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Karen Brown (ballerina)
Karen Brown (born 1955 in Okmulgee, Oklahoma) is an American ballerina, educator, répétiteur, ballet mistress, and director. She is noted for her long career as a principal dancer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem and as the first African-American woman to lead a ballet company. Early life Born into a family of medical professionals, Brown was raised as one of seven children in Augusta, Georgia. As a child she attended Episcopal Day School alongside her brother Stephen, making them the first African-American children to integrate the institution. At the prompting of her mother, Brown began her ballet studies after turning eight years old to help alleviate her habit of falling. In addition to studying with the former New York City Ballet dancer, Ron Colton, Brown was also a summer scholarship student at the Joffrey Ballet school. At the age of 17, after having performed with Augusta Civic Ballet for five years, Colton took Brown to a ballet festival in Virginia to present her wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Okmulgee, Oklahoma
Okmulgee is a city in, and the county seat of, Okmulgee County, Oklahoma. The name is from the Mvskoke word ''okimulgee,'' which means "boiling waters".Bamburg, Maxine"Okmulgee,"''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. Accessed June 16, 2015. The site was chosen because of the nearby rivers and springs. Okmulgee is 38 miles south of Tulsa and 13 miles north of Henryetta via US-75. Okmulgee is part of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area. History Okmulgee has been the capital of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation since 1868, when it was founded following the Civil War. The Creek Nation began restoring order after that conflict. They had allied with the Confederacy during the war and needed to make a new peace treaty with the United States afterward as a result. They passed a new constitution and elected Samuel Checote as their first principal chief after the war. In 1869, a post office (originally spelled Okmulkee) was established in the town, with Captain Frederick B. Severs appoi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Serenade (ballet)
''Serenade'' is a ballet by George Balanchine to Tchaikovsky's 1880 '' Serenade for Strings in C'', Op. 48. Serenade is credited as being George Balanchine's first full-length ballet in America. Using the students of his newly formed School of American Ballet, Balanchine choreographed this ballet for an American audience that had not been widely exposed to ballet before.Bird, "Principles of Choreography as Exemplified in the Works of George Balanchine" (1980). Master's Theses. 1851 Students of the School of American Ballet gave the first performance on Sunday, 10 June 1934 on the Felix M. Warburg estate in White Plains, N.Y., where '' Mozartiana'' had been danced the previous day. It was then presented by the Producing Company of the School of American Ballet on 6 December at the Avery Memorial Theatre of the Wadsworth Atheneum with sets by the painter William Littlefield. Balanchine presented the ballet as his response to the generous sponsorships he received during his immig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garth Fagan
Gawain Garth Fagan, CD (born 3 May 1940) is a Jamaican modern dance choreographer. He is the founder and artistic director of Garth Fagan Dance, a modern dance company based in Rochester, New York. Biography Early years Fagan was born in Kingston, Jamaica to Oxford educated S.W. Fagan, former Chief Education Officer of Jamaica, and Louise I. Walker. It was a gymnastics class that initially drew his attention to dance early on. While attending Excelsior High school, he studied with Ivy Baxter at the Jamaica National Dance Company and performed at the inauguration of Cuban President Fidel Castro in 1959. Fagan was educated at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with sights on becoming a psychologist. Career Fagan worked at several dance companies in Detroit, and moved to Rochester New York in 1970, and there established his dance company originally named the "Bottom of the Bucket BUT ... Dance Theatre" in 1970. He was a Prof ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alonzo King
Alonzo King, born in Georgia to civil-rights activists Slater King and Valencia King Nelson, is an American dancer and choreographer based in San Francisco. King grew up in Georgia and California, and, as an adult, decided his contribution would be teaching and choreography. In 1982, having established himself as a well-respected teacher, he founded Alonzo King LINES Ballet. Believing that everyone has the potential to grow through dance, seven years later he opened what was then known as the San Francisco Dance Center, offering classes for both professionals and the community. Alonzo holds Honorary Doctorate Degrees from The Juilliard School, California Institute of the Arts, and Dominican University of California. Alonzo King LINES Ballet In 1982, upon relocating back to California, King founded Alonzo King LINES Ballet, which premiered at the San Francisco State's McKenna Theater. Sharing his choreography around the world, LINES Ballet performs bi-annual home seasons at t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Taras
John Taras (April 18, 1919 – April 2, 2004) was an American ballet master, repetiteur, and choreographer. Early life and education Born on the Lower East Side of New York City to Ukrainian parents, he was sent at age 16 to study ballet with Michel Fokine, Anatole Vilzak, Pierre Vladimiroff and Ludmila Shollar, and later to the School of American Ballet. Career He first appeared professionally with Opera on Tour for which Fokine arranged dance. He performed at the 1939 New York World's Fair with Ballet Caravan at the Ford Pavilion and joined Catherine Littlefield's Philadelphia Ballet for a 1941 tour of the southern states, and in 1942 was in the Broadway revival of J. M. Barrie's ''A Kiss for Cinderella''. He then toured South America with American Ballet Caravan. Taras joined Ballet Theatre in 1942 and rose to soloist. He rehearsed the ballets of Lichine, DeMille, Nijinska, Balanchine and Tudor, and in 1946 choreographed his first ballet, ''Graziana''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Garland
Robert Garland is the artistic director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, where he was a principal dancer and their first official resident choreographer. He has also choreographed for the New York City Ballet, The Royal Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and the Oakland Ballet, among many others. Early life and education Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Garland began his dance training with John Hines at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Philadelphia School for the Performing Arts in North Philadelphia. While there, he studied all forms of dance under the tutelage of a variety of instructors, including John Hines, Marion Cuyjet, Morton Winston, and guest teachers from the Dance Theatre of Harlem company, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He also studied at the School for The Pennsylvania Ballet. At fifteen years of age, Robert joined The Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco), under the direction of Joan Myers Brown, as its youngest m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goh Choo San
Goh Choo San (; 14 September 1948 – 28 November 1987) was a Singaporean ballet dancer and choreographer whose decade-long association with The Washington Ballet brought that company international acclaim. Childhood The son of Goh Kim Lok (1904–1970), a merchant, and Siew Han Ch'ng (1912–1989), Goh was the youngest of nine children. His Chinese parents spoke Mandarin and brought up their children with very traditional values. Goh was influenced by and followed in the path of three of his older siblings to train as a dancer. Performance tours to Singapore from overseas ballet companies stimulated their interest in dance. His elder sister Goh Soo Nee 吴素妮 trained at the Royal Ballet School in London and returned to Singapore to co-found the Singapore Ballet Academy. His elder brother Goh Choo Chiat 吴诸杰 also trained at the Royal Ballet, later became a principal dancer in the Beijing Ballet, and is the artistic director of the Goh Ballet Academy in Vancouver, Britis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frederic Franklin
Frederic Franklin (13 June 1914 – 4 May 2013), sometimes also called "Freddie", was a British-American ballet dancer, choreographer and director. Dancer Born in Liverpool, England, Frederic Franklin claimed that on seeing the 1924 film ''Peter Pan'', his only thought was to go on the stage. He began his career in 1931 at the Casino de Paris with Josephine Baker. In his time in England, Franklin performed with Wendy Toye and Anton Dolin in acts such as the cabaret, variety, concert ballet, vaudeville, and theater. After briefly dancing with the Vic-Wells Ballet, forerunner of The Royal Ballet, he joined the Markova-Dolin Ballet in 1935. In 1938 Franklin joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo where he was premier danseur until 1952. Known as a quick study and for having an impeccable memory, Franklin also became the company's ballet master in 1944. With the Ballet Russe, Franklin originated many indelible characters and starred in over 45 principal roles by such choreogra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Gordon (choreographer)
David Gordon (July 14, 1936 – January 29, 2022) was an American dancer, choreographer, writer, and theatrical director prominent in the world of postmodern dance and performance. Based in New York City, Gordon's work has been seen in major performance venues across the United States, Europe, South America and Japan, and has appeared on television on PBS's ''Great Performances'' and '' Alive TV'', and the BBC and Channel 4 in Great Britain. Twice a Guggenheim Fellow (1981 and 1987), Gordon has been a panelist of the dance program panels of the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, and chairman of the former. He was a member of the Actors Studio, and was a founder of the Center for Creative Research. Gordon was married to Valda Setterfield, a dancer and actress born in England, who was for 10 years a featured soloist with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. She appears regularly in Gordon's work, and has been referred to as his "muse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fall River Legend
''Fall River Legend'' is a ballet by American choreographer Agnes de Mille. While the ballet tells the infamous story of Lizzie Borden, it notably alters the outcome of court case, with Borden receiving a guilty verdict rather than an acquittal. De Mille herself believed that Borden was guilty of the murder of her father and stepmother. Like the majority of de Mille’s ballets, ''Fall River Legend'' is deeply character driven. The ballet was commissioned by American Ballet Theatre and premiered on April 22, 1948 at the Metropolitan Opera House. Today, ''Fall River Legend'' is considered by many scholars to be her masterpiece and when it first premiered, the reviews of the ballet were generally positive. Conception The playwright Edward Sheldon encouraged de Mille to use the Lizzie Borden story for a dance, following the success of her 1942 ballet ''Rodeo''. However, the creative development of the ballet was stalled by de Mille’s marriage to Walter Prude, the birth of their s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agnes De Mille
Agnes George de Mille (September 18, 1905 – October 7, 1993) was an American dancer and choreographer. Early years Agnes de Mille was born in New York City into a well-connected family of theater professionals. Her father William C. deMille and her uncle Cecil B. DeMille were both Hollywood directors. Her mother, Anna Angela George, was the daughter of Henry George, the economist. On her father's side, Agnes was the granddaughter of playwrights Henry Churchill de Mille and Matilda Beatrice deMille. Her paternal grandmother was of German-Jewish descent. She had a love for acting and originally wanted to be an actress, but was told that she was "not pretty enough", so she turned her attention to dance. As a child, she had longed to dance, but dance at this time was considered more of an activity, rather than a viable career option, so her parents refused to allow her to dance. She did not seriously consider dancing as a career until after she graduated from college. When de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glen Tetley
Glen Tetley (February 3, 1926 – January 26, 2007) was an American ballet and modern dancer as well as a choreographer who mixed ballet and modern dance to create a new way of looking at dance, and is best known for his piece ''Pierrot Lunaire''. Biography Glenford Andrew Tetley, Jr. was born on February 3, 1926 in Cleveland, Ohio. While in medical school, Tetley found a passion for dance. After graduating from Franklin and Marshall College in 1946, Tetley moved to New York City to study dance. He began his career as a dancer, dancing in Hanya Holm's Broadway production of ''Kiss Me, Kate'' in 1948 and ''Juno'' in 1959, as well as with the New York City Opera Ballet, John Butler's American Dance Theatre, and the Joffrey Ballet where he was an original member. Later he danced with American Ballet Theatre and Jerome Robbins's Ballets: USA. Tetley's choreographic style rises from his experiences with modern dance teachers like Holm and Martha Graham as well as his time with b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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