Alan Bergman (1943 – September 24, 2010) was an American

ballet dancer A ballet dancer is a person who practices the Art (skill), art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. B ...

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

and businessman. He was the product of two generations of

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

actors: Glicka and Morris Balavsky, co-founders of Nordska Films, the Actors Studio and his mother, Miriam, a child star in the Yiddish theater.

Dance career

At age 8 years Alan Bergman was spotted by Andre Eglevsky, who took Bergman on as his protégé and taught him privately for two years. When Bergman was 10 years old Eglevsky took him to

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 ...

’s

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of six, with professional voc ...

where he was offered a full scholarship. Bergman’s teacher’s were Anatole Oboukoff, Pierre Vladimirov, (the partner of

Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlovna Pavlova. (born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova; – 23 January 1931) was a Russian prima ballerina. She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, but is most recognized for creating ...

and contemporary of

Vaslav Nijinsky Vaslav or Vatslav Nijinsky (12 March 1889/18908 April 1950) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish ancestry. He is regarded as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century. Nijinsky was celebrated for his virtuosity and f ...

), and

Felia Doubrovska Felia Doubrovska (; born as ''Felizata Dlouzhnevska'' in St Petersburg, February 13, 1896 – d. Manhattan, September 18, 1981) was a Russian dancer and teacher. Doubrovska graduated at the Imperial Ballet School in 1913, was member of the Ma ...

. He was also coached by

Olga Preobrajenska Olga Iosifovna Preobrajenska (; born Preobrazhenskaya; – 27 December 1962) was a Russian ballerina of the Russian Imperial Ballet and a ballet instructor. Biography She was born in Saint Petersburg as Olga Preobrazhenskaya (the final sy ...

and studied with

Alexandra Danilova Aleksandra Dionisyevna Danilova (''Russian'': Александра Дионисьевна Данилова; November 20, 1903 – July 13, 1997) was a Russian-born prima ballerina, who became an American citizen. In 1989, she was recognized f ...

. By age 15, Bergman was dancing soloist roles and soon became a principal dancer with a number of major companies such as the

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 Fra ...

and a Guest Artist with companies such as The National Ballet of Venezuela. Bergman also danced as a principal in revivals of Broadway shows including ''

Annie Get Your Gun Annie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Annie (given name), a given name and a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Annie (Malayalam actress) (born 1975), Indian actress who works in Malayalam-language films * ...

'', where he partnered

Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...

. A severe injury brought Alan Bergman’s dancing career to an abrupt halt.

Photography

After his injury, Bergman went on to become a successful dance and theatre photographer. His work has been widely exhibited nationally and internationally in solo and traveling exhibitions. His images are currently displayed in six museums including the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

, where a number were on show as of 2006 as part of the Royal Ballet's 75th Anniversary, and the

Theatre Museum The Theatre Museum in the Covent Garden district of London, England, was the United Kingdom's national museum of the performing arts. It was a branch of the UK's national museum of applied arts, the Victoria and Albert Museum. It opened in 197 ...

, London. Bergman also has a collection with ArenaPAL, the Performing Arts Image Library.

Dans-ez International

Bergman is CEO of Dans-ez, a company that makes bras.

Personal life

In 1998 Bergman married his wife Samantha, who gave birth to their daughter Alexia in the year 2000. On September 24, 2010, Bergman died suddenly of a heart attack.

References

External links

Dans-ez InternationalAlan's work at the National Portrait Gallery, London
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bergman, Alan American male ballet dancers 20th-century American photographers 2010 deaths School of American Ballet alumni 1943 births 20th-century American ballet dancers