March 2
Born Today:
Lev Ivanov
Long overlooked, ballet choreographer Lev Ivanov (1834-1901) contributed choreography to famous classical ballets often attributed solely to Marius Petipa (1818-1910), including Swan Lake (1877) and Cinderella (1893). Ivanov was responsible for co-choreographing the original version of The Nutcracker (1892) with Petipa, but was not credited in the program. Ivanov’s most iconic piece is the Dance of the Little Swans, featuring a quartet of ballerinas with interlaced arms, in the ballet Swan Lake.
Also Born Today: Dancer Tamara Toumanova (1919-1996), one of the “Baby Ballerinas” who danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in the 1930s and appeared in several Hollywood movies as a dancer. Lyudmila Vlasova (1942-) danced with the Bolshoi Ballet and was briefly married to Alexander Godunov (1949-1995), who defected to the West in 1979 while Vlasova returned to the Soviet Union. Contemporary choreographer Lloyd Newson (1957-) directs DV8 Physical Theatre and adapted several of his dances for film, including Enter Achilles (1995) and The Cost of Living (2004).
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Movie: The Sound of Music released in 1965