Reviews of the Century.Great Moments from the pages of Dance Magazine These excerpts from historic Dance Magazine reviews retain their original spelling and punctuation. All photos are from Dance Magazine's archives. 1940 MARCH 1940 KATHERINE DUNHAM & DANCE GROUP WINSOR THEATRE, FEB. 18 BY JOSEPH ARNOLD Joseph Arnold (28 December 1782 – 26 July 1818 in Padang, Sumatra, Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia) ) was a naval surgeon and naturalist. His specimen collection is in the museum of the Linnean Society. KAYE Miss Dunham, a Negro, flared into unsuspecting New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of like a comet.... she is today one of the most talked-of dancers, and one for whom a happy box-office future can be predicted. Katherine Dunham has developed a repertoire ranging from the primitive dances of the West Indies West Indies, archipelago, between North and South America, curving c.2,500 mi (4,020 km) from Florida to the coast of Venezuela and separating the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico from the Atlantic Ocean. to the Florida swamp shimmy. With her is a company of thirteen, and embellishing her compositions are fascinating costumes designed by John Pratt For other persons named John Pratt, see John Pratt (disambiguation). John William Pratt (October 22, 1894—December 1973) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1927 to 1936. . This dancer's virtues are a genius for theatre dance choreography, a keen understanding of the uses to which her ethnographic material can be put, and an excellent technique.... 1942 JANUARY 1942 PAUL DRAPER This article is about the musician. For the philosopher, see Paul Draper (philosopher). Paul Edward Draper (born 26 September, 1970 in Wavertree, Liverpool) is an English singer-songwriter and was the lead singer for the rock band Mansun. IN JOINT RECITAL WITH LARRY ADLER Lawrence "Larry" Cecil Adler, (10 February 1914 – 7 August 2001), was an American musician, widely acknowledged as one of the world's most skilled harmonica players. He was mostly known for his collaborations with musicians such as Sting, George Gershwin, Kate Bush and . CARNEGIE HALL Carnegie Hall Concert hall in New York, N.Y., U.S. It was endowed by the industrialist Andrew Carnegie at the insistence of the conductor Walter Damrosch (1862–1950). , DEC. 28 BY ANATOLE CHUJOY ... in his art form Paul Draper is a classicist clas·si·cist n. 1. One versed in the classics; a classical scholar. 2. An adherent of classicism. 3. An advocate of the study of ancient Greek and Latin. Noun 1. in the finest and purest sense of the word. His dancing embodies the elegance, dignity, simplicity, and correctness of style which are true earmarks of a classic art. That he is the originator of this style in tap is still another feather in his cap. 1944 NOVEMBER 1944 PEARL PRIMUS Pearl Primus (29 November 1919, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago - 29 October 1994) dancer, choreographer and anthropologist. Pearl Primus immigrated to the United States on board the S.S. Voltaire and arrived at Ellis Island on June 24, 1924. BY VIRGINIA KELLY It is reassuring to find a sincere young artist, Pearl Primus, getting the break she deserves ... in a ten-day run at the Belasco Theatre The Belasco Theatre is a legitmate Broadway theatre located at 111 West 44th Street in midtown-Manhattan. Designed by architect George Keister for impresario David Belasco, the interior featured Tiffany lighting and ceiling panels, rich woodwork and expansive murals, and a . In a day when we have such sophisticated and distorted interpretations of both the primitive and the Negro point of view, it is of immeasurable value to see the real thing presented by a gifted young dancer who has a beautiful personality and an amazing technical equipment with which to tell her story. The half of the program devoted to the modern American Negro expresses all the charm, richness, sweetness and heart-rending tragedy of the race. These include: "Negro Speaks of Rivers," "Slave Market," "Strange Fruit," "Study In Nothing," "Rock Daniel," "Mischievous Interlude," "Hard Time Blues," and "Our Spring Will Come." 1945 JUNE 1945 MODERNS IN REVIEW BY R.S.S. Martha Graham, ... opening at the National Theatre with her Dance Company ... was the long awaited event of the modern dance season. Repercussions repercussions npl → répercussions fpl repercussions npl → Auswirkungen pl of the acclaim given in Washington last October to her two numbers in the Library of Congress had been edging local interest to a fine pitch. And then last week musician Aaron Copland was handed the Pulitzer Prize Pulitzer Prize Any of a series of annual prizes awarded by Columbia University for outstanding public service and achievement in American journalism, letters, and music. Fellowships are also awarded. for the score for one of them, Appalachian Spring Appalachian Spring is a ballet score by Aaron Copland that premiered in October 1944, and achieved widespread popularity as an orchestral suite. The ballet, scored for a thirteen-member chamber orchestra, was created at the request of choreographer and dancer Martha Graham ; its premiere took place on opening night. The following evening was scheduled the premiere of the other commissioned work, Herodiade, to music of Paul Hindemith. Of Martha Graham one may really say that every movement has an emotional impulse behind it. There is never a mere echo, an empty, conventional, meaningless turn--movements that so readily disintegrate into the stereotyped with the lesser--though one may not grasp her meaning at once.... A magnificent solo by the Revivalist, the part carried by Merce Cunningham, is danced with such evocative frenzy and simultaneous fine feeling for line, it is a wonder the audience doesn't begin marching down the aisles as his converts! ... 1946 JUNE 1946 LONDON BY MARY CLARKE ... Symphonic Variations is [Frederick] Ashton's first work since his release from the Royal Air Force and suggests that his creative ability has, if anything, been enriched by his absence from ballet. The work ... is concerned only with the creation of lyrical, seemingly effortless, and exquisitely beautiful movement. Like Les Sylphides, Symphonic Variations creates a mood and leaves the spectator to draw therefrom his own enrichment.... The performances of [Margot] Fonteyn, [Pamela] May, [Moira] Shearer and [Michael] Somes, [Brian] Shaw and [Henry] Danton are completely loyal to Ashton's conception. While all give of their best, none attempts to outshine out·shine v. out·shone , out·shin·ing, out·shines v.tr. 1. a. To shine brighter than. b. To be more beautiful, splendid, or flamboyant than. 2. the others so that the fusion of all the elements comprising the ballet is complete. JULY 1946 TWO CONCERTS BY DORIS HERING The moderns were well represented on Sunday, May 12th, when Anna Sokolow gave an afternoon program at the 92nd Street "Y" and Merce Cunningham performed in the evening at the Hunter College Playhouse. Seeing both on the same day was a stimulating experience, for they typify opposite poles of approach in the contemporary dance. Anna Sokolow is a realist. She is socially conscious. She is concerned with reaching and moving the greatest possible number of people--usually through emotional means. So absorbed does she become in the social and socializing aspects of her art that detail is sometimes neglected for over-all effect; and form is neglected for content.... From this slice of realism it was quite a skip to Merce Cunningham, the escapist. He is not directly concerned with human problems and how to solve them. His dance language is for the initiated few who are as interested in contemplating Mr. Cunningham's navel as he is himself. But there [are] compensations.... He is a dancer to the core. There isn't a crude or clumsy bone in his supple body. |
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