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Henry Danton
Henry Danton (born Henry David Boileau Down; 30 March 1919 – 9 February 2022) was a British dancer, teacher, and stager of classical ballet. Life and career Born Henry David Boileau Down to a family with French and Scottish ancestry, Henry Danton attended Crowthorne Towers preparatory school as a child, and later Wellington College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, as a King's Cadet. Aged 19, he was commissioned from the Academy in January 1939 as Second Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery and was promoted to Captain at the outbreak of World War II before being retired from active service in 1940. However, Danton did not receive his final discharge until late in 1945. Danton was a prolific dancer in London during and immediately after World War II. In the UK, Danton performed as a soloist in the International Ballet partnering Mona Inglesby in ''Les Sylphides'' and '' Swan Lake'' 1943–44, and with the Sadler's Wells Ballet 1944–46, where he appeared with Margot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst the Borough of Bedford had a population of 157,479. Bedford is also the historic county town of Bedfordshire. Bedford was founded at a ford on the River Great Ouse and is thought to have been the burial place of King Offa of Mercia, who is remembered for building Offa's Dyke on the Welsh border. Bedford Castle was built by Henry I of England, Henry I, although it was destroyed in 1224. Bedford was granted borough status in 1165 and has been represented in Parliament since 1265. It is known for its large Italians in the United Kingdom, population of Italian descent. History The name of the town is believed to derive from the name of a Saxon chief called Beda, and a Ford (crossing), ford crossing the River Great Ouse. Bedford was a marke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margot Fonteyn
Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias DBE (''née'' Hookham; 18 May 191921 February 1991), known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn, was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Royal Ballet (formerly the Sadler's Wells Theatre Company), eventually being appointed ''prima ballerina assoluta'' of the company by Queen Elizabeth II. Beginning ballet lessons at the age of four, she studied in England and China, where her father was transferred for his work. Her training in Shanghai was with Russian expatriate dancer Georgy Goncharov, contributing to her continuing interest in Russian ballet. Returning to London at the age of 14, she was invited to join the Vic-Wells Ballet School by Ninette de Valois. She succeeded Alicia Markova as prima ballerina of the company in 1935. The Vic-Wells choreographer, Sir Frederick Ashton, wrote numerous parts for Fonteyn and her partner, Robert Helpmann, with whom she danced from the 1930s to the 1940s. In 1946, the company ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olga Preobrajenska
Olga Iosifovna Preobrajenska (russian: О́льга Ио́сифовна Преображе́нская; born Preobrazhenskaya; – 27 December 1962) was a Russian ballerina of the Russian Imperial Ballet and a ballet instructor. Biography She was born in Saint Petersburg as Olga Preobrazhenskaya (the final syllable of her surname was dropped to shorten her name for professional purposes, and she used the French transliteration, Preobrajenska). Olga—born frail and with a crooked spine—was an unlikely prima ballerina. But she had dreams of being a dancer, and for years her parents tried unsuccessfully to get her enrolled in dance school. The selection committee repeatedly rejected her as a candidate. But after three years of trying, her parents succeeded and the eight-year-old Olga entered the Imperial Ballet School in 1879. Despite her physical shortcomings, Preobrazhenskaya grew strong with training under Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov and Anna Johansson. She developed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial Russian Ballet
The Mariinsky Ballet (russian: Балет Мариинского театра) is the resident classical ballet company of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russian Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet is one of the world's leading ballet companies. Internationally, the Mariinsky Ballet continues to be known by its former Soviet name the Kirov Ballet. The Mariinsky Ballet is the parent company of the Vaganova Ballet Academy, a leading international ballet school. History The Mariinsky Ballet was founded in the 1740s, following the formation of the first Russian dance school in 1738. The Imperial Theatre School, as it was originally known, was established on 4 May 1738, at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. It would become the predecessor of today's Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet. The school's founder director was the French ballet master and teacher Jean-Baptiste Landé and the purpose of cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Gsovsky
Victor Gsovsky (russian: Виктор Иванович Гзовский; 12 January 1902, Saint Petersburg - 14 March 1974, Hamburg) was a Russian ballet dancer, teacher, balletmaster and choreographer. Biography He studied with Mariinsky Theatre prima ballerina Evgenia Sokolova and started his teaching career while still very young. In 1925 Victor Gsovsky left Soviet Russia with his wife Tatjana Gsovsky, whom he had met in Krasnodar. Their first engagement was in Berlin, Germany, where he worked as dancer and choreographer at the Berlin State Opera (1925-1928) before opening a private school in 1928. From 1930 to 1933 he worked as a choreographer for the German UFA Film Company and undertook smaller tours with his wife and the ''Ballet Gsovsky''. From 1937 he was ballet master of the Markova-Dolin company; in 1938 he began teaching in Paris and in 1945 was appointed ballet master of the Paris Opera Ballet. In 1946-1947 he was ballet master with the Ballets des Champs-Élysées a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vera Volkova
Vera Volkova (russian: Bepa Boлкoвa; (31 May 1905 – 5 May 1975) was a Russian ballet dancer and expatriate dance teacher. Born near Tomsk, she trained at Petrograd's Akim Volynsky's School of Russian Ballet with Maria Romanova (the mother of Galina Ulanova). She also studied with the renowned Russian ballet mistress Agrippina Vaganova, and is credited with popularising the Vaganova method in the West. She danced professionally with various ensembles such as the GATOB (1925-1929) and the Flying Russian Ballet before defecting in 1929. She defected in Shanghai as she was hopeful she could join Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. As she heard of his death, she decided to stay there and danced with George Goncharov. In 1943, she gave up dancing and opens a dance studio in Knightsbridge then the West End. She spent a number of years teaching at the Sadler's Wells Ballet and Sadler's Wells Ballet School, training some of the leading English dancers of the 20th century. She also taught at t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adeline Genée
Dame Adeline Genée DBE (born Anina Kirstina Margarete Petra Jensen; 6 January 1878 – 23 April 1970) was a Danish-British ballet dancer. Early years Anina Kirstina Margarete Petra Jensen was born in Hinnerup north of Aarhus, Denmark. Her uncle, Alexandre Genée, gave her dancing lessons from the age of three. When she was eight, Alexandre and his wife, the former Antonia Zimmerman, adopted her. As well as changing her last name to Genée, she changed her first name to Adeline in honour of the Italian opera star Adelina Patti. Genée's debut was with her uncle's touring company at the age of ten in Oslo (at that time called Christiania). In 1895, she became the principal dancer of the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen. Subsequently, in 1896, she danced with the Berlin Royal Opera Ballet and the Munich Opera Ballet. At the Empire In 1897, she accepted a booking for six weeks to appear in ''Monte Cristo'' at the Empire Theatre of Varieties in London. She was so adm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Academy Of Dancing
"Health and happiness" , predecessor = , successor = , formation = 1920 , extinction = , type = NGO , status = Registered charity , purpose = Examination board – dance education and training , headquarters = 36 Battersea SquareSW11 3RA , location = London , coords = , region_served = Worldwide , membership = 12,337 , language = English , general = , leader_title = President , leader_name = Dame Darcey Bussell, DBE , leader_title2 = Chairman , leader_name2 = Guy Perricone , leader_title3 = Chief Executive , leader_name3 = Tim Arthur , leader_title4 = Artistic Director , leader_name4 = Gerard Charles , key_people = , main_organ = Board of Trustees , parent_organization = , affiliations = *Ofqual *Council for Dance Education and Training *International Dance Teachers Association , budget = , num_staff = , num_volunteers = , website = , remarks = , former name = Association of Teachers of Operatic Dancing The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moira Shearer
Moira Shearer King, Lady Kennedy (17 January 1926 – 31 January 2006), was an internationally renowned Scottish ballet, ballet dancer and actress. She was famous for her performances in Powell and Pressburger's ''The Red Shoes (1948 film), The Red Shoes'' (1948) and ''The Tales of Hoffmann (1951 film), The Tales of Hoffman'' (1951) and Michael Powell's ''Peeping Tom (1960 film), Peeping Tom'' (1960). She has been portrayed on screen by Shannon Davidson in the award-winning short film ''Òran na h-Eala'' (2022) which explores her life changing decision to appear in ''The Red Shoes''. Early life She was born Moira Shearer King at Morton Lodge in Dunfermline, Fife , Scotland, in 1926, the only child of civil engineer Harold Charles King and Margaret Crawford Reid, née Shearer. In 1931 her family moved to Ndola, Northern Rhodesia, where her father worked as a civil engineer and where she received her first dancing training under a former pupil of Enrico Cecchetti. She returned to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symphonic Variations (ballet)
''Symphonic Variations'' is a one-act ballet by Frederick Ashton set to the eponymous music (M. 46) of César Franck. The premiere, performed by the Sadler's Wells Ballet, took place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 24 April 1946 in a triple bill; the other works were Ashton's '' Les Patineurs'' and Robert Helpmann's ''Adam Zero''. The ballet was conducted by Constant Lambert and the set designed by Sophie Fedorovitch. Background During the Second World War, Ashton listened to Franck's '' Symphonic Variations'' a great deal and he decided to develop an elaborate scenario to be set to the music. Constant Lambert, music director for the Sadler's Wells Ballet, at first objected to the use of Franck's music for a ballet; Ashton dropped his original scenario and created an abstract ballet. During the war, the repertory had become increasingly literary, and Ashton's purpose was to counteract this. It was not his intention to display ingenuity of invention but to construct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sir Frederick Ashton
Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton (17 September 190418 August 1988) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He also worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue. Determined to be a dancer despite the opposition of his conventional middle-class family, Ashton was accepted as a pupil by Léonide Massine and then by Marie Rambert. In 1926 Rambert encouraged him to try his hand at choreography, and though he continued to dance professionally, with success, it was as a choreographer that he became famous. Ashton was chief choreographer to Ninette de Valois, from 1935 until her retirement in 1963, in the company known successively as the Vic-Wells Ballet, the Sadler's Wells Ballet and the Royal Ballet. He succeeded de Valois as director of the company, serving until his own retirement in 1970. Ashton is widely credited with the creation of a specifically English genre of ballet. Among his best-known works are ''Façade'' (1931), '' Symphonic Variat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pamela May
Pamela May OBE (30 May 1917 – 6 June 2005) was a Trinidad-born British dancer and teacher of classical ballet. Most noted as one of the earliest members of The Royal Ballet, she was regarded as a versatile dancer; dancing all the established 19th-century classical repertoire, and creating roles in new ballets by Ninette de Valois and Frederick Ashton. After retiring from professional ballet, she became a teacher at the Royal Ballet School, and also served as vice-president of the Royal Academy of Dance. Biography Pamela May was born Doris May, in the city of San Fernando, Trinidad, on 30 May 1917. Her parents were British, but had moved to the Caribbean for the purposes of her father's work as an oil engineer. The family returned to London when May was four-years-old. May began studying ballet with Freda Grant. At the age of 16, she progressed to the Sadler's Wells Ballet School, where she studied under the direction of Ninette de Valois. A year later in 1934, she made her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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