April 24
Born Today:
Helen Tamiris
Modern dancer Helen Tamiris (c.1905-1966) had an eclectic training, she studied ballet and musical theatre, along with modern dance. Her choreography centered around social issues such as war and racism and her best known work is the suite of pieces based on enslaved African spirituals, created between 1928-1942 with the intention of bringing attention to both the beauty of slavery protest songs and the injustice of Jim Crow practices. Tamiris was a recipient of support during the Great Depression through the Works Progress Association (WPA) and she helped establish the Federal Dance Project and ran the Federal Theatre Project, helping many struggling dancers find employment. She married dancer Daniel Nagrin (1917-2008) in 1946 and he danced in some of her best-known Broadway shows, including Annie Get Your Gun (1946) and Touch and Go (1950), for which she won a Tony Award. Together, they founded a modern dance company in 1960, which they co-directed until her death in 1966.
Also Born Today: Actor/dancer Shirley MacLaine born (1934-) got her first real break on Broadway, just like in the movies - stage star Carol Haney (1924-1964) sprained her ankle and MacLaine, her understudy, killed as her replacement in The Pajama Game (1954) onstage. This lucky break led to movie roles, musicals and otherwise. Dancer Tucker Smith (1935-1988) is best known for playing the role of Ice in the film version of West Side Story (1961).
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Movie: Captain January released in 1936