Alan Howard (1931–2003) was an American

ballet 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 ...

dancer, choreographer and teacher. He was a lead dancer for the

Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo The company Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo (with a plural name) was formed in 1932 after the death of Sergei Diaghilev and the demise of Ballets Russes. Its director was Wassily de Basil (usually referred to as Colonel W. de Basil), and it ...

Biography

Early life

Alan Howard was born in 1931 in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

.Alan Howard, 72, a Dancer and a Teacher
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', March 30, 2003 He learned ballet from Edna McRae.

Career

He became a dancer for the

in 1949, soon becoming lead dancer, or ''premier danseur''. He left the company in 1960. He was later a dancer for the Mia Slavenska Ballet, the

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 Barzin was the company's fir ...

, and the

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall (also known as Radio City) is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York C ...

. He established the Pacific Ballet Academy in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. He choreographed and produced the Pacific Ballet. He also taught ballet. For example, Kyra Nichols, a lead dancer at the New York City Ballet, was one of his students. In 2005, he appeared in the documentary, ''

Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Russian Revolution, Revolution ...

.Leslie Norton, ''Frederic Franklin: A Biography of the Ballet Star'', Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2007, p. 20

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Death

He died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

on March 6, 2003, in Chicago.

References

External links

Alan Howard Papers
a
Newberry Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Alan 1931 births 2003 deaths American male ballet dancers American choreographers Deaths from cancer in Illinois 20th-century American ballet dancers Educators from Chicago Dancers from California Entertainers from San Francisco Dancers from Chicago Educators from California