July 15
Born Today:
André Lepecki
Dance and choreography writer/scholar André Lepecki (1965-) chairs the Performance Studies Department at NYU and has published multiple books on dance and performance including Exhausting Dance: Performance and the Politics of Movement (2006) and Singularities: Dance in the Age of Performance (2016). Lepecki also curates visual art shows including movement and his projects include a re-staging of the first Happening by Allan Kaprow (1927-2006), 18 Happenings in 6 Parts (2006), and MOVE: Choreographing You (2010) in London.
Also Born Today: Dancer/choreographer Makhmud Esambayev (1924-2000) grew up performing folk dances at weddings and later entertained Red Army troops during WWII. After the war, he performed character roles and dramatic parts between 1944-1956 with a Kyrgyzstan ballet company. Ballet dancer Royes Fernandez (1929-1980) performed with de Basil’s Original Ballet Russe from 1946-1954 and danced with ABT from 1957-1959, retiring in 1972 to teach. Actor Diane Kruger (1976-) wanted to be a ballerina and studied at the Royal Ballet School, but a knee injury effectively ended her dancing career. She instead pursued acting and starred in the National Treasure movies in 2004 and 2007.