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The Goldberg Variations (ballet)
''The Goldberg Variations'' is a ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins to Bach's '' Goldberg Variations''. A plotless ballet, it starts with two performers dancing to the Theme, followed by the variations divided into two parts, with variations repeated as Bach had intended in the score. Robbins made the ballet for the New York City Ballet, and premiered on May 27, 1971, at the New York State Theater. Choreography The ballet starts with the Theme, with two dancers in Baroque costumes. It is followed by the variations that are divided in two parts, with two sets of dancers. The variations consist of solos, duets, trios, quartets, quintets, sextets and group numbers. Author Deborah Jowitt wrote this part is "more playful and experimental" It features dancers in jewel tone practice clothes. Jowitt described Part II as "more formal, classical and mature." In Part II, the dancers add bits to their costumes, at first shirts for men, and breeches and short skirts for women, and later ...
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Jerome Robbins
Jerome Robbins (born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz; October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998) was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television. Among his numerous stage productions were ''On the Town (musical), On the Town'', ''Peter Pan (1954 musical), Peter Pan'', ''High Button Shoes'', ''The King and I'', ''The Pajama Game'', ''Bells Are Ringing (musical), Bells Are Ringing'', ''West Side Story'', ''Gypsy (musical), Gypsy'', and ''Fiddler on the Roof''. Robbins was a five-time Tony Award-winner and a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. He received two Academy Awards, including the 1961 Academy Award for Best Director with Robert Wise for ''West Side Story (1961 film), West Side Story'' and a special Academy Honorary Award for his choreographic achievements on film. A documentary about Robbins's life and work, ''Something to Dance About'', featuring excerpts from his journals, archival ...
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Violette Verdy
Violette Verdy (born Nelly Armande Guillerm; 1 December 1933 – 8 February 2016) was a French ballerina, choreographer, teacher, and writer who worked as a dance company director with the Paris Opera Ballet in France and the Boston Ballet in the United States. From 1958 to 1977 she was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet where she performed in the world premieres of several works created specifically for her by choreographers George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. She was Distinguished Professor of Music (Ballet) at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, in Bloomington, and the recipient of two medals from the French government. Early life in Europe Born in Pont-l'Abbé, a seacoast town in the Finistère department of Brittany, in northwestern France, she was christened Nelly Armande Guillerm by her parents. Her father, Renan Guillerm, died when she was a few months old; her mother, Jeanne Chateaureynaud, a schoolteacher, enrolled her daughter in dance less ...
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Helgi Tómasson (dancer)
Helgi Tomasson (born October 8, 1942) is an Icelandic choreographer, and a former professional ballet dancer. He served as artistic director and principal choreographer for San Francisco Ballet. Early life Tomasson was born in Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland to Tómas Bergur Snorrason and Dagmar Helgadóttir. He began his ballet training in Reykjavik with a local teacher and went on to join the National Theatre’s affiliated school, which at the time was led by Erik and Lisa Bidsted. He has a younger half brother, graphic designer Guðjón Ingi Hauksson. Career Tomasson's professional dance career started at age 15 with the Pantomime Theatre in Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens. At age 17, he was discovered in his homeland by choreographer Jerome Robbins, who arranged a scholarship for Tomasson to study at the School of American Ballet' in New York City. Tomasson went on to join the Joffrey Ballet, where he met his future wife Marlene, a fellow dancer. Two years later he joined t ...
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Peter Martins
Peter Martins (born 27 October 1946) is a Danish former ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and with the New York City Ballet, where he joined George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and John Taras as balletmaster in 1981. He retired from dancing in 1983, having achieved the rank of danseur noble, becoming Co-Ballet Master-In-Chief with Robbins. From 1990 until January 2018, he was responsible for artistic leadership of City Ballet. Early life Martins was born and raised in Copenhagen, Denmark.Mary Ellen Snodgrass (2015)''The Encyclopedia of World Ballet,''Rowman & Littlefield. His parents were Børge Martins, an engineer, and Tove Christa Ornberg, a pianist. His maternal aunt and uncle, Leif and Elna Ornberg, members of the Royal Danish Ballet, started teaching him ballroom combinations when he was five years of age; when he applied to ballet school, however, he was the subject of discrimination because his aunt and un ...
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Patricia McBride
Patricia McBride (born August 23, 1942) is a ballerina who spent nearly 30 years dancing with the New York City Ballet. McBride joined the New York City Ballet in 1959. She became a principal in 1961, becoming the company's youngest principal. She danced with the company for 30 years, including roles created for her by choreographers George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. New York City Ballet career In the 30 years she spent dancing with the company she had numerous roles created for her by George Balanchine such as: Hermia in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''; Tarantella; Colombine in ''Harlequinade''; the ballerina role in the Intermezzo of the ''Brahms–Schoenberg Quartet''; ''Rubies''; '' Who Cares?'' ("The Man I Love" pas de deux and "Fascinatin' Rhythm" solo); Divertimento from '' Le Baiser de la Fée''; Swanilda in '' Coppélia''; ''Pavane''; the paper ballerina in ''The Steadfast Tin Soldier''; the Pearly Queen in ''Union Jack'' and the "Voices of Spring" section of '' ...
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Susan Hendl
Susan Coxe Hendl (September 18, 1947 – October 12, 2020) was an American ballet dancer and ''répétiteur''. She danced with the New York City Ballet between 1963 and 1983, then staged and coached works by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins for both NYCB and other companies. Early life Hendl was born in New York City to Walter Hendl, a composer and conductor, and Mary Newbold Hendl (née Williams), a visual artist. After Walter Hendl became the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's music director, the family relocated to Dallas. Susan Hendl took a ballet class with Alexandra Danilova, a Russian-born ballerina who taught at the School of American Ballet, when Hendl was in preschool. Following her parents' separation, she and her mother moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and she continued her training with Pennsylvania Ballet founder Barbara Weisberger. In 1959, Hendl entered the School of American Ballet in New York City and studied at the Professional Children's School. Career Hen ...
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Karin Von Aroldingen
Karin Anny Hannelore Reinbold von Aroldingen (9 September 1941 – 5 January 2018) was a German ballet dancer. She danced as a soloist at the Frankfurt Opera Ballet before joining the New York City Ballet in 1962 after receiving a personal invitation from George Balanchine. She was named as one of Balanchine's main beneficiaries in his will. Von Aroldingen retired from New York City Ballet in 1984, having reached the rank of principal dancer in 1972. In her later life, she worked as a répétiteur for the Balanchine Trust, for which she was also a founder, staging his ballets for various companies. Early life Karin von Aroldingen was born on 9 September 1941 in Greiz, Germany. Her family, part of the German nobility, was originally from Berlin but evacuated during World War II. Her father, a scientist, disappeared on his way to Czechoslovakia for a work trip. Her mother moved the family from East Germany to West Berlin after the war ended. She became interested in dancing ...
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Bettijane Sills
Bettijane Sills is an American ballerina. Sills has had a long career in theater and as a soloist in the New York City Ballet. During her career, she danced for both George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Biography Sills was born and raised in New York City, the daughter of Michael Siegel, a Broadway musician/singer who also performed with the Boston Pops. Sills began acting as a child, appearing in Broadway productions, including the musical 'Seventeen', and television programs, including 'Studio One' and The Children's Hour.' She studied dance at the School of American Ballet, and was accepted to both the acting and dance programs at the New York High School of Performing Arts (the ''Fame'' school now called LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts). She chose to major in dance. Career She was invited by George Balanchine to join New York City Ballet in 1961. She was promoted to Soloist in 1964, and danced principal roles in many works, including ''Western Sy ...
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Christine Redpath
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 Barzin was the company's first music director. City Ballet grew out of earlier troupes: the Producing Company of the School of American Ballet, 1934; the American Ballet, 1935, and Ballet Caravan, 1936, which merged into American Ballet Caravan, 1941; and directly from the Ballet Society, 1946. History In a 1946 letter, Kirstein stated, "The only justification I have is to enable Balanchine to do exactly what he wants to do in the way he wants to do it."Alastair Macaulay, "A Paragon of the Arts, as Both Man and Titan"
(review of Martin Duberma ...
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Robert Weiss (dancer)
Robert Weiss is an American ballet dancer, choreographer, and Artistic Director of Carolina Ballet. He began his professional career at age 17 joining the New York City Ballet under George Balanchine, eventually becoming a Principal Dancer sometime prior to 1977.Terry, Walter. ''Ballet Guide''. Popular Library, 1977 Balanchine created several roles for him, including Ballo della Regina.Clive Barnes: ''Carolina Does Taylor-Corbett''. Dance Magazine, Sept 200/ref>New York City Ballet: Repertory - Ballo della Regina
Weiss remained with the New York City Ballet for 16 years. He later served as of the

John Clifford (choreographer)
John Clifford is an American producer, director, author, choreographer, and a dancer. He was the founder and artistic director of the original Los Angeles Ballet (1974–85) and the chamber-sized touring ensemble, Ballet of Los Angeles (1988–91). Before that time, Clifford was a principal dancer and a choreographer (8 ballets before age 26) with George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet (1966–74). Balanchine invited him back as a guest artist numerous times, and his last performances with the company were in 1980. Clifford was the artistic director of Robert Redford's Sundance Institute Video/Choreographer Program and produced “Pas De Deux,” a video distributed by Video Artists International (VAI). His new for-profit dance company Los Angeles Dance Theater produced a dance version of ''Casablanca''; CASABLANCA: The Dance for Warner Bros Theatre Ventures, Inc. The production premiered on April 5, 2005 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China. Mr. Clifford is a ...
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Sara Leland
Sally Harrington (August 2, 1941 – November 28, 2020), known professionally as Sara Leland, was an American ballet dancer and ''répétiteur''. She started her career with the Joffrey Ballet in 1959, and was recruited to join the New York City Ballet by George Balanchine in 1960. She was promoted to principal dancer in 1972, and created roles for both Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. In the mid 1970s, she started staging Balanchine's and Robbins' works in both the U.S. and abroad. In 1981, the New York City Ballet appointed her assistant ballet master, and she retired from performing in 1983, but continued to stage and coach ballets. As a ''répétiteur'', she had worked on more than 30 ballets. Early life Leland was born Sally Harrington in Melrose, Massachusetts on August 2, 1941. Her father, Leland "Hago" Harrington, was an ice hockey player who played for the Boston Bruins. Sally started ballet at age five, with her sister who needed ballet as physical therapy, though Leland ...
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