April 17
Born Today:
Irene Castle
Ballroom dancer and fashion icon Irene Castle (1893-1969), along with her husband Vernon Castle (1887-1918) spruced up and popularized couples dances including the foxtrot. After performing in Paris to great acclaim, the couple returned to the United States and they appeared on Broadway in Irving Berlin’s first musical, Watch Your Step (1914). Irene shortened her skirts and bobbed her hair, a style that became quite popular with flappers later in the 1920s. Vernon survived serving as a fighter pilot in WWI, but died during a training mission in Fort Worth, Texas in 1918. Irene went on to appear in multiple silent films until retiring from dancing in 1929.
Also Born Today: Ballet dancer and choreographer Boris Fenster (1916-1960) studied choreography with Leonid Lavrovsky (1905-1967) in Leningrad and created works at the Kirov Ballet including Taras Bulba (1955). Spanish singer and dancer Sagrario Aranburu Olasagarre (1930–2021) is best known for performing with a group called Duguna. Ballerina Anna-Marie Holmes (1942-) was the first North American dancer to be invited to be a guest performer with the Kirov Ballet and later directed Boston Ballet in the late 1990s.