August 17
Born Today:
Viktor Rona
Ballet dancer Viktor Rona (1936-1994) studied at the ballet school in St. Petersburg and was a close friend of Rudolf Nureyev (1938-1993). Rona performed with the Norway National Ballet and at the Paris Grand Opera and he is perhaps best known for performing the duet Gayaneh (1962) with ballerina Margot Fonteyn (1919-1991) and for performing in a filmed version of The Sly Student (c.1960s), which can be seen on YouTube. In the 1980s, Rona served as the ballet master at La Scala and was a guest professor for the Tokyo Ballet starting in 1985.
Also Born Today: Broadway dancer Kenneth LeRoy (1927-2019) performed in some of the most famous stage shows including Oklahoma (1943), Carousel (1945), The Pajama Game (1954), West Side Story (1957), and Fiddler on the Roof (1964). He is best known for dancing in the Steam Heat number in the movie version of The Pajama Game (1957).
------
Dance Premiere: The Moor’s Pavane in 1949