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Miranda Weese
Miranda Weese (born ) is an American former ballet dancer, teacher and ballet master. She joined the New York City Ballet in 1993 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1996. In 2007, she left to perform with the Pacific Northwest Ballet, first as a guest artist, then joined the company as a principal dancer, before retiring in 2010. In 2017, she joined the Boston Ballet as a children's ballet master. Early life and training Weese was born in San Bernardino, California. She started living with her maternal grandparents as an infant, and was adopted by them as a child. Weese refers to the couple as her parents. She has claims Cherokee and Blackfoot ancestry. She was raised primarily in Orange County, but had also lived in La Puente for a few years. Weese started dancing at age five, after a doctor recommended it to help her with knock knees. She later trained with Catherine Joyce while living in La Puente, then with Shery Gilbert upon returning to Orange County, becoming Gilbert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Bernardino, California
San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the 18th-largest city in California. San Bernardino is the economic, cultural, and political hub of the San Bernardino Valley and the Inland Empire. The governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico have established the metropolitan area’s only consulates in the downtown area of the city. Additionally, San Bernardino serves as an anchor city to the 3rd largest metropolitan area in California (after Los Angeles and San Francisco) and the 13th largest metropolitan area in the United States; the San Bernardino-Riverside MSA. Furthermore, the city’s University District serves as a college town, as home to California State University, San Bernardino. San Bernardino was named in 1810, when Spanish priest Francisco Du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jewels (ballet)
''Jewels'' is a three-act ballet created for the New York City Ballet by co-founder and founding choreographer George Balanchine. It premièred on Thursday, 13 April 1967 at the New York State Theater, with sets designed by Peter Harvey and lighting by Ronald Bates. ''Jewels'' has been called the first full-length abstract ballet. It has three related movements: ''Emeralds'', ''Rubies'', and ''Diamonds'' (usually separated by intermissions). It can also be seen as three separate ballets, linked by their jewel-colored costumes. Balanchine commented: "The ballet had nothing to do with jewels. The dancers are just dressed like jewels." Each of the three acts features the music of a different composer: ''Emeralds'' is set to the music of Gabriel Fauré, ''Rubies'' to the music of Igor Stravinsky and ''Diamonds'' to music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Costumes The costumes were created by Balanchine's long-time collaborator Barbara Karinska, who created a distinct look for each differen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Darci Kistler
Darci Kistler (born June 4, 1964) is an American ballerina. She is often said to be the last muse for choreographer George Balanchine. Early life Kistler was born in Riverside, California, the fifth child (with four older brothers) of a medical doctor and his wife. Her brothers excelled in amateur wrestling, and she followed them into water-skiing, basketball, football and horseback riding. Ballet career At age 4, Kistler received her first tutu and began ballet training that same year. She claimed although she was always athletic, she could never keep to her brothers—so ballet turned out to be one cornerstone she had mastered. After seeing a ballet performance of Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, she decided she wanted to take up ballet herself. She studied with Mary Lynn at Mary Lynn's Ballet Arts and later with Irina Kosmovska in Los Angeles. In early 1979, Kistler was selected to study at New York City Ballet's School of American Ballet (SAB), where she met George Ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swan Lake
''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoye ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, link=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failure, it is now one of the most popular ballets of all time. The scenario, initially in two acts, was fashioned from Russian and German folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger (Václav Reisinger). The ballet was premiered by the Bolshoi Ballet on at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Although it is presented in many different versions, most ballet companies base their stagings both choreographically and musically on the 1895 revival of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, first staged for the Imperial Ballet on 15 January 1895, at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. For this revival, Tchaikovsky's score was revised by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Mercurial Manoeuvres
''Mercurial Manoeuvres'' is a ballet choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon to Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1, with costumes designed by Carole Divet. The ballet premiered on April 28, 2000 at the New York State Theater. The first movement features a male soloist, two female demi-soloists, four male demi-soloists and a ''corps de ballet'' of twelve women. The second movement is a ''pas de deux''. The entire cast then return to the stage for the final movement. ''Mercurial Manoeuvres'' was made as part of the New York City Ballet's Diamond Project. The original cast includes Miranda Weese, Jock Soto, Edwaard Liang, Audrey Morgan and Elena Diner. When the ballet was made, Wheeldon was dancing with the company as a soloist. He retired from performing after ''Mercurial Manoeuvres'' to become a full-time choreographer. In 2020, in response to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the performing arts, the New York City Ballet will release a 2017 video recording of the pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Wheeldon
Christopher Peter Wheeldon OBE (born 22 March 1973) is an English international choreographer of contemporary ballet. Life and career Born in Yeovil, Somerset, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began training to be a ballet dancer at the age of 8. He attended the Royal Ballet School between the ages of 11 and 18. In 1991, Wheeldon joined the Royal Ballet, London; and in that same year, he won the gold medal at the Prix de Lausanne competition. In 1993, at the age of 19, Wheeldon moved to New York City to join the New York City Ballet. Wheeldon was named Soloist in 1998.Brown, Mark. "Ballet world abuzz at British choreographer's huge gamble," ''Manchester Guardian'', 5 January 2007. Wheeldon began choreographing for the New York City Ballet in 199 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Martins
Peter Martins (born 27 October 1946) is a Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and with the New York City Ballet, where he joined George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and John Taras as balletmaster in 1981. He retired from dancing in 1983, having achieved the rank of danseur noble, becoming Co-Ballet Master-In-Chief with Robbins. From 1990 until January 2018, he was solely responsible for artistic leadership of City Ballet. Early life Martins was born and raised in Copenhagen, Denmark.Mary Ellen Snodgrass (2015)''The Encyclopedia of World Ballet,''Rowman & Littlefield. His parents were Børge Martins, an engineer, and Tove Christa Ornberg, a pianist. His maternal aunt and uncle, Leif and Elna Ornberg, members of the Royal Danish Ballet, started teaching him ballroom combinations when he was five years of age; when he applied to ballet school, however, he was the subject of discrimination because his aunt and uncle had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerome Robbins
Jerome Robbins (born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz; October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998) was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television. Among his numerous stage productions were '' On the Town'', ''Peter Pan'', ''High Button Shoes'', ''The King and I'', ''The Pajama Game'', '' Bells Are Ringing'', ''West Side Story'', ''Gypsy'', and '' Fiddler on the Roof''. Robbins was a five-time Tony Award-winner and a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. He received two Academy Awards, including the 1961 Academy Award for Best Director with Robert Wise for ''West Side Story'' and a special Academy Honorary Award for his choreographic achievements on film. A documentary about Robbins's life and work, ''Something to Dance About'', featuring excerpts from his journals, archival performance and rehearsal footage, and interviews with Robbins and his colleagues, premiered on PBS in 2009 and won both ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Nutcracker (Balanchine)
Choreographer George Balanchine's production of Tchaikovsky's 1892 ballet ''The Nutcracker'' has become the most famous stage production of the ballet performed in the U.S. ( Mikhail Baryshnikov's production is the most famous television version, although it too originated onstage.) It uses the plot of the Alexandre Dumas, ''père'', version of E.T.A. Hoffmann's tale, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" (1816). Its premiere took place on February 2, 1954, at City Center, New York, with costumes by Karinska and sets by Horace Armistead. It has been staged in New York every year since 1954, and many other productions throughout the United States either imitate it, or directly use the Balanchine staging. However, although it is often cited as being the production that made the ballet famous in the U.S., it was Willam Christensen's 1944 production for the San Francisco Ballet which first introduced the complete work to the United States. Staging In Balanchine's version, the lead ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze
''Robert Schumann’s “Davidsbündlertänze”'' is one of the last major works made by New York City Ballet's founding choreographer and balletmaster-in-chief, George Balanchine. It is set to Robert Schumann's ''Davidsbündlertänze'' (''Dances of the League of David''),An imaginary society of artists created by Schumann the members of which represent various aspects of his personality but united in the common aim of fight the Philistines, those who oppose art or innovation in the arts. During his adult life Schumann headed a circle that included much of the Germany musical elite, including Felix Mendelssohn and Johannes Brahms. Op. 6 (1837). The idea for setting this piano work very likely came from a work created by Robert Joffrey for his own Joffrey Ballet Company, the premier of which took place at the City Center Theater in the late 1970s. Joffrey, in turn, received his inspiration from Jonathan Watts, a protege of Joffrey's and director of the Joffrey apprentice company, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symphony In Three Movements (ballet)
''Symphony in Three Movements'' is a neoclassical ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to the music of the same name by Stravinsky. The ballet was made for the New York City Ballet Stravinsky Festival in 1972, a tribute to the composer following his death. The ballet premiered on June 18, 1972, at the New York State Theater. Production Balanchine and Stravinsky had collaborated for many years until the latter's death in 1971. As a tribute to the composer, Balanchine decided to have his company, the New York City Ballet, hold the weeklong Stravinsky Festival. The festival included 22 premieres, seven by Balanchine. One of Stravinsky's works chosen for the festival was Symphony in Three Movements, which was written during the Second World War for different aborted film projects, though he admitted it referenced the war. Despite its complex choreography, intricate music and large cast, Balanchine completed the ballet in a week due to the pressures of the festival. Gordon Boel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
