November 22
Born Today:
Pavel Gerdt
Ballet dancer Pavel Gerdt (1844-1917) danced with the Russian Imperial Ballet between 1860-1916, creating classic roles such as Prince Désiré in Sleeping Beauty (1890). Gerdt studied under Christian Johansson (1817-1903) and Jean-Antoine Petipa (1787-1855), the father of Marius Petipa (1818-1910), and Gerdt went on to teach at the Imperial Ballet School, providing a link between 19th century Russian dancers and 20th century ballet rebels such as Vaslav Nijinsky (c.1889-1950), Michel Fokine (1880-1942), and George Balanchine (1904-1983).
Also Born Today: Argentinian tango dancer Norberto Esbrez (1966-), also known as El Pulpo (octopus), for the fluidity of his leg work, and postmodern dance theatre artist, Faye Driscoll (1975-).
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Movies: The Littlest Rebel released in 1935 and Meet Me in St. Louis released in 1944