December 6
Born Today:
Howard Jeffrey
Howard Jeffrey (1934-1988) trained as a ballet dancer at Eugene Loring’s school in LA and performed with ABT and Ballet Alicia Alonso before becoming the chief assistant to Jerome Robbins (1919-1998) for West Side Story (Broadway show and movie). He moved on to film, assisting Hollywood dance film directors Herbert Ross (1927-2001) and Gene Kelly (1912-1996) and he was an associate producer for the ballet bio-pic Nijinsky (1980). Two tantalizing bits of information that beg for further research -- while working on Broadway, he choreographed a musical version of Georgy Girl (1970), which closed after only four performances, yet the two female leads were nominated for Tony Awards for their performances; and it looks like he choreographed the Oompa Loompas in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1971).
Also Born Today: Ballet dancer Oleg Briansky (1929-2021) danced with Roland Petit (1924–2011) beginning in 1946 and with Festival Ballet in the early 1950s. A persistent knee injury led to the founding of the Briansky Saratoga Ballet Center summer school in 1965. Les Twins, Laurent and Larry Bourgeois (1988-), known as Lil Beast and Ca Blaze, are self-taught hip hop dancers that you need to see. Go look them up right now!
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Movie: White Nights released in 1985