March 3
Born Today:
Hanya Holm
Modern dancer pioneer Hanya Holm (1893-1992) is considered one of the “Big Four” founders of American Modern Dance, along with Martha Graham (1894-1991), Doris Humphrey (1895-1958), and Charles Weidman (1901-1975), and her choreographic gifts were diverse. Besides creating groundbreaking modern dances, she is also known in the musical theatre world for her choreography of original Broadway productions including Kiss Me Kate (1948), My Fair Lady (1956) and Camelot (1960).
Also Born Today: Versatile kabuki actor/dancer Nakamura Utaemon III (1778-1813) played onnagata (female roles), tachiyaku (young adult male roles), and villains, and founded methods for playing multiple bunraku (puppet theatre) roles. Italian ballerina Luciana Novaro (1923-2021) performed at La Scala between 1941–1956 and choreographed for the Vienna State Opera and briefly directed La Scala Ballet Company in the 1960s. Dancer Karole Armitage (1954-), known as the ‘punk’ ballerina, danced the works of ballet choreographer George Balanchine (1904-1983) and postmodern choreographer Merce Cunningham (1919-2009) before forming her own company and creating works combining the two techniques.