July 2
Born Today:
Lavinia Williams
Dancer Lavinia Williams (1916-1989) began her training in ballet and later performed with Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) from 1940-1945, joining the company in appearances on Broadway in Cabin in the Sky (1940) and on film in the musical Stormy Weather (1943). Her experience with Dunham inspired her to teach and share Caribbean dance and she founded schools of dance in Haiti, Guyana, and The Bahamas. For a brief time she was married to Leon Theremin, the inventor of the oddly spacey musical instrument named after him.
Also Born Today: Ballerina Kyra Nichols (1958-) studied with Alan Howard (1931-2003), himself a former Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo company member and she danced with NYCB from 1974-2007, an unusually long career for a ballet dancer. Indian choreographer Jani Master (1982-) creates dances for Tollywood films, musicals filmed in the Telugu language. His hit dance Butta Bomma (2020) mixes Bollywood dance with Memphis jookin’ and street dance.