Born Today:
Edwin Denby

Considered one of the finest writers of dance criticism, Edwin Denby (1903-1983) was also a published poet. He was educated at Harvard and at the University of Vienna, where he was introduced to dance, and he performed for a time in Europe. Upon relocating to New York City, he befriended artists and poets such as Jackson Pollock and Frank O’Hara. Denby replaced Walter Terry (1913-1982) as dance critic during part of WWII at the New York Herald Tribune and became an early admirer of choreographer George Balanchine (1904-1983).

Also Born Today: Early ballet dancer Pierre Gardel (1758-1840), who took over after the death of his brother, Maximilien Gardel (1741-1787), and directed the Paris Opera Ballet for 40 years. His student, Carlo Blasis (1797-1878), dedicated The Code of Terpsichore (1828), the first catalog of ballet technique, to Gardel. Ballerina Franceska Mann (1917-1943) died at the Auschwitz concentration camp - it is said that she killed a Nazi guard with his own pistol and caused an uprising of female prisoners. Indian Kathak dancer Birju Maharaj (1938-2022) is part of a family of dancers and is also a vocalist and musician. Dance author and critic Jennifer Dunning (1942-) wrote for the New York Times from 1977-2008. British postmodern dancer Rosemary Butcher (1947-2016) worked with groundbreaking Judson Dance Theatre choreographers in the 1960s, returning to work in the UK in the early 1970s. 

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Ballet Premiere: La Bayadère in 1877