NEWS of the Century.Great Moments from the pages of Dance Magazine These excerpts from Dance Magazine retain their original spelling and punctuation. 1973 JANUARY--Jose Arcadia Limon died December 2 after a brief illness. He was one of the great choreographers and performers in the history of modern dance.... FEBRUARY--Joffrey has a few other tricks up his sleeve as well, including commissioning young choreographer Twyla Tharp ... to create her first work for another company. Her "Deuce Coupe." to 1950s rock `n' roll, will bow March 1.... MARCH--American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre, one of the foremost international dance companies of the 20th cent. It was founded in 1937 as the Mordkin Ballet and reorganized as the Ballet Theatre in 1940 under the direction of Lucia Chase and Rich Pleasant. It became the American Ballet Theatre in 1956. Its repertoire has included newly staged classical ballets and innovative modern dance works, many concerned with specifically American themes. has lost Michael Smuin back to the San Francisco Ballet. ... Smuin goes back to his old company (he was a principal dancer, ballet master and resident choreographer when he left) to become Associate Artistic Director.... APRIL--The First National Congress on Blacks in Dance will be held on the campus of Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, from June 26 to July 1.... MAY--The Martha Graham Dance Company, which has not had a season in New York since 1970, will present two world premieres during an engagement at the Alvin Theatre, May 1-13.... Asked her feelings about and the reasons behind her retirement from the stage, she replied frankly: "It's difficult to give up performing. Especially if you are a vain person, and naturally we all are. It's also difficult to give up the life and intensity of performing, but I am reconciled to it." ... JULY--Alfonso Cata, formerly with Le Grand Theatre du Geneve (Geneva). has formed his own company in Frankfurt, Germany. The company, to be known as the Frankfurt Opera Ballet, will have as ballet master Kent Stowell.... AUGUST--John Cranko died on June 26 following a heart attack suffered during a flight back to Germany with his troupe. They had just finished their third American tour.... DECEMBER--The fourth major strike against a major New York City cultural institution in less than three months began on November 13, when New York City Ballet canceled the opening of its 25th anniversary season.... The strike, called by AGMA representing the dancers, marks the first time NYC Ballet dancers have struck in the company's history.... War or no war, the slogan of Israel's dance studios and co's has been "carry on working" Some male dancers have been siphoned off by the Israel Defense Forces--from the Bat-Dor and Batsheva co's and the Classical Ballet, for instance--but planning and practice go on even where perf's have had to be canceled. "We never stopped classes," said Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild.... 1974 FEBRUARY--Pilobolus, the Dartmouth College-based modern dance co., spent Jan. on the college circuit.... MARCH--The German ballet premiere of '74 was another triple-bill at Wuppertal Wuppertal (v  p`ərtäl), city (1994 pop. 386,625), North Rhine–Westphalia, W Germany, on the Wupper River. It is an industrial center, formed in 1929 by the merger of Barmen, Elberfeld, Vohwinkel, and several smaller towns., which is now headed by Pina (Folkwang) Bausch. She herself opened the program with "Fritz".... APRIL--Eliot Feld has announced the formation of a new ballet company--Eliot Feld Ballet--scheduled for its inaugural season in June.... JULY--The long, embittered fight of Valery and Galina Panov to leave the Soviet Union and emigrate to Israel seems to be over. After more than two years of struggle, both Panovs, according to unofficial Soviet sources, have been granted exit visas.... AUGUST--Once again, the Leningrad Kirov Ballet Kirov Ballet, one of the two major ballet companies of Russia, the other being the Bolshoi Ballet. In 1991 it was officially renamed the St. Petersburg Maryinsky Ballet; however, on its frequent tours abroad it is still called the Kirov Ballet. Often regarded as the foremost European ballet company, with strict classical traditions of elegance and beauty, the company was originally the Imperial Russian Ballet. In 1889 it moved into the Maryinsky Theatre.'s loss, is American Ballet Theatre's gain. Mikhail Barishnikov, the 26-year-old star Kirov dancer who defected to the Canadian government on July 2, has been signed by ABT, giving his first performance with the company (and in the United States) on July 27 when he partnered Natalia Makarova in "Giselle." ... On July 2, the dancer reportedly leaped into a waiting car during a reception in Toronto for the company of Bolshoi and Kirov dancers who had just completed the season there. He went immediately into hiding.... SEPTEMBER--American Ballet Theatre soloist Fernando Bujones walked away with the top prize at this year's seventh International Ballet Competition at Varna Varna (vär`nä), city (1993 pop. 307,200), E Bulgaria, on the Black Sea. It is a major port and an industrial center. Manufactures include ships and boats, chemicals, electrical equipment, and textiles. Varna is also an international summer resort..... Bujones is the first American dancer ever to win the gold medal at Varna.... OCTOBER--Gelsey Kirkland and Mikhail Baryshnikov will dance the "Don Quixote" pas de deux with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet at Manitoba Centennial Concert Hall Oct. 3-6, inaugurating what promises to be an exciting partnership.... NOVEMBER--The San Francisco Ballet and the Bay Area community seem to have pulled off a miracle. On September 19, the S.F. Ballet Association held a press conference to launch a major survival campaign .... By October 8 ... through the efforts of the company dancers, the school, the board of directors and the community, $229,762 had been received in cash and $172,035 in pledges (a total of $410,797) to save the company.... 1975 SEPTEMBER--Cleveland Ballet will make its debut with a full complement of dancers.... OCTOBER--Officials at Ballet West have announced the appointment of Bruce Marks as co-artistic director of the company.... 1976 FEBRUARY--With the Nov. 2 announcement of Ben Stevenson as its new artistic director, Houston Ballet has become enmeshed in an ongoing controversy. The Stevenson appointment came as a surprise to admirers of Houston Ballet's acting artistic director. James Clouser.... JUNE--Michael Bennett's Broadway musical. "A Chorus Line," which won nine Tony Awards this year, has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Best Musical Play for the 1975-76 season.... DECEMBER--[American Ballet Theatrel's four-week Washington D.C. season, December 7 to January 2, will be highlighted by Mikhail Baryshnikov's debut as a choreographer/director with his new production of a full-length "Nutcracker".... 1977 OCTOBER--[Leslie Browne] was originally, as director Herbert Ross phrases it, the "dance-in" for American Ballet Theatre principal Gelsey Kirkland, who was unable to continue in her role because of injury. Now Leslie is a star of ... The Turning Point.... 1978 JUNE--Mikhail Baryshnikov, who has been primarily affiliated with American Ballet Theatre for the past four years, will leave that company to join New York City Ballet.... |
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