dances that reveal vibrant, vital, excited and passionate inner states of being.

She engages herself into the social and educational mission of the choreographer, by creating several schools and transmitting her artistic legacy. Among her renowned students are Hanya Holm, Harald Kreutzberg, Gret Paluca and Kurt Joos.

According to modern dance history, she influences the whole German dance trend during the 1920s and 1930s and what follows after the war.

Her ideas are brought to the United States of America by Hanya Holm, who passes the heritage to figures like Alwin Nikolaïs.

Still, in other countries like France, for example, Wigman heirs are responsible for the respective modern dance trends at the time.

Her most famous piece is called “Hexentanz” (The Witch).