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Alicia Markova
Dame Alicia Markova DBE (1 December 1910 – 2 December 2004) was a British ballerina and a choreographer, director and teacher of classical ballet. Most noted for her career with Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and touring internationally, she was widely considered to be one of the greatest classical ballet dancers of the twentieth century. She was the first British dancer to become the principal dancer of a ballet company and, with Dame Margot Fonteyn, is one of only two English dancers to be recognised as a prima ballerina assoluta. Markova was a founder dancer of the Rambert Dance Company, The Royal Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, and was co-founder and director of the English National Ballet. Early life and education Markova was born as Lilian Alicia Marks on 1 December 1910. Her father, Arthur, was Jewish by birth; her mother, Eileen (nee Barry), converted to Judaism. She was the eldest of four daughters. The family lived in a two bedroom flat in Finsbury Park ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dame
''Dame'' is a traditionally British honorific title given to women who have been admitted to certain orders of chivalry. It is the female equivalent of ''Sir'', the title used by knights. Baronet, Baronetesses Suo jure, in their own right also use the title ''Dame''. A woman appointed to the grades of Dame Commander or Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg), Order of Saint John, the Order of the Holy Sepulchre (Catholic), Order of the Holy Sepulchre, the Order of the Bath, the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, the Royal Victorian Order, or the Order of the British Empire becomes a dame. A Central European order in which female members receive the rank of Dame is the Order of St. George (Habsburg-Lorraine), Order of Saint George. Since there is no female equivalent to a Knight Bachelor, women are always appointed to an Order (distinction), order of chivalry. Women who are appointed to the Order of the Garter or the Order of the Thistle are gi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Ballet Theatre
American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant. Through 2019, it had an annual eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) in the spring and a shorter season at the David H. Koch Theater in the fall; the company tours around the world the rest of the year. The company was scheduled to have a 5-week spring season at the MET preceded by a 2-week season at the Koch Theater beginning in 2020. ABT is the parent company of the American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, and was recognized as "America's National Ballet Company" in 2006 by the United States Congress. History In 1939 Pleasant and Chase committed to the creation of "a large scale company with an eclectic repertory". The pair and a small group from Mordkin Ballet formed Ballet Theatre. Their new company's first performance was on 11 January 1940. Chase began developing the company's repertoir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculpture, sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter. Matisse is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso, as one of the artists who best helped to define the revolutionary developments in the visual arts throughout the opening decades of the twentieth century, responsible for significant developments in painting and sculpture. The intense colourism of the works he painted between 1900 and 1905 brought him notoriety as one of the Fauvism, Fauves (French language, French for "wild beasts"). Many of his finest works were created in the decade or so after 1906, when he developed a rigorous style that emphasized flattened forms and decorative pattern. In 1917, he relocated to a suburb of Nice on the French Riviera, and the more re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of Assemblage (art), constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. Among his most famous works are the Proto-Cubism, proto-Cubist ''Les Demoiselles d'Avignon'' (1907) and the anti-war painting ''Guernica (Picasso), Guernica'' (1937), a dramatic portrayal of the bombing of Guernica by German and Italian air forces during the Spanish Civil War. Beginning his formal training under his father José Ruiz y Blasco aged seven, Picasso demonstrated extraordinary artistic talent from a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to a larger district, the Monte Carlo Quarter (corresponding to the former municipality of Monte Carlo), which besides Monte Carlo/Spélugues also includes the wards of Saint Roman, Monaco, La Rousse/Saint Roman, Larvotto, Larvotto/Bas Moulins and Saint Michel, Monaco, Saint Michel. The permanent population of the ward of Monte Carlo is about 3,500, while that of the quarter is about 15,000. Monaco has four traditional quarters, from west to east they are: Fontvieille, Monaco, Fontvieille (the newest), Monaco City, Monaco-Ville (the oldest), La Condamine, and Monte Carlo. Monte Carlo is situated on a prominent escarpment at the base of the Maritime Alps along the French Riviera. Near the quarter's western end is the "world-famous Place du Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term is used in the United Kingdom in two senses. It may be used narrowly and specifically to refer to the "official" scheme administered by English Heritage, and for much of its history restricted to sites within Greater London; or it may be used less formally to encompass a number of similar schemes administered by organisations throughout the UK. The plaques erected are made in a variety of designs, shapes, materials and colours: some are blue, others are not. However, the term "blue plaque" is often used informally to encompass all such schemes. History The "official" scheme traces its origins to that launched in 1866 in London, on the initiative of the politician William Ewart (British politician), Willi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anton Dolin (ballet Dancer)
Sir Anton Dolin (27 July 190425 November 1983) was an English ballet dancer and choreographer. Biography Dolin was born in Slinfold in Sussex as Sydney Francis Patrick Chippendall Healey-Kay (generally known as Patrick or Pat Kay to his friends). He was the second of three sons of Henry Kay, Henry George Kay (1852–1922) and his wife, Helen Maude Chippendall Healey (1869–1960), from Dublin. He trained at Serafina Astafieva's school at The Pheasantry in London's King's Road.Decharne, Max. (2005) ''King's Road: The Rise and Fall of the Hippest Street in the World''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, p. 23; In 1921, he joined the Ballets Russes under the guidance of Sergei Diaghilev, the pre-eminent ballet impresario of the time, becoming a principal dancer from 1924. It was Diaghilev who gave Patrick his stage name: Diaghilev 'russified' names of his star dancers to keep up the tradition of his company. In the 1930s, Dolin was a principal with the Vic-Wells Ballet. There he dan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area in West London, England, due south-west of Kilometre zero#Great Britain, Charing Cross by approximately . It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the SW postcode area, south-western postal area. Chelsea historically formed a manor and parish in the Ossulstone hundred of Middlesex, which became the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea in 1900. It merged with the Metropolitan Borough of Kensington, forming the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea upon the creation of Greater London in 1965. The exclusivity of Chelsea as a result of its high property prices historically resulted in the coining of the term "Sloane Ranger" in the 1970s to describe some of its residents, and some of those of nearby areas. Chelsea is home to one of the largest communities of Americans living outside the United States, with 6.53% of Chelsea residents having been born in the U.S. History Early history The word ''Chelsea'' (also formerly ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Serafina Astafieva
Serafina Astafieva (Russian: Серафима Александровна Астафьева; 1876 – 13 September 1934) was a Russian dancer and ballet teacher.''Oxford Dictionary of Dance'' (2004) Oxford University Press Early life and education Serafina Astafieva was born in Saint Petersburg in 1876, part of the family of noble Alexander Astafyev. She was a grand-niece of the author Leo Tolstoy. Some sources suggest that he advised sending the young Serafina to a ballet school to recover from illness. She was a pupil at the St Petersburg Theatre School and then the Imperial Ballet School, graduating in 1895. Career Until 1905 she danced as a soloist at the Mariinsky Theatre. In 1914, The Tatler reported that she had worked as a nurse for eight months during the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War.The Tatler, 8 April 1914 From 1911-1913 Astafieva performed with Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Her key principal roles were Cleopatra and Schehezarada in the ballet company' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Whittington And His Cat
''Dick Whittington and His Cat'' is the English folklore surrounding the real-life Richard Whittington ( 1354 – 1423), wealthy merchant and later Lord Mayor of London. The legend describes his rise from poverty-stricken childhood with the fortune he made through the sale of his cat to a rat-infested country. Although the real Whittington was actually of high birth and likely did not own a cat, he did become a merchant and politician and was remembered for his public projects and charitable investments. Another element in the legend is that Dick attempted to flee his service as a scullion one night, heading towards home (or reached Highgate Hill in later tradition), but was dissuaded by the sound of Bow bells, which promised he would be mayor of London one day. Since the pre-Victorian era, the story has been a favourite subject of British pantomime, especially during Christmas season. Overview Written forms date from the early 1600s, over 150 years after the death of the h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Finsbury Park (area)
Finsbury Park is an List of areas of London, area in north London, England, which grew up around an Finsbury Park station, important railway interchange near the convergence of the London Boroughs, Boroughs of London Borough of Islington, Islington and London Borough of Hackney, Hackney and is named after the Finsbury Park, park in London Borough of Haringey, Haringey. Finsbury Park should not be confused with Finsbury, which is a district of central London, Central London roughly three miles to the south, forming the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Islington. Geography The area is centred on Finsbury Park station, a major London Buses, bus, National Rail, rail and London Underground, tube interchange near the southern end of the Finsbury Park, public park of the same name. The neighbourhood includes part of Finsbury Park and Highbury West wards within the London Borough of Islington, part of Brownswood ward in the London Borough of Hackney, part of Stroud Green Wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published on Saturday 26 March 2016, leaving only the online edition. The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004 British Press Awards. ''The Independent'' won the Brand of the Year Award in The Drum Awards for Online Media 2023. History 1980s Launched in 1986, the first issue of ''The Independent'' was published on 7 October in broadsheet format.Dennis Griffiths (ed.) ''The Encyclopedia of the British Press, 1422–1992'', London & Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, p. 330. It was produced by Newspaper Publishing plc and created by Andreas Whittam Smith, Stephen Glover and Matthew Symonds. All three partners were former journalists at ''The Daily Telegraph'' who had left the paper towards the end of Lord Hartwell' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
