January 25
Born Today:
Florence Mills
Florence Mills (1896-1927) began performing as a child in a vaudeville act with her sisters and she appeared in the groundbreaking musical Shuffle Along (1921) on Broadway, which launched her career. However, it was Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds in 1926 that established her as an international star. She died of tuberculosis at the age of 31, shocking the performing community. Her widower, acrobatic dancer Ulysses "Slow Kid" Thompson (1888-1990) was a master of the slow-motion dance and continued performing until 1969.
Also Born Today: Dancer and teacher Yekaterina Vazem (1848 -1937) is best known for creating the role of Nikiya in the original production of La Bayadere (1877) and for being the teacher of famed ballerina Anna Pavlova (1881-1931). Modern dance-trained Fred Berk (1911-1980) became an authority on Jewish dance, particularly Israeli folk dance. Jeanne Brabants (1920-2014) Belgian teacher and choreographer, directed the Royal Ballet of Flanders from the 1970s to 1984. Ballerina Virginia Johnson (1950-), was a founding member and and is now the Artistic Director of Dance Theatre of Harlem.