April 8
Born Today:
Michael Bennett
Former Broadway dancer Michael Bennett (1943-1987) choreographed and directed "A Chorus Line" in 1975 after a series of workshops held with Broadway dancers to discuss their careers and lives, recorded during a Broadway musical slump. Perhaps one of the most ironic twists in this show is that, although the audience spends almost all of the show getting to know the dancers individually, at the end they become one of many dressed in gold tuxedos and top hats within the final dance number, One. The show became one of the longest-running shows on Broadway and Bennett consulted on the 1985 film version. Bennett died way too young and the loss is still keenly felt.
Also Born Today: Ballerina Marie Gardel (1770-1833) was featured in many ballets choreographed by her husband Pierre Gardel (1758-1840) of the Paris Opera Ballet. Dancer and scholar Judith Chazin-Bennahum (1937-) has written several books on dance including René Blum and the Ballets Russes: In Search of a Lost Life (2011). Choreographer Liam Scarlett (1986-2021) was an artist in residence with the Royal Ballet and created works for dance companies such as Ballet Black, BalletBoyz, English National Ballet, and the New Zealand Ballet, among many others.
------
Ballet Premiere: Pillar of Fire in 1942