June 19
Born Today:
Paula Abdul
Discovered by the Jackson family at a Los Angeles Lakers basketball game, dancer and choreographer Paula Abdul (1962-) went from choreographer for the Laker Girls to creating iconic movement for music videos starring Janet Jackson (1966-). Abdul received a recording contract of her own and showed off her tap dance skills as well in Straight Up and Opposites Attract, both music videos from her 1988 debut album. She served as a judge for the American Idol TV show from 2002-2009 and in 2019 she began performing in concert in Las Vegas, shortly after the 30 year anniversary of her debut album.
Also Born Today: Tap dancer Henry LeTang (1915-2007) is best known for choreographing the Broadway shows Eubie! (1978), Sophisticated Ladies (1981), and Black and Blue (1989), and for choreographing films The Cotton Club (1984) and Tap (1989). Having trained in Denmark ballerina Toni Lander (1931-1985) was considered a specialist in ballets by August Bournonville (1805-1879), and she performed all over the world with various companies from the age of fifteen, including the Royal Danish Ballet, what is now known as the English National Ballet, and ABT. German choreographer Susanne Linke (1944-), along with Reinhild Hoffmann (1943-), and Pina Bausch (1940-2009) developed what is known as the Tanztheatre style in the late 1970s, a bracing combination of dance, theatre, and stage design, often with political overtones.
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Broadway Premiere: Best Little Whorehouse in Texas in 1978