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San Francisco Ballet
San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco. Tamara Rojo has been its director since December of 2022. It is among the world's leading dance companies, presenting more than 100 performances annually, with a repertoire that spans both classical and contemporary ballet. Along with American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet has been described as part of the "triumvirate of great classical companies defining the American style on the world stage today." History Founding: Christensen brothers Willam Christensen, Harold Christensen, and Lew Christensen made up the famed trio of brothers considered by many to have done more than anyone else to establish ballet in the United States. Born into an artistic and musical family, the three brothe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Francisco Ballet School
San Francisco Ballet School was founded in 1933 as part of the San Francisco Operatic and Ballet School when Gaetano Merola, the founder of the San Francisco Opera, perceived a need for an institution where dancers could be trained to perform in opera productions. History Under the direction of founding ballet director, Adolph Bolm, the San Francisco Operatic and Ballet School opened in 1933 and offered classes in ballet, tap, modern, and interpretive dance. The school was located in the William Taylor Hotel, with affiliate branch schools in nearby Bay Area locations Berkeley, Burlingame, Marin County, San Mateo, and Oakland. After Bolm left in 1937, new Opera ballet mistress Mildred Hirch added a fencing master during her year-long direction; Willam Christensen, previously director of the Oakland Branch School, became SF Opera ballet master and full school director in 1938. As San Francisco Opera Ballet expanded its touring schedule, it became increasingly difficult for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willam Christensen
Willam Farr Christensen (August 27, 1902 – October 14, 2001)Was born Christian William Christensen, until his mother changed his name to William Farr Christensen, to include her maiden name. As a professional dancer in San Francisco, Christensen dropped the second "i" in his name to become Willam, which he thought fit better with the European art form of ballet. This and his date of birth is found in was an American ballet dancer, choreographer and founder of the San Francisco Ballet and Ballet West in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is known for bringing the complete version of the Russian ballet ''The Nutcracker'' to the United States, as well as staging the first American performances of ''Swan Lake'' and ''Coppélia''. Christensen's ''Nutcracker'' was first staged in 1944 in San Francisco, where the ballet remains an annual tradition, though the production now staged there is not necessarily the Christensen version. Christensen is often credited with helping to rejuvenate American ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Ballet
The American Ballet was the first professional ballet company George Balanchine created in the United States. The company was founded with the help of Lincoln Kirstein and Edward Warburg, managed by Alexander Merovitch and populated by students of Kirstein and Balanchine's School of American Ballet. Having failed to mount a tour, American Ballet began performing at the Old Met. After being allowed to stage only two dance performances (''Orfeo ed Euridice'') in 1936 and an evening of dances choreographed to the music of Igor Stravinsky in 1937), Balanchine moved the company to Hollywood in 1938. The company was restarted as the American Ballet Caravan and toured North and South America, although it too folded after several years. See also *New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Starbuck
James Starbuck (March 13, 1912, Albuquerque, New Mexico – August 13, 1997, Beverly Hills, California) was an American choreographer, ballet dancer, musical theatre actor, and stage and television director. He studied modern dance with Martha Graham and ballet with Adolph Bolm, Edward Caton, Vera Nemtchinova, and Anatole Oboukhov. He was a principal dancer with first the San Francisco Opera Ballet from 1935-1938 and then the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo from 1938-1944. He was notably the first American man to dance with the latter company. He portrayed roles in the original productions of several Broadway musicals, including both Freddy and Tito in '' Song of Norway'' (1944), Ivan Petrofski in '' Music in My Heart'' (1947), and Walt in '' Sleepy Hollow'' (1948). He also choreographed two Broadway musicals, '' Michael Todd's Peep Show'' (1950) and '' Oh Captain!'' (1958), and was the associate director of the Broadway play '' A Thurber Carnival'' (1960). A pioneering choreog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categories. The two events that receive the most media coverage are the Primetime Emmy Awards and the Daytime Emmy Awards, which recognize outstanding work in American primetime and daytime entertainment programming, respectively. Other notable U.S. national Emmy events include the Children's and Family Emmy Awards, Children's & Family Emmy Awards for children's and family-oriented television programming, the Sports Emmy Awards for sports programming, News & Documentary Emmy Awards for news and documentary shows, and the Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards and the Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards for technological and engineering achievements. #Regional, Regional Emmy Awards are also presented throughout the country at various times through the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballet Caravan
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary. Ballet has been influential globally and has defined the foundational techniques which are used in many other dance genres and cultures. Various schools around the world have incorporated their own cultures. As a result, ballet has evolved in distinct ways. A ''ballet'' as a unified work comprises the choreography and music for a ballet production. Ballets are choreographed and performed by trained ballet dancers. Traditional classical ballets are usually performed with classical music accompaniment and use elaborate costumes and staging, whereas modern ballets are often performed in simple costumes and without elaborate sets or scenery. Etymology Ballet is a French word which had its origin in Italian '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Smuin
Michael Smuin (October 13, 1938 – April 23, 2007) was an American ballet dancer, choreographer and theatre director. He was co-founder and director of his own dance company, the Smuin Ballet in San Francisco. Biography Born in Missoula, Montana, Smuin was a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre and the San Francisco Ballet, for which he served as co-artistic director from 1973 through 1985. In 1994 he founded Smuin Ballet. He also choreographed for the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Washington Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Milwaukee Ballet. Smuin's Broadway credits included '' Little Me'' (1962) as a dancer, '' Anything Goes'' (1987) as a choreographer, and '' Sophisticated Ladies'' (1981) and '' Shogun: The Musical'' (1990) as choreographer and director. He also choreographed the 1995 West End production of '' Mack and Mabel''. Smuin's film credits included ''The Fantasticks'', ''A Walk in the Clouds'', '' The Joy Luck Club'', '' The Cotton Club'', and ''Ru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballet Master
A ballet master (also balletmaster, ballet mistress, ''premier maître de ballet'' or ''premier maître de ballet en chef'') is an employee of a ballet company who is responsible for the level of competence of the dancers in their company. In modern times, ballet masters are generally charged with teaching the daily company ballet class and rehearsing the dancers for both new and established ballets in the company's repertoire. The artistic director of a ballet company, whether a male or female, may also be called its ballet master. Historic use of gender marking in job titles in ballet (and live theatre) is being supplanted by gender-neutral language job titles regardless of an employee's gender (e.g. ''ballet master'' in lieu of ''ballet mistress'', ''wig master'' as an alternative to ''wig mistress''). History of the position Especially during the early centuries of ballet troupes and ballet companies from the 18th century until the early 20th century, the position of ''fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballet Society
Ballet Society is a non-profit educational institution founded in 1946 by Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine. At its founding, Balanchine was the Artistic Director and Kirstein served as the Secretary. The president of Ballet Society is Nancy Lassalle, an original Board member of both the School of American Ballet and the New York City Ballet, currently Emerita. Early history Ballet Society began as a ballet company, the fourth ballet established by Balanchine and Kirstein in the United States. Its performances were for a subscription audience. The first performance took place on November 20, 1946 at the Central High School of Needle Trades in New York City. In its first season, it opened with '' The Four Temperaments'' and the ''Spellbound Child''. New York City Ballet and change of mission On April 28, 1948 ''Orpheus,'' presented by Ballet Society while it was still a ballet company, premiered at City Center. This prompted Morton Baum, Chairman of the Finance Com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lincoln Kirstein
Lincoln Edward Kirstein (May 4, 1907 – January 5, 1996) was an American writer, impresario, art connoisseur, philanthropist, and cultural figure in New York City, noted especially as co-founder of the New York City Ballet. He developed and sustained the company with his organizing ability and fundraising for more than four decades, serving as the company's general director from 1946 to 1989. According to the ''New York Times,'' he was "an expert in many fields", organizing art exhibits and lecture tours in the same years. Early life Kirstein was born in Rochester, New York, to Jewish parents, the son of Rose Stein and Louis E. Kirstein (1867–1942). His brother was George Kirstein, his sister was Mina Kirstein and his paternal grandparents were Jeanette (née Leiter) and Edward Kirstein, a successful Rochester clothing manufacturer who ran E. Kirstein and Sons, Company. His maternal grandfather was Nathan Stein, a senior executive at the Stein-Bloch & Co., in Rochester. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United States Constitution (1789).See alsTitle 10, Subtitle B, Chapter 301, Section 3001 It operates under the authority, direction, and control of the United States Secretary of Defense, United States secretary of defense. It is one of the six armed forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. The Army is the most senior branch in order of precedence amongst the armed services. It has its roots in the Continental Army, formed on 14 June 1775 to fight against the British for independence during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784 to replace the disbanded Continental Army.Library of CongressJournals ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
