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The Washington Ballet
The Washington Ballet (TWB) is an ensemble of professional ballet dancers based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1976 by Mary Day and has been directed by Edwaard Liang since 2024. The Mary Day years (1976–99) Mary Day ''(née'' Mary Henry Day; 25 January 1910 – 11 July 2006), a native of Washington, and her mentor, Lisa Gardiner ''(né'' Elizabeth C. Gardiner; 1894–1958), established the Washington School of Ballet in 1944. In the 1950s, a pre-professional group of dancers trained at the school joined to perform at the National Cathedral and the D.C. Department of Recreation with the National Symphony Orchestra. This group also toured New York, West Virginia, and the Dominican Republic, where the troupe performed with Alicia Alonso in 1956. In 1961, the Washington Ballet School premiered Day's ''The Nutcracker'' with the National Symphony Orchestra in Constitution Hall. In 1976, Day started The Washington Ballet, a company providing a professional showcase for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Day (dance Teacher)
Mary Henry Day (January 25, 1910 – July 11, 2006) was an American ballet teacher and arts administrator. She was the founder of The Washington Ballet and served as its artistic director until 1997. Early life Mary Henry Day was born on January 25, 1910, in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Foggy Bottom. She began studying ballet when she was eleven years old. At fifteen she began studying ballet with Lisa Gardiner at the King Smith School. Day then moved to England where she studied at the Royal Academy of Dance. After she graduated, she returned to Washington and taught private dance lessons and choreographed children's ballets at local high schools. Career Day co-founded The Washington School of Ballet with Lisa Gardiner in 1944. She became the sole director of the school in 1958, after Gardiner's death. In 1967 she reorganized the school and founded an associated professional company, The Washington Ballet. In 1997 she announced she would retire from the ballet, official ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goh Choo San
Goh Choo San (; 14 September 1948 – 28 November 1987) was a Singaporean ballet dancer and choreographer whose decade-long association with The Washington Ballet brought that company international acclaim. Childhood The son of Goh Kim Lok (1904–1970), a merchant, and Siew Han Ch'ng (1912–1989), Goh was the youngest of nine children. His Chinese parents spoke Mandarin and brought up their children with very traditional values. Goh was influenced by and followed in the path of three of his older siblings to train as a dancer. Performance tours to Singapore from overseas ballet companies stimulated their interest in dance. His elder sister Goh Soo Nee 吴素妮 trained at the Royal Ballet School in London and returned to Singapore to co-found the Singapore Ballet Academy. His elder brother Goh Choo Chiat 吴诸杰 also trained at the Royal Ballet, later became a principal dancer in the Beijing Ballet, and is the artistic director of the Goh Ballet Academy in Vancouver, Brit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giselle
''Giselle'' ( , ), originally titled ''Giselle, ou les Wilis'' (; ''Giselle, or The Wilis''), is a romantic ballet () in two acts with music by Adolphe Adam. Considered a masterwork in the classical ballet performance canon, it was first performed by the Ballet du Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris on 28 June 1841, with Italian ballerina Carlotta Grisi as Giselle. It was an unqualified triumph. It became hugely popular and was staged at once across Europe, Russia, and the United States. The ghost-filled ballet tells the tragic, romantic story of a beautiful young peasant girl named Giselle and a disguised nobleman named Albrecht, who fall in love, but when his true identity is revealed by his rival, Hilarion, Giselle goes mad and dies of heartbreak. After her death, she is summoned from her grave into the vengeful, deadly sisterhood of the Vila (fairy), Wilis, the ghosts of unmarried women who died after being betrayed by their lovers an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nacho Duato
Juan Ignacio Duato Barcia, also known as Nacho Duato (born 8 January 1957) is a Spanish modern ballet dancer and choreographer. Since 2014, Duato has been artistic director of the Berlin State Ballet. He is openly gay. Career Nacho Duato studied at the Rambert School of London, Maurice Béjart's Rudra School in Brussels and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City. He started his dancing career in Stockholm's Cullberg BalletCullberg and later joined , under artistic director |
Trey McIntyre
Trey McIntyre (born November 12, 1969) is an American dancer and choreographer, who has a body of work that includes around 100 original dance pieces. He founded and acts as president of Trey McIntyre Project, a dance company that was based in Boise, Idaho, where he lived in the historic Northend. Career McIntyre was born in Wichita, Kansas, and trained at North Carolina School of the Arts and Houston Ballet Academy. In 1989, he was appointed Choreographic Apprentice to Houston Ballet, a position created especially for him, and in 1995 he became the company’s Choreographic Associate. He has worked for 27 years as a freelance choreographer, producing over 100 pieces during the span of his career so far. In 2005, McIntyre founded his dance company, Trey McIntyre Project (TMP), which first appeared at the Vail International Dance Festival. The company was initially a summer touring company, but its national and international success led McIntyre to establish the company yea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Morris (choreographer)
Mark William Morris (born August 29, 1956) is an American dancer, choreographer and director whose work is acclaimed for its craftsmanship, ingenuity, humor, and at times eclectic musical accompaniments. Morris is popular among dance aficionados, the music world, as well as mainstream audiences. Early years Morris grew up in Seattle, Washington, in a family that appreciated music and dance and nurtured his budding talents; his father Joe taught him to read music and his mother Maxine introduced him to flamenco and ballet. Joe was a high school teacher while Maxine cared for the children at home. Morris had two older sisters, Marianne and Maureen. Everyone in his family were performers, playing instruments, singing in chorus, and dancing. In grade school Morris's neighborhood population changed, with many Black and Asian families moving in, and many white families moving out, with exceptions such as the Morrises. This led to flourishing art from many different cultures, including ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Wheeldon
Christopher Peter Wheeldon (born 22 March 1973) is an English international choreographer of contemporary ballet. Early life Born in Yeovil, Somerset, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began training to be a ballet dancer at the age of eight. He attended the Royal Ballet School between the ages of 11 and 18. In 1991, Wheeldon joined the Royal Ballet, London; and in that same year, he won the gold medal at the Prix de Lausanne competition. In 1993, at the age of 19, Wheeldon moved to New York City to join the New York City Ballet. He was named Soloist in 1998.Brown, Mark. "Ballet world abuzz at British choreographer's huge gamble" ''The Guardian'', 5 January 2007. Wheeldon began choreographing for the New York City Ballet in 1997, while continui ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp (; born July 1, 1941) is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. In 1965 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance, which merged with American Ballet Theatre in 1988. She regrouped the company in 1991. Her work often uses classical, jazz, and contemporary pop music. From 1971 to 1988, Twyla Tharp Dance toured extensively around the world, performing original works. In 1973 Tharp choreographed '' Deuce Coupe'' to the music of The Beach Boys for the Joffrey Ballet. ''Deuce Coupe'' is considered the first "crossover ballet", a mix of ballet and modern dance. Later she choreographed ''Push Comes to Shove'' (1976), which featured Mikhail Baryshnikov and is now thought to be the best example of crossover ballet. On May 24, 2018, Tharp was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree by Harvard University. Early life and education Tharp was born in 1941 on a farm in Portland, Indiana, the daughter of William Tharp and Lecile (Confe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Balanchine
George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze;, Romanization of Georgian, : April 30, 1983) was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers of the 20th-century. Styled as the father of American ballet, he co-founded the New York City Ballet and remained its artistic director for more than 35 years.Joseph Horowitz (2008)''Artists in Exile: How Refugees from 20th-century War and Revolution Transformed the American Performing Arts.'' HarperCollins. His choreography is characterized by plotless ballets with minimal costume and décor, performed to classical and neoclassical music. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Balanchine took the standards and technique from his time at the Imperial Ballet School and fused it with other schools of movement that he had adopted during his tenure on Broadway theatre, Broadway and in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood, creating his signature " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cuban-American
Cuban Americans ( or ) are Americans who immigrated from or are descended from immigrants from Cuba. As of 2023, Cuban Americans were the fourth largest Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hispanic and Latino American group in the United States after Mexican Americans, Stateside Puerto Ricans and Salvadoran Americans. Many metropolitan areas throughout the United States have significant Cuban American populations.Cuban Ancestry Maps , epodunk.com, accessed March 31, 2011. Florida (2,000,000 in 2023) has the highest concentration of Cuban Americans in the United States. Over 1.2 million Cuban Americans reside in Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County (home to 52 percent of all Cuban immigrants in the U.S.), where they are the largest single ethnic group and constitute a majority of the population in many municipalities. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlanta Ballet
Atlanta Ballet is a ballet company, located in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the longest continuously performing ballet company in the United States and the State Ballet of Georgia. History Atlanta Ballet was founded in 1929 by Dorothy Alexander as the Dorothy Alexander Concert Group. During the 1940s, the organization was known as the Atlanta Civic Ballet, with Dorothy Alexander acting as Director. It was the nation's first regional ballet company. In 1946, the company became the first in the nation to help fund a symphony by donating the season's annual proceeds to the Atlanta Youth Symphony, which later developed into the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. In the 1950s, Robert Barnett joined the company from New York City Ballet as a principal dancer and associate director. Barnett received exclusive permission from George Balanchine to use his choreography for ''The Nutcracker'' as well as other signature works, making Atlanta Civic Ballet the only company in the country to perform wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amanda McKerrow
Amanda McKerrow (born 1964) is an American ballet dancer. She was a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre (ABT) where she currently teaches. In 1981 she became the first American to win a gold medal at the Moscow International Ballet Competition when she was 17 years old."Amanda McKerrow Succeeded Where Other Americans Failed: She Disarmed the Soviets" ''People'', August 31, 1981 Vol. 16 No. 9. Early life and education McKerrow was born in , , the youngest chil ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
