July 22
Born Today:
Charles Weidman
Modern dance choreographer Charles Weidman (1901-1975) is usually lumped together with Doris Humphrey (1895-1958), his creative partner, and he is too often overlooked and relatively unknown outside of the modern dance world, and that is unfortunate. Of course he danced with the Denishawn company, as did the other Pioneers of Modern Dance, but his comedic sensibility must have been a refreshing departure during the artistic sturm und drang of the early 1930s. He was known to remark on the rather somber nature of the work of his colleagues and one of his best known pieces, Flickers (1942), was a send-up of silent film emotionality and featured the jumpiness of early silent film. Oh to have seen this when it premiered - fire up the DeLorean, Marty!
Also Born Today: Ballet master and choreographer Ivan Clustine (1862-1941) danced with the Bolshoi Ballet and later became the ballet master there and at the Paris Opera and with the company of Anna Pavlova (1881-1931). Ballerina Jeanne Schwarz (1887-1970) came from a family of ballet dancers and performed with the Paris Opera. And all four of her daughters became ballet dancers. Ballerina Julia Farron (1922-2019) was an early member of the Royal Ballet, joining at age 14 and she served there as dancer, teacher and later the director of the Royal Academy of Dance. Broadway dancer Grover Dale (1935-) appeared in the stage version of West Side Story (1957), co-directed Jerome Robbins’ Broadway (1989), and later edited Dance & Fitness magazine. Ballet choreographer Boris Eifman (1946-) founded Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg in 1977, following the principles of ballet pioneer Jean-Georges Noverre (1727-1810).
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Movie: The Red Shoes released in 1948 in London