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Metropolitan Ballet
Metropolitan Ballet was a short lived British ballet company. Founded in 1947 by Cecelia Blatch and Leon Hepner, the company performed in London and on tour in the provinces and abroad, staging shortened versions of the classics, some of the Diaghilev ballets, and new works by Victor Gsovsky (who was the company's first ballet master), Andrée Howard, Frank Staff and John Taras.Koegler, Horst, ''Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ballet'' (1st English edition, 1977)Percival, J., ''Dance and Dancers'' (Feb. 1960 issue) The company's dancers included David Adams, Poul Gnatt, Sonia Arova, Colette Marchand and the 16-year-old Svetlana Beriosova. Guest artists included Alexandra Danilova, Erik Bruhn, Henry Danton, Frederic Franklin and Léonide Massine. The company disbanded at the end of 1949 after a final televised performance of ''Coppélia'' Act 2 and ''Pleasuredrome'' on Dec. 19th whereupon its dancers dispersed. Beriosova joined Sadler's Wells Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballet Company
A ballet company is a type of dance troupe which performs classical ballet, neoclassical ballet, and/or contemporary ballet in the European tradition, plus managerial and support staff. Most major ballet companies employ dancers on a year-round basis, except in the United States, where contracts for part of the year (typically thirty or forty weeks) are the norm. A company generally has a home theatre where it stages the majority of its performances, but many companies also tour in their home country or internationally. Ballet companies routinely make a loss at the box office, and depend on external financial support of one kind or another. In Europe most of this support comes in the form of government subsidies, though private donations are usually solicited as well. In North America private donations are the main source of external funding. Many ballet companies have an associated school which trains dancers. Traditionally the school would provide almost all of the company's dan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Svetlana Beriosova
Svetlana Nikolayevna Beriosova (russian: Светла́на Никола́евна Берёзова; 24 September 1932 – 10 November 1998), also spelled Beriozova or Beryozova, was a Lithuanian-British prima ballerina who danced with The Royal Ballet for more than 20 years. Early life Born in Kaunas, Lithuania, the daughter of Nicolas Beriosoff (or Nicolas Beriozoff; 1906–1996), a Lithuanian ballet master- his pupils included Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Alicia Markova; he founded the Zurich Opera Ballet School- of ethnic Russian descent who immigrated to England. Beriosova came to the United States in 1940, where she studied ballet. Her mother died in New York when she was 10 years old. Nicolas Beriosoff- called "Poppa"- then married a wardrobe mistress from his dance company; after their divorce, he married an Italian surgeon, and after another divorce married half-German Doris Catana, the same age as his daughter, who ran a ballet school in Zurich.Hopkins Career ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coppélia
''Coppélia'' (sometimes subtitled: ''La Fille aux Yeux d'Émail'' (The Girl with the Enamel Eyes)) is a comic ballet from 1870 originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to the music of Léo Delibes, with libretto by Charles-Louis-Étienne Nuitter. Nuitter's libretto and mise-en-scène was based upon E. T. A. Hoffmann's short story ''Der Sandmann'' (''The Sandman''). In Greek, ''κοπέλα'' (or ''κοπελιά'' in some dialects) means ''young woman''. ''Coppélia'' premiered on 25 May 1870 at the Théâtre Impérial de l'Opéra, with the 16-year-old Giuseppina Bozzacchi in the principal role of Swanhilda and ballerina Eugénie Fiocre playing the part of Frantz ''en travesti''. The costumes were designed by Paul Lormier and Alfred Albert, the scenery by Charles-Antoine Cambon (Act I, scene 1; Act II, scene 1), and Édouard Desplechin and Jean-Baptiste Lavastre (Act I, scene 2). The ballet's first flush of success was interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Léonide Massine
Leonid Fyodorovich Myasin (russian: Леони́д Фёдорович Мя́син), better known in the West by the French transliteration as Léonide Massine (15 March 1979), was a Russian choreographer and ballet dancer. Massine created the world's first symphonic ballet, ''Les Présages'', and many others in the same vein. Besides his "symphonic ballets," Massine choreographed many other popular works during his long career, some of which were serious and dramatic, and others lighthearted and romantic. He created some of his most famous roles in his own comic works, among them the Can-Can Dancer in ''La Boutique fantasque'' (1919), the Hussar in ''Le Beau Danube'' (1924), and, perhaps best known of all, the Peruvian in ''Gaîté Parisienne'' (1938). Today his oeuvre is represented by his son Theodor Massine. Early life and education Massine was born into a musical family on 9 August 1895 in Moscow, Russia. His mother was a soprano in the Bolshoi Theater Chorus and his father ... [...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] |
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] |
Erik Bruhn
Erik Belton Evers Bruhn (3 October 1928 – 1 April 1986) was a Danish danseur, choreographer, artistic director, actor, and author. Early life Erik Bruhn was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, the fourth child and first son of Ellen (née Evers), owner of a hairdressing salon, and third child of Ernst Bruhn. His parents married shortly before his birth. Bruhn began training with the Royal Danish Ballet when he was nine years old, and made his unofficial début on the stage of Copenhagen's Royal Opera House in 1946, dancing the role of Adonis in Harald Lander's ballet ''Thorvaldsen.'' Career He was taken permanently into the company in 1947 at the age of eighteen. Bruhn took the first of his frequent sabbaticals from the Danish company in 1947, dancing for six months with the short-lived Metropolitan Ballet in England, where he formed his first major partnership, with the Bulgarian ballerina Sonia Arova. He returned to the Royal Danish Ballet in the spring of 1948 and was promoted t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexandra Danilova
Aleksandra Dionisyevna Danilova (''Russian'': Александра Дионисьевна Данилова; November 20, 1903 – July 13, 1997) was a Russian-born prima ballerina, who became an American citizen. In 1989, she was recognized for lifetime achievements in ballet as a Kennedy Center Honoree. Early life Born in Peterhof, Russian Empire on November 20, 1903, she trained at the Russian Imperial Ballet School in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). She was one of the few Russian-trained ballerinas to tour outside Russia. Her first professional post was as a member of St. Petersburg's Imperial Ballet. Career In 1924, she and George Balanchine left Russia. They were soon picked up by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes; Danilova as a dancer, Balanchine as a choreographer. Danilova toured for years with the Ballets Russes under Sergei Diaghilev, then with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo after Diaghilev's death. With the latter company, Danilova and Frederic Franklin created ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colette Marchand
Colette Janine Marchand (29 April 1925 – 5 June 2015) was a French prima ballerina and actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1952 for her performance as Marie Charlet in ''Moulin Rouge'', directed by John Huston. During the height of her dance career she was considered one of the greatest dancers in Europe, known as ''Les jambes'' (The Legs), along with Violetta Elvin, Zizi Jeanmaire, Yvette Chauviré, Janine Charrat, and Margot Fonteyn. Marchand traveled around the world as a dancer and danced with many of the greatest ballet dancers of the 1940s and 1950s. Personal life Marchand was born in Paris, France, the daughter of Alice ( née Lioret) and Roger Marchand. She began her career at the Paris Opera Ballet She married Jacques Bazire, the musical director for the Roland Petit Ballet. She died on 5 June 2015, aged 90, and was survived by her sister, Yvonne (Marchand) Le Bras. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diaghilev
Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( ; rus, Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев, , sʲɪˈrɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪdʑ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf; 19 August 1929), usually referred to outside Russia as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, from which many famous dancers and choreographers would arise. The active years of Diaghilev’s career can be divided into two periods: the one in St Petersburg (1898–1906) and the other in emigration (1906–1929). Biography Sergei Diaghilev was born in Selishchi to a noble officer . His mother died from childbed fever soon after his birth. In 1873, Pavel met and married Elena Panaeva, who loved Sergei and raised him as her own child. The in Perm was a local cultural centre, and the Diaghilevs housed a musical evening every second Thursday, Modest Mussorgsky being one of the most frequent guests. Sergei Diaghilev composed his first romance at the age of 15. When he enter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sonia Arova
Sonia Arova ( bg, Соня Арова) (20 June 1927 – 4 February 2001), was a Bulgarian ballerina. Biography Early life Sonia Arova was born as Sophie Errio on 20 June 1927 in Sofia, Bulgaria. She grew up in Sofia, she went to a ballet school, where she showed potential that the teachers she had advised her mother to take her to further her training. She began her training in Paris with Olga Preobrajenska. On holiday in Brittany in June 1940 with her best friend, June Ratcliffe, the young girls, Sophie, June and her sister Cecilia, were taken by train to Dax to escape the approaching Germans, by June's mother Andrée Ratcliffe. They eventually caught a ship to Plymouth from Bayonne; reputedly the last ship to leave, after Andrée Ratcliffe, with three children on her passport (her son was at school in England) refused to leave Sophie, as she was then called, alone on the dockside. She never saw her father again. She was reunited with her mother and sister eight years later. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poul Gnatt
Poul Rudolph Gnatt (24 March 1923 – 15 October 1995) was a Danish dancer and balletmaster active in New Zealand. Childhood Gnatt was born in Baden, Austria. His father was Kai Gnatt, flower merchant, and his mother Kaja Olsen, both from Denmark, to which they returned from Austria with Poul and his sister Kirsten six years after his birth, whereupon the children entered the ballet school of the Royal Danish Ballet. Brother and sister entered the parent company upon their graduation in 1939. Career Early career Gnatt achieved acclaim for his ''Coppélia'', ''Sleeping Beauty'', '' Le Spectre de la Rose'' and ''La Sylphide''. During the Second World War, still in the ballet company, Gnatt worked with the Resistance as liaison for British special operations parachutists. After the war he joined Roland Petit's Ballets des Champs-Elysées in Paris, then the Metropolitan Ballet in London, where he met his longtime collaborator Harry Haythorne. His first marriage having en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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