User:Robertgreer/SandboxJ

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Copyright 1994-2008 Britannica Concise Encyclopedia | From: Britannica Concise Encyclopedia | Date: 2007 ... ballet company founded in Monte-Carlo in 1932. The name Ballets Russes had been used by the impresario Sergey Diaghilev for his company, which revolutionized ballet in the first three decades of the 20th century. Under the direction of Colonel W. de Basil, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo brought to audiences new compositions by Léonide Massine and George Balanchine, with such dancers as Aleksandra Danilova, Leon Woizikowki, and David Lichine. Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo divided into new competitive companies in 1938, one under de Basil, the other under Massine. De Basil renamed his company the Royal Covent Garden Ballet Russe and finally the Original Ballet Russe (1939); the company toured internationally before dissolving in 1948. Massine, with René Blum, formed another Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo with the dancers Danilova, Tamara Toumanova, Dame Alicia Markova, Mia Slavenska, Serge Lifar, Igor Youskevitch, and André Eglevsky and new choreography by Massine. This company performed principally in the U.S., produced traditional revivals and works by U.S. choreographers, and featured U.S. dancers, including Maria Tallchief. The company declined in the 1950s and ceased producing in 1963; its ballet school was maintained in New York City for a time. Massine and Sergei Denham organized the new Ballets de Monte Carlo in 1966 under the patronage of Prince Rainier III of Monaco. www.britannica.com/eb/article-9012004/Ballet-Russe-de-Monte-Carlo Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo | Ballet company formed in Monte Carlo in 1932. The name derived from Sergey Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, which dissolved after his death in 1929. Under René Blum and Col. W. de Basil, the company presented works by Léonide Massine and George Balanchine and featured Alexandra Danilova, André Eglevsky, and David Lichine. In 1938 clashes split the company into two groups: the Original Ballet Russe (led by de Basil), which toured internationally before dissolving in 1948; and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo (led by Massine), which toured mainly in the U.S. with Danilova, Alicia Markova, and Maria Tallchief until 1963. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-356456.html Maria Tallchief | (born Jan. 24, 1925, Fairfax, Okla., U.S.) U.S. ballet dancer of Native American descent. Tallchief studied with Bronislava Nijinska before joining the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo (1942–47). She joined the New York City Ballet in 1948 and became its prima ballerina, creating leading roles in many ballets choreographed for her by George Balanchine (her husband from 1946 to 1952), including Symphonie concertante (1947), Caracole (1952), and Pas de dix (1955). She left the company in 1965, became artistic director of the Lyric Opera Ballet in Chicago, and founded the Chicago City Ballet in 1980. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-380179.html Bronislava Nijinska | [orig. Bronislava Fominitshna Nizhinskaya] (born Jan. 8, 1891, Minsk, Russia—died Feb. 21, 1972, Pacific Palisades, Calif., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. dancer, choreographer, and teacher. She trained at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg and joined the Mariinsky Theatre company in 1908. She danced with the Ballets Russes in Paris from 1909, as did her brother, Vaslav Nijinsky. She choreographed several ballets for the company, including Les Noces (1923), The Blue Train (1924), and Les Biches (1924). During the 1920s and 1930s she created works for other companies, including her own (1932–37). In 1938 she moved to Los Angeles, where she opened a school, and she continued to work as a guest choreographer into the early 1960s. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-373497.html Ballets Russes | Ballet company founded in Paris in 1909 by Sergey Diaghilev. Considered the source of modern ballet, the company employed the most outstanding creative talent of the period. Its choreographers included Michel Fokine, Léonide Massine, Bronislava Nijinska, and George Balanchine, and among its dancers were Yekaterina Geltzer, Tamara Karsavina, and Vaslav Nijinsky. Music was commissioned from composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, Darius Milhaud, Sergey Prokofiev, and Claude Debussy, and ballets featured stage designs by artists Alexandre Benois, Pablo Picasso, Georges Rouault, Henri Matisse, and André Derain. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-356457.html Sergey (Pavlovich) Diaghilev | From: Britannica Concise Encyclopedia | Date: 2007 | (born March 31, 1872, Novgorod province, Russia—died Aug. 19, 1929, Venice, Italy) Russian impresario, founder-director of the Ballets Russes. After studying law at the University of St. Petersburg (1890–96), he cofounded and edited (1899–1904) the avant-garde magazine Mir Iskusstva (“World of Art”). He then left Russia for Paris to present productions of Russian ballet and opera, to wide acclaim. In 1909 he established the Ballets Russes, in which he achieved a stunning synthesis of dance, art, and music by bringing together superb choreographers, dancers, composers, and artists and set designers. He led the company until his death. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-362657.html Michel Fokine | From: Britannica Concise Encyclopedia | Date: 2007 | [orig. Mikhail Mikhaylovich Fokine] (born April 23, 1880, St. Petersburg, Russia—died Aug. 22, 1942, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. dancer and choreographer. He trained at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg and debuted at the Mariinsky Theatre at age 18. Following his creation of The Dying Swan for Anna Pavlova in 1905, he was in demand as a choreographer. When his ambitious scenario for a ballet on the story of Daphnis and Chloe was rejected, Sergey Diaghilev in 1909 engaged Fokine at the Ballets Russes in Paris, where he choreographed works such as The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911), and Daphnis and Chloe (1912). In these ballets he strove for a greater dramatic and stylistic unity than had been previously known. He moved to New York City in 1923 and thereafter choreographed works for companies in the US and Europe. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-364626.html Léonide Massine | From: Britannica Concise Encyclopedia | Date: 2007 | [orig. Leonid Fyodorovich Miassin] (born Aug. 9, 1896, Moscow, Russia—died March 15, 1979, Cologne, W.Ger.) Russian-born French dancer, teacher, and choreographer. He joined the Ballets Russes in 1914 and produced his first ballet, Midnight Sun, in 1915; this was followed by Parade (1917), The Three-Cornered Hat (1919), and Pulcinella (1920). He extended Michel Fokine's reforms by enriching the characterization of many roles. During 1932–38 he was principal dancer and choreographer for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. His ballets Les Présages (1933), Choreartium (1933), and Rouge et noir (1939) displayed innovative choreography and set designs and were among the first dances based on symphonies. In 1938–42 he directed his re-formed Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and he became artistic director of a new Ballet de Monte Carlo in 1966. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-371494.html George Balanchine | From: Britannica Concise Encyclopedia | Date: 2007 | [orig. Georgy Melitonovich Balanchivadze] (born Jan. 22, 1904, St. Petersburg, Russia—died April 30, 1983, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. choreographer. After studying at the Imperial Ballet School, he left the Soviet Union in 1925 to join the Ballets Russes, where his choreography of Apollo (1928) exemplified the spare neoclassical style that became his trademark. His work impressed the impresario Lincoln Kirstein, who in 1933 invited “Mr. B.” to form the School of American Ballet and its performing group, the American Ballet. The group became the Metropolitan Opera's resident company (1935–38) but disbanded in 1941. In 1946 Kirstein and Balanchine founded the Ballet Society, from which emerged the New York City Ballet in 1948. Balanchine created more than 150 works for the company, including The Nutcracker (1954), Don Quixote (1965), and Jewels (1967), and he also choreographed musicals and operas. He collaborated closely with the composer Igor Stravinsky, setting more than 30 works to his music. Balanchine's work remains in the repertoires of many companies worldwide, and he is widely considered the greatest choreographer of the 20th century. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-356413.html New York City Ballet | From: Britannica Concise Encyclopedia | Date: 2007 | Preeminent U.S. ballet company. The company is descended from the American Ballet, which was founded by George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein in 1935 and revived as the Ballet Society in 1946; it assumed its current name in 1948. Under Balanchine's artistic direction, the company became the leading U.S. ballet troupe, combining European classical ballet with American characterization and innovation and exerting enormous influence on American dance. It moved to its permanent home, the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center, in 1964. Later artistic directors Jerome Robbins and Peter Martins contributed numerous works to its repertoire. Its leading dancers have included Maria Tallchief, Edward Villella, Jacques d'Amboise, and Suzanne Farrell. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-373411.html Lincoln (Edward) Kirstein | From: Britannica Concise Encyclopedia | Date: 2007 | (born May 4, 1907, Rochester, N.Y., U.S.—died Jan. 5, 1996, New York, N.Y.) U.S. dance authority, impresario, and writer. He graduated from Harvard, where he founded the literary magazine Hound & Horn. Financially independent, he focused his artistic interests on ballet and in 1933 persuaded the choreographer George Balanchine to move to the U.S. to found a ballet school and company. The School of American Ballet opened in 1934; Kirstein was its director from 1940 to 1989. He and Balanchine jointly established a series of ballet companies, culminating in the New York City Ballet (1948), of which he served as general director until 1989. He wrote seven books on ballet, including the classic history Dance (1935). www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-369252.html Yekaterina (Vasilyevna) Geltzer | From: Britannica Concise Encyclopedia | Date: 2007 | (born Nov. 14, 1876, Moscow, Russia—died Dec. 12, 1962, Moscow) Russian prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet. She graduated from the Bolshoi Theatre's ballet school in 1894 and joined the company, becoming prima ballerina in 1901. She was known for dramatic roles, including that of the heroine of The Red Poppy (1927), in a career that lasted more than 40 years. After the 1917 Revolution, she and her husband, Vasily Tikhomirov, helped preserve the classical technique and repertoire of the Imperial Russian ballet. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-365361.html Vasily (Dmitrievich) Tikhomirov | From: Britannica Concise Encyclopedia | Date: 2007 | (born March 30, 1876, Moscow, Russia—died June 20, 1956, Moscow) Russian ballet dancer and teacher. After training at the Bolshoi school, he joined the Bolshoi Ballet in 1893. He soon became its principal dancer and created roles in a vigorous, athletic style that he later taught to students at the Bolshoi school. He was influential there as a teacher (from 1896) and as director (1924–37). With his wife, Yekaterina Geltzer, he helped preserve the classic ballets and techniques after the Russian Revolution of 1917. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-380764.html Tamara (Platonovna) Karsavina | From: Britannica Concise Encyclopedia | Date: 2007 | (born March 9/10, 1885, St. Petersburg, Russia—died May 26, 1978, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, Eng.) Russian-born British dancer. She trained at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg and joined the Mariinsky Theatre company in 1902. She joined the Ballets Russes at its formation in 1909; dancing with Vaslav Nijinsky until 1913, she created most of the leading roles in Michel Fokine's neo-Romantic repertoire, including Les Sylphides, Carnaval, Le Spectre de la rose, and The Firebird. She settled in London, where she helped found the Royal Academy of Dancing in 1920 and the Camargo Society in 1930 and later coached Margot Fonteyn. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-368956.html Alexandra (Dionisyevna) Danilova | From: Britannica Concise Encyclopedia | Date: 2007 | (born Nov. 20, 1903, Peterhof, Russia—died July 13, 1997, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. ballet dancer and teacher. She attended the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg and became a soloist at the Mariinsky Theatre. In 1924 she joined the Ballets Russes. From 1938 to 1952 she danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, touring worldwide as its prima ballerina. She created leading roles in The Triumph of Neptune, Gaîté Parisienne, Swan Lake, and Coppélia. After retiring in 1957 she became a full-time faculty member at the School of American Ballet (1964–89). She was instrumental in bringing classical and modern Russian repertoires to the US. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-362241.html André Eglevsky | From: Britannica Concise Encyclopedia | Date: 2007 | (born Dec. 21, 1917, Moscow, Russia—died Dec. 4, 1977, Elmira, N.Y., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. ballet dancer and teacher. He left Russia as a child and studied in Paris, becoming a lead dancer with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo at age 14. He moved to the U.S. in 1937 and danced with a number of companies before joining the New York City Ballet (1951–58). There he created leading roles in several of George Balanchine's ballets, including Scotch Symphony and Caracole. He also taught at the School of American Ballet. In 1958 he opened his own ballet school, and in 1961he established the Eglevsky Ballet. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-363460.html Dame Alicia Markova | From: Britannica Concise Encyclopedia | Date: 2007 | [orig. Lilian Alicia Marks] (born Dec. 1, 1910, London, Eng.—died Dec. 2, 2004, Bath) British ballerina. She made her debut with Sergey Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1924 and became a leading ballerina noted for her ethereal lightness. At the Vic-Wells Ballet (1931–35; now the Royal Ballet) she became the first English dancer to dance the lead in Giselle. With her frequent partner Anton Dolin, she formed and directed several Markova-Dolin companies (1935–38) and the Festival Ballet (1950–52; now the English National Ballet). She continued to dance as a guest artist with many companies worldwide, admired for her interpretations of roles in Les Sylphides and Swan Lake, among others. She retired from the stage in 1963 and served as director of the Metropolitan Opera Ballet (1963–69). www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-371357.html Sir Anton Dolin | From: Britannica Concise Encyclopedia | Date: 2007 | [orig. Sydney F.P.C. Healey-Kay] (born July 27, 1904, Slinfold, Sussex, Eng.—died Nov. 25, 1983, Paris, Fr.) British dancer and choreographer. In 1921 he joined the Ballets Russes, where he created leading roles as a soloist. In the 1930s and 1940s he helped form several ballet companies; in 1949 he and his partner Alicia Markova founded the forerunner of London's Festival Ballet, of which he was artistic director and premier dancer until 1961. He created leading roles in Le Train bleu, Job, and Bluebeard, choreographed works such as Capriccioso (1940), The Romantic Age (1942), and Variations for Four (1957), and wrote several books on dance. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-362923.html Maria Tallchief | From: Britannica Concise Encyclopedia | Date: 2007 | (born Jan. 24, 1925, Fairfax, Okla., U.S.) U.S. ballet dancer of Native American descent. Tallchief studied with Bronislava Nijinska before joining the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo (1942–47). She joined the New York City Ballet in 1948 and became its prima ballerina, creating leading roles in many ballets choreographed for her by George Balanchine (her husband from 1946 to 1952), including Symphonie concertante (1947), Caracole (1952), and Pas de dix (1955). She left the company in 1965, became artistic director of the Lyric Opera Ballet in Chicago, and founded the Chicago City Ballet in 1980. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1B1-380179.html