September 18
Born Today:
Agnes de Mille
Just so you know, Agnes de Mille’s (1905-1993) dancers were riding invisible horses back in the 1940s! She pwns you, Monty Python and PSY. De Mille choreographed the groundbreaking musical Oklahoma! (1943), unifying the dancing with the plot and forever changing Broadway musicals with one Dream Ballet. Later on she wrote many dishy books about dance, including a biography of choreographer Martha Graham (1894-1991), a lifelong friend.
Also Born Today: Dance Historian and teacher, Selma Jeanne Cohen (1920-2005) believed dance to be worthy of scholarly study and she edited the ambitious six-volume International Encyclopedia of Dance, completed in 1998. The Today in Dance resource, and the rest of the dance field owes her a huge debt of gratitude. Ballet dancer Kelvin Coe (1946-1992) joined the fledgling Australian Ballet and became one of the country’s best known dancers, performing with many internationally-renowned ballerinas. Postmodern dancer, Siobhan Davies (1950-) performed with the London Contemporary Dance Theatre and her own company, and opened the gorgeous Siobhan Davies Studio in 2006, a facility supporting both dancers and choreographers.