ARTS

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ARTS HUMANITIES

• DANCERS

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ISADORA DUNCAN

• Isadora Duncan (May 26, 1877 September 14,
  1927) was an American dancer. She was born Angela
  Isadora Duncan in San Francisco, California.
• Isadora Duncan is considered by many to be the
  mother of Modern Dance. Although never very
  popular in the United States, she entertained
  throughout Europe.

Isadora Duncan and Her Pupils
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SERGE DIAGHILEV

• (18721929). As the founder of the legendary
  Ballets Russes, impresario Sergei Diaghilev
  revolutionized ballet in the early 20th century.
  He combined great music, painting, and drama with
  new types of choreography to form a dance company
  unlike any seen before.

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Hermes Pan

• The choreography of Hermes Pan has been an
  integral part of the American movie musical. On
  Broadway, he was teamed up with Ginger Rogers on
  the show Top Speed in 1929. Pan met Fred Astaire
  when Pan was assigned to choreograph the film,
  Flying Down to Rio (1933).
• Pan choreographed almost ninety movies and
  television shows, including such well known works
  as The Gay Divorcee (1934), Top Hat (1935),
  Shall We Dance (1937), Moon Over Miami (1941),
  Blue Skies (1946), Barkleys of Broadway (1949),
  Three Little Words (1950), Kiss Me Kate (1953),
  Silk Stockings (1957), Porgy and Bess (1959),
  Cleopatra (1963), My Fair Lady (1964), Finian's
  Rainbow (1968), and Darling Lili (1970). Pan won
  the Academy Award for A Damsel in Distress
  (1937), an Emmy for Best Choreography for An
  Evening with Fred Astaire (1958), National Film
  Award for Achievement in Cinema (1980), and a
  Special Award from Joffrey Ballet (1986).
• Hermes Pan died in 1990.

5
Jerome Robbins

• Jerome Robbins was an American film director and
  choreographer whose work has included everything
  from classical ballet to contemporary musical
  theater. Among the numerous stage productions he
  worked on were On the Town, High Button Shoes,
  The King And I, The Pajama Game, Bells Are
  Ringing, West Side Story, Gypsy A Musical Fable,
  and Fiddler on the Roof.

Jerome Robbins (1918-1999)
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TWYLA THARP

• A Leading American dancer and choreographer. She
  began dancing with Martha Graham, and eventualy
  formed her own company, called Twyla Tharp Dance.
  This group merged with the American Ballet
  Theatre in 1988, where she has created many
  works. She has also created choreography for
  film in Hair, Ragtime and Amadeus. In 2002 she
  choreographed Billy Joels award winning dance
  musical Movin Out on Broadway. She won a Tony
  for her work.

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MARTHA GRAHAM

• Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 April 1, 1991) was
  an American dancer and choreographer regarded as
  one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance.
  She danced and choreographed for over seventy
  years, and during that time was the first dancer
  ever to perform at The White House, the first
  dancer ever to travel abroad as a cultural
  ambassador, and the first dancer ever to receive
  the highest civilian award, the Medal of Freedom.
  In her lifetime she received honors ranging from
  the key to the City of Paris to Japan's Imperial
  Order of the Precious Crown.

Martha Graham in Letter to the World, 1941
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Gene Kelly

• A major exponent of 20th century filmed dance,
  Kelly was known for his energetic and athletic
  dancing style, his good looks and the likeable
  characters that he played on screen. Although he
  is probably best known today for his performance
  in Singin' in the Rain, he was a dominant force
  in Hollywood musical films from the mid 1940s
  until their demise in the late 1950s. His many
  innovations transformed the Hollywood musical
  film, and he is credited with almost
  singlehandedly making the ballet form
  commercially acceptable to film audiences. Kelly
  was the recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in
  1952 for his career achievements. He later
  received lifetime achievement awards in the
  Kennedy Center Honors, and from the Screen Actors
  Guild and American Film Institute in 1999, the
  American Film Institute also named him among the
  Greatest Male Stars of All Time.

Gene Kelly in Singin in the Rain (1952)
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Vaslav Nijinsky

• was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of
  Polish descent. Nijinsky was one of the most
  gifted male dancers in history, ad he grew to be
  Acelebrated for his virtuosity and for the depth
  and intensity of his characterizations. He could
  perform en pointe, a rare skill among male
  dancers at the time and his ability to perform
  seemingly gravity-defying leaps was also
  legendary. The choreographer Bronislava Nijinska
  was his sister.
• Vaslav Nijinsky is remembered especially for his
  effortless elevation, achieved without visible
  preparation. The combination of his virtuosity
  with acting and style made him the most famous
  male dancer of the twentieth century.

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Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov (Born, 1948)

• is a Soviet-born Russian American dancer,
  choreographer, and actor, often cited alongside
  Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev as one of the
  greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century.
  After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in
  Leningrad, he defected to Canada in 1974 for more
  opportunities in western dance. After freelancing
  with many companies, he joined the New York City
  Ballet as a principal dancer to learn George
  Balanchine's style of movement. He then moved to
  dance and later became artistic director with the
  American Ballet Theatre, also in New York.
  Baryshnikov has spearheaded many of his own
  artistic projects and has been associated in
  particular with promoting modern dance,
  premiering dozens of new works, including many of
  his own. His success as a dramatic actor on
  stage, cinema and television has helped him
  become probably the most widely recognized
  contemporary ballet dancer.

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GEORGE BALANCHINE

• The genius of George Balanchine has enriched the
  lives of all Americans who love the dance. Since
  he arrived in America as a young man in 1933, he
  has entertained and inspired millions with his
  stage and film choreography. Major among his
  greatest contributions as a ballet master are the
  founding of the first American classical ballet
  company, the great New York City Ballet, and the
  School of American Ballet. Throughout his career
  Mr. Balanchine has entertained, captivated and
  amazed our diverse population, lifting our
  spirits and broadening our horizons through his
  talent and art.

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Maria Tallchief

• Born in Oklahoma in 1925, she studied at the
  School of American Ballet and danced with Ballet
  Russe de Monte Carlo, was married to George
  Balanchine and became the leading ballerina of
  the New York City Ballet. Balanchine created 25
  roles for her. She was the first truly virtuosic
  American ballarina. Firebird was her most
  important role. In 1981 she created the Chicago
  City Ballet.

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Fred Astaire

• Fred Astaire (born May 10, 1899 June 22, 1987)
  was an American Academy Award-winning film and
  Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and
  actor. His stage and subsequent film career
  spanned a total of seventy-six years, during
  which he made thirty-one musical films. He is
  particularly associated with Ginger Rogers, with
  whom he made ten films. 
• George Balanchine and Rudolph Nureyev rated him
  the greatest dancer of the twentieth century, and
  he is generally acknowledged to have been the
  most influential dancer in the history of film
  and television musicals. He was named the fifth
  Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American
  Film Institute.
• Top films Swing Time, Lets Dance, Funny Face,
  Daddy Long Legs, and Silk Stockings.

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Bill Robinson

• Bill Bojangles Robinson (May 25, 1878
  November 25, 1949) was an American tap dancer and
  actor of stage and film.
• He began in vaudville, then moved to movies
  appearing as a butler in most movies opposite
  Shirley Temple.

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Nicholas Brothers

• A famous African-American team of dancing
  brothers. Fayar and Harold Nicholas. With their
  acrobatic technique, high level of artistry and
  daring innovations, they were considered by many
  the greatest tap dancers of their day. They
  became stars of the jazz circuit during the
  heyday of the Harlem Renaissance and went on to
  have successful careers performing on state,
  film, and television well into the 1990s.

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Savion Glover

• Dancer, c. 1985-- . Appeared in Broadway
  productions "The Tap Dance Kid" (1985), "Black
  and Blue" (1989) "Jelly's Last Jam" (1992), and
  "Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk" (1995)
  appeared in film "Taps," 1988 appeared on
  television series Sesame Street, 1991-95 and
  programs "Dance in America Tap!," "Black
  Filmmakers Hall of Fame," and "The Kennedy Center
  Honors" performed at Academy Awards ceremony,
  1996.