NEWS of the Century.Great Moments from the pages of Dance Magazine These excerpts from Dance Magazine retain their original spelling and punctuation. Unless noted, photos are from Dance Magazine's archives. 1957 FEBRUARY--Choreography assignments have been made for the following B'way musical futures: ... "The West Side Story"--Jerome Robbins (also directing).... AUGUST--Mr. and Mrs. Kelly Brown Kelly Brown may refer to:
SEPTEMBER--Ballet Rambert ... leaves for China Aug. 30. It is flying via Moscow, and opens in Peiping. It will be the 1st western ballet co. to appear behind the Iron Curtain For the Iron Maiden video by the same name, see . Behind the Iron Curtain is a concert recorded by Nico for "Pandora's Music Box '85" at De Doelen Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal (Great Hall), in Rotterdam, the Netherlands on October 9, 1985. . Among the works to be seen in China will be American choreographer Robert Joffrey's ballet "Pas de Deeses".... 1958 JULY--Danny Hoctor and Betty Byrd opened a 4-week stand at the Copacabana on June 5 in the show with Ella Fitzgerald Noun 1. Ella Fitzgerald - United States scat singer (1917-1996) Fitzgerald .... 1959 FEBRUARY--A bombshell was exploded Jan. 9.... a slim pamphlet, crammed with figures and statistics, called the "Royal Opera House Annual Report, 1957/1958" reveals everything.... Last year Covent Garden Covent Garden (kŭv`ənt), area in London historically containing the city's principal fruit and garden market and the Royal Opera House. received approximately $835,000 in gov't, subsidy and still needs about $1,400,000 to function satisfactorily as a national home for opera and ballet.... MAY--The most eagerly awaited curtain time in American theatrical history was 7:30 PM on April 16 at the Metropolitan Opera House--zero hour for this premiere of the legendary Bolshoi Ballet from Moscow.... Outside the Opera the line of eager balletomanes ... began to form 39 hours ahead of time. The premiere ("Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet star-crossed lovers die as teenagers. [Br. Lit.: Romeo and Juliet] See : Death, Premature Romeo and Juliet archetypal star-crossed lovers. [Br. Lit. ," starring Galina Ulanova) was gala indeed, and the fashionable audience proved the delight of even the most blase bla·sé adj. 1. Uninterested because of frequent exposure or indulgence. 2. Unconcerned; nonchalant: had a blasé attitude about housecleaning. 3. Very sophisticated. name-droppers. (What other opening could boast both Dietrich AND Garbo?).... While we are sure me situation is most temporary, the facts are that as we write this lovely ballerina [Margot Fonteyn] is in Panama City's jail ... It seems Dame Margot's husband, Dr. Roberto Arias, former Panamanian ambassador to Britain, is suspected of being against the current gov't., and even that his yacht has been carrying arms to be used in an insurrection.... After being released from custody she flew to NYC NYC abbr. New York City NYC New York City on Apr. 22.... JUNE--The May 6 debut of 20-yr.-old, Canadian-born Lynn Seymour as Odette-Odile proved one of those occasions that might well go down in ballet history.... AUGUST--Gus Giordano is considerably successful as choreographer for the in-the-round musicals in Highland Park's Music Theatre.... SEPTEMBER--Alicia Alonso's Ballet de Cuba, dormant for the past few seasons, is being revived on a large scale and has won a subsidy from the Castro gov't.... Dr. Castro was a very interested spectator at the audition proceedings and added to the excitement by presenting himself, unannounced, at the Alonso studio to watch a rehearsal-class. He was impressed with the ability and dedication of the dancers and became so engrossed en·gross tr.v. en·grossed, en·gross·ing, en·gross·es 1. To occupy exclusively; absorb: A great novel engrosses the reader. See Synonyms at monopolize. 2. that he even took to correcting anyone who lagged behind.... OCTOBER--Who would have thought the visit of Premier Khrushchev would fall within the province of this journal? Well, dancing turned out to be a red hot cold war topic, and it seems the newest of the lively summit issues is the cancan cancan (kăn`kăn), a lively French dance marked chiefly by high kicking. It was developed in Paris in the 1830s and became a popular social dance there. By the mid-19th cent. it was incorporated into dance revues and stage productions. ! Sorry we can't bring you photos of Mr. K at the meeting with labor leaders in San Francisco, when he got up to do a burlesque burlesque (bûrlĕsk`) [Ital.,=mockery], form of entertainment differing from comedy or farce in that it achieves its effects through caricature, ridicule, and distortion. It differs from satire in that it is devoid of any ethical element. of a line number he'd been shown a couple of days before in Hollywood. Flipping his coat tails, he said according to the august NY Times: "This is a dance in which girls pull up their skirts. You're going to see that--we're not. This is what you call freedom. Freedom for the girls to show their backsides to us is pornography, the culture of a people who want pornography. It's capitalism that makes the girls that way." What the touring statesman-balletomane had witnessed was a Hermes Pan number from "Can-Can," in production at 20th Century-Fox. Shirley MacLaine, who led the line of high kickers, commented wistfully, "You would never think that a few pantaloons and some petticoats would cause such a furor!" 1960 FEBRUARY--Four premieres were announced for the Jan. 31 perf. of Alvin Ailey & Co. at the 92nd St. Y: "Creation du Monde n. 1. The world; a globe as an ensign of royalty. Le beau monde fashionable society. See Beau monde. Demi monde See Demimonde. ," "Sonera," "Revelations"--along with Ailey's now-classic "Blues Suite".... OCTOBER--They made it! 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. , our 1st ballet co. to perform in the USSR USSR: see Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. , began their Russian tour Sept. 13 before a packed house at Moscow's Stanislavsky Theatre.... Suzanne Ficker, 15-yr.-old student of Marian LaCour at Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, [was] chosen by Patricia Wilde for a Ford Foundation scholarship at School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet is located in New York City, in Lincoln Center. It is considered one of the most prestigious and notable ballet schools in the United States and teaches some of the most talented young dancers in the country. .... NOVEMBER--Lew Christensen of SF Ballet turned over to young Michael Smuin, of the co., several recent choreographic assignments which were well received.... 1961 JANUARY--Nov. 1960 saw the biggest ballet boom Germany has ever experienced. It started at Stuttgart where, in only 4 weeks John Cranko staged his "Prince of the Pagodas".... FEBRUARY George Balanchine, invited to the White House by Mrs. Kennedy, was one of the 1st official guests of the new administration.... JULY--Scratch the name of Rudolf Nureyev from the list of Leningrad Maryinsky Ballet stars due to open an American tour Sept. 11 at the Metropolitan Opera in NYC. On June 16 at the Paris airport, the 23-year-old lead dancer suddenly broke away from the Soviet security agents and asked airport police for political asylum in France.... Indications are that the French gov't will grant Nureyev's request for asylum, and the De Cuevas Ballet promptly signed him at the delightfully capitalistic cap·i·tal·is·tic adj. 1. Of or relating to capitalism or capitalists. 2. Favoring or practicing capitalism: a capitalistic country. figure of $6,000 a month.... AUGUST Paris has gone mad absolutely fou, my dear--over Rudolf Noureev ... In the role of Prince Florimund, the prince charming of the de Cuevas International Ballet's production of The Sleeping Beauty Sleeping Beauty sleeps for 100 years. [Fr. Fairy Tale, The Sleeping Beauty] See : Enchantment Sleeping Beauty enchanted heroine awakened from century of slumber by prince’s kiss. , he evoked twenty-eight curtain calls in an extraordinary ovation at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees.... DECEMBER-A Fall phenomenom has been the mania for the Twist. Scarcely a dance, it is more a movement for pelvis and arms incorporated into Rock `n' Roll dancing. It is well described as "hula hooping without a hoop." Originator was (if one discounts the choreographic influence of Elvis Presley) a 19-year-old Negro recording star from Philadelphia named Chubby Checker.... |
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