February 25
Born Today:
Viola Farber
Dancer Viola Farber (1931-1998) studied dance at Black Mountain College and became a founding company member with postmodern choreographer Merce Cunningham (1919-2009) in 1953, dancing in pieces such as Septet (1953), Summerspace (1958), and Winterbranch (1964). She left the company in 1965 and founded her own group a few years after, often creating works set to silence. Her humorous piece entitled Lead Us Not Into Penn Station (1975) wins today’s award for best title of a postmodern dance piece.
Also Born Today: Danish dancer/choreographer Harald Lander (1905-1971) directed the Royal Danish Ballet from 1932-1951. Russian dance writer and expert on Soviet dancers of the 1920s, Elizabeth Souritz (1923-). Ballet dancer Jorge Donn (1947-1992), who danced for choreographer Maurice Béjart (1927-2007) in many of his best-known works, including Nijinsky, Clown of God (1971) and a gender-bending version of Boléro in 1979.