HOME
*





Irek Mukhamedov
Irek Dzhavdatovich Mukhamedov OBE (russian: Ирек Джавдатович Мухамедов: tt-Cyrl, Ирек Җәүдәт улы Мөхәммәтев; born 8 March 1960), is a Soviet-born British ballet dancer of Tatar origin who has danced with the Bolshoi Ballet and the Royal Ballet. Born in Kazan, he trained at the Moscow Choreographic Institute under the guidance of Alexander Prokofiev between 1970 and 1978. Upon graduation, he joined the Classical Ballet Company, where he spent three years touring around the world. It was with this company that he first danced Romeo, a role that was to become one of his most acclaimed. In 1981 he won the Grand Prix and gold medal at the International Ballet Competition in Moscow and was immediately invited to join the Bolshoi Ballet as a principal dancer, where he not only became Grigorovich's favourite danseur but went to become the youngest man ever to dance the leading role in ''Spartacus''. After defecting from the Soviet Union ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary. Ballet has been influential globally and has defined the foundational techniques which are used in many other dance genres and cultures. Various schools around the world have incorporated their own cultures. As a result, ballet has evolved in distinct ways. A ''ballet'' as a unified work comprises the choreography and music for a ballet production. Ballets are choreographed and performed by trained ballet dancers. Traditional classical ballets are usually performed with classical music accompaniment and use elaborate costumes and staging, whereas modern ballets are often performed in simple costumes and without elaborate sets or scenery. Etymology Ballet is a French word which had its origin in Italian ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Kenneth MacMillan
Sir Kenneth MacMillan (11 December 192929 October 1992) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer who was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977, and its principal choreographer from 1977 until his death. Earlier he had served as director of ballet for the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. He was also associate director of the American Ballet Theatre from 1984 to 1989, and artistic associate of the Houston Ballet from 1989 to 1992. From a family with no background of ballet or music, MacMillan was determined from an early age to become a dancer. The director of Sadler's Wells Ballet, Ninette de Valois, accepted him as a student and then a member of her company. In the late 1940s, MacMillan built a successful career as a dancer, but, plagued by stage fright, he abandoned it while still in his twenties. After this he worked entirely as a choreographer; he created ten full-length ballets and more than fifty one-act pieces. In addition to his work for bal ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Prix Benois De La Danse
The Benois de la Danse is a ballet competition held annually in Moscow. Founded by the International Dance Association in 1991, it takes place each year on or around April 29 and it's judged by a jury. The members of this jury change every year and it consists of only top ballet personages. Statuettes are given to the winners in the categories of lifelong achievement, ballerina, danseur, choreographer, composer and designer. The Benois de la Danse earns a cash prize of $1,000,000, as well as exceptional events occurring during the previous year on stages around the world. These include dancing roles of all kinds as well as choreographic accomplishments. History The idea for the Benois de la Danse was initiated in Moscow and the founders succeeded in obtaining the patronage of UNESCO in the autumn of 1992. Its scheduling at the end of April is meant to coincide with the birthday of the great Alexandre Benois (1870–1960) for whom it is named. French sculptor Igor Ustinov desi ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Grand Theatre, Warsaw
The Grand Theatre in Warsaw ( pl, Teatr Wielki w Warszawie), known in full as the Grand Theatre–National Opera, is a theatre and opera complex situated on the historic Theatre Square in central Warsaw, Poland. The Warsaw Grand Theatre is home to the Polish National Ballet and is one of the largest theatrical venues in the world, with a seating capacity of over 2,000. The Warsaw Grand Theatre was inaugurated on 24 February 1833 with a production of Rossini's ''The Barber of Seville''. After the building's bombing and near-complete destruction in World War II, it was rebuilt and reopened on 19 November 1965 after having been closed for over twenty years. The original building was designed in a neoclassical style by architects Antonio Corazzi and Chrystian Piotr Aigner, and later restored by Bohdan Pniewski. History From 1833 The Theatre was built on Theatre Square between 1825 and 1833, replacing the former building of Marywil, from Polish classicist designs by the Italian a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Kim Brandstrup
Kim Brandstrup (born 9 January 1957, Aarhus, Denmark) is a Danish-born, British-based choreographer. He received a degree from the University of Copenhagen in Film and Media Studies and the London Contemporary Dance School where he studied choreography with Nina Fonaroff. He began working as a choreographer in 1983, and in 1985 founded his own dance company, Arc Dance Company. He has worked with a number of companies including New York City Ballet, The Royal Ballet, The Royal Danish Ballet, English National Ballet, and the Rambert Dance Company among others - as well as extensive work in theatre, opera and film, drawing on his cinematic training to forge his unique narrative style. Over the last two and a half decades, Brandstrup has established his name as one of the leading narrative choreographers of his generation, a dance maker with a natural instinct for telling stories. For Brandstrup telling stories and addressing serious subjects has always been combined - “te ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp (; born July 1, 1941) is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. In 1966 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance. Her work often uses classical music, jazz, and contemporary pop music. From 1971 to 1988, Twyla Tharp Dance toured extensively around the world, performing original works. In 1973 Tharp choreographed ''Deuce Coupe'' to the music of The Beach Boys for the Joffrey Ballet. ''Deuce Coupe'' is considered the first "crossover ballet", a mix of ballet and modern dance. Later she choreographed ''Push Comes to Shove'' (1976), which featured Mikhail Baryshnikov and is now thought to be the best example of crossover ballet. In 1988, Twyla Tharp Dance merged with American Ballet Theatre, since which time ABT has premiered 16 of Tharp's works. On May 24, 2018, Tharp was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree by Harvard University. Early life and education Tharp was born in 1941 on a farm in Portland, Indiana, the daug ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Ashley Page
Ashley Page OBE (born August 1956) is a British former ballet dancer, choreographer and was artistic director of Scottish Ballet for ten years. Ashley Page was born in Rochester, Kent in August 1956. Page trained the Royal Ballet School, and joined the Royal Ballet in 1976. There, he worked closely with Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan, creating numerous roles in their new ballets. He also worked with visiting choreographers including Glen Tetley and, especially, Richard Alston, who was to become his choreographic mentor. He was promoted to principal dancer in 1984. Page was artistic director of Scottish Ballet for ten years, from 2002 to 2012. In August 2012, Christopher Hampson succeeded him as artistic director of Scottish Ballet. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2006 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2006 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 17 June 2006, to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2006.Antigua & Bar ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


The Prodigal Son (ballet)
''Prodigal Son'', or ''Le Fils prodigue'', Op. 46 (russian: Блудный сын) is a ballet created for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes by George Balanchine to music by Sergei Prokofiev (1928–29). The libretto, based on the parable in the Gospel of Luke, was by Boris Kochno, who added a good deal of drama and emphasized the theme of sin and redemption ending with the Prodigal Son's return. Susan Au writes in ''Ballet and Modern Dance'' that the ballet was the last of the Diaghilev era, choreographed the year the great impresario died. She continues: "Adapted from the biblical story, it opens with the prodigal's rebellious departure from home and his seduction by the beautiful but treacherous siren, whose followers rob him. Wretched and remorseful, he drags himself back to his forgiving father." History Serge Lifar created the role.Villella, E., "Prodigal Son," University of Pittsburgh Press, 1998, p. 80. , The premiere took place on Tuesday, 21 May 1929 at the Théât ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Apollo (ballet)
''Apollo'' (originally ''Apollon musagète'' and variously known as ''Apollo musagetes'', ''Apolo Musageta'', and ''Apollo, Leader of the Muses'') is a neoclassical ballet in two ''tableaux'' composed between 1927 and 1928 by Igor Stravinsky. It was choreographed in 1928 by twenty-four-year-old George Balanchine, with the composer contributing the libretto. The scenery and costumes were designed by André Bauchant, with new costumes by Coco Chanel in 1929. The scenery was executed by Alexander Shervashidze, with costumes under the direction of Mme. A. Youkine. The American patron of the arts Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge had commissioned the ballet in 1927 for a festival of contemporary music to be held the following year at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The story centres on Apollo, the Greek god of music, who is visited by three Muses: Terpsichore, muse of dance and song; Polyhymnia, muse of mime; and Calliope, muse of poetry. The ballet takes Classical antiquity a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

George Balanchine
George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was an ethnic Georgian American ballet choreographer who was one of the most influential 20th-century choreographers. Styled as the father of American ballet, he co-founded the New York City Ballet and remained its artistic director for more than 35 years.Joseph Horowitz (2008)''Artists in Exile: How Refugees from 20th-century War and Revolution Transformed the American Performing Arts.''HarperCollins. His choreography is characterized by plotless ballets with minimal costume and décor, performed to classical and neoclassical music. Born in St. Petersburg, Balanchine took the standards and technique from his time at the Imperial Ballet School and fused it with other schools of movement that he had adopted during his tenure on Broadway and in ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Viviana Durante
Viviana Durante (born 8 May 1967) is an Italian ballet dancer, considered one of the great dramatic ballerinas of recent times. She was a principal dancer of The Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Teatro alla Scala and K-Ballet. She is the artistic director of English National Ballet School and of the Viviana Durante Company. Early career Durante was born in Rome and started ballet there at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma aged six. Spotted by ballerina Galina Samsova, she joined the lower school of the Royal Ballet School at White Lodge in Richmond Park, London. A year later, she featured in a Thames Television documentary entitled ''I really want to dance''. Shortly after graduating to the upper school, aged 17, she joined the Royal Ballet Company. Two years later, she attracted national attention when she took over as Odette/Odile in mid-performance, never having been taught the role. At 21, she became the company's youngest principal dancer, and a year later, in 1990, she ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

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 Varia ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]