Censored dancing

Famos dancers II - Anna Pavlova -Ballet

The world will forever remember the Russian ballerina,
Anna Pavlova, who brought a more traditional feel to
classical ballet. Anna was born in St. Petersburg in 1881.
She was a tiny baby, born two months premature.
Her mother was a laundress; her father died at a very
young age, when Anna was only two years old.

Inspiration to dance:
On her ninth birthday, Anna's mother treated her to a performanceof The Sleeping
Beauty, a ballet that forever changed Anna's life. She decided then that she would one
day dance on stage. She began taking ballet lessons and was quickly accepted into the
Imperial Ballet School.

Ballet style:
Anna was not a typical ballerina of her day. At only five-feet-tall, she was delicate
and slender, unlike most of the students in her classes. She was exceptionally strong
and had perfect balance. Anna possessed many unique talents.
She soon became a prima ballerina.

Dancing around the globe:
Anna formed her own ballet company and went on tour, introducing her classical
style of ballet to the world. She visited several countries, traveling over 500,000
miles by boat and train. She gave over 4,000 performances.

Dancing in America:
America loved Anna and ballet lessons soon became popular for little girls across
the country. She soon became known as the "Sublime Pavlova." She toured for the
rest of her life, keeping a home in London. She had a love for exotic pets, several
of which kept her company when she was at home.

The pointe shoe:
Anna was known to have had very arched feet, which made it hard to dance on the
tips of her toes. She discovered that by adding a piece of hard leather to the soles,
the shoes provided better support. Many people thought of this as cheating, as a
ballerina should be able to hold her own weight on her toes. However, her idea was
the precursor to the modern pointe shoe.

Death:
Anna never retired from dancing. In 1931, she became ill while rehearsing for a
performance in Europe, but refused to rest. A few days later, she collapsed with
pneumonia. She died within a week of her 50th birthday.

Inspiration to others:
Anna Pavlova believed that dancing was her gift to the world. She felt that God had
given her the gift of dance to delight others. She often said that she was "haunted
by the need to dance." She became an inspiration to young boys and girls to learn
how to dance and experience the joys of ballet.

The Charleston

Famos dancers I - Mikhail Baryshnikov - Ballet

I am kinda missing some history in my blog, so I decided to start a new series
featuring famous dancers.















Picture by Annie Leibovitz

Mikhail Baryshnikov is one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century.
With the help of television he has also become one of the most widely recognisable
contemporary performers to the world audience.















Mikhail Nikolaevitch Baryshnikov was born on January 27, 1948 in Riga, USSR.
He bagan studying ballet in 1960, at the age of 12. In 1964 he entered the Vaganova
School to further his ballet studies. He soon began winning top honors and leading
roles in major ballets. Upon seeing him dance in the Soviet Union, Clive Barnes, a
New York Times critic, called him the most perfect dancer he had ever seen.

Leaving Russia:

Because the Soviet dance world held fast to 19th century traditions and shunned
creativity, Baryshnikov decided to move west. He first defected to Canada, then made
his way to the United States. During his first two years away from Russia, he danced
for 13 different choreographers.

New York City Ballet:

In 1978, Baryshnikov became a principal dancer for the New York City Ballet, under
the direction of George Balanchine. His distinctive style won him many leading roles,
although Balanchine never created a new work for him. In 1980, he changed his role
from performer to director, becoming Artistic Director of the American Ballet Theatre.

Film Career:

Baryshnikov began dancing for American television in 1976. In 1977, CBS brought
his production of the Nutcracker at the American Ballet Theatre to television, which
until today remains the most popular and is one of only two versions of "The
Nutcracker" to be nominated for an Emmy Award.
He also portrayed a famous Russian ballet dancer in the 1977 film The Turning Point,
receiving an Oscar nomination.















He later starred in the 1985 film White Nights, and Sex and the City.

Family Life:

Baryshnikov has three children with former ballerina Lisa Rinehart, although they
remain unmarried. He also has a daughter from a former relationship with actress
Jessica Lange.

Dancing is Self-Expression

The Godfather

Music History

A few years back, the BBC made a great documentary,
Reggae: The Story of Jamaican Music
Here now, is the first episode of this great series, broken into four parts

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

History of Dance

JAMAICA

For most of Jamaica's history, traditional dances from Europe and Africa
have been part of feast celebrations and life-affirming rituals. The best
European example of this style of dancing is the Morris dance, brought to
Jamaica by indentured servants from England, Scotland, and Ireland.

Strong similarities among early folk dances make it difficult to dissect
characteristics and determine their origins. For example, both African and
European forms had all-male dancers, and some men dressed as animals.
It's impossible to determine which dance was more important in creating
this tradition.

Since the mid-1900s, dance in a performance setting has been developing.
Although at first, dance was taught only to light-skinned islanders, one
Jamaican girl, Hazel Johnston, would change all that. Johnston went to
England to learn music and returned to Jamaica to become the first dancer
to build her own studio – no one would rent studio space to her. She began
working toward dance theater based on Jamaica's own culture.

Johnston never saw her dream come to fruition because she died young.
But Ivy Baxter, a student of Johnston's, managed to fuse classical styles
and Jamaican folk dances. She founded the Ivy Baxter Creative Dance
Group in 1950. Rex Nettleford joined this group, as did Eddy Thomas.
The group began teaching summer courses in dance at the University of
the West Indies, where Nettleford taught.

Upon Jamaica's independence in 1962, a production known as "Roots and
Rhythms" was choreographed by Baxter, Nettleford, and Thomas. They
formed the National Dance Theatre Company soon afterward, led by
Nettleford and Thomas. They perform annually in July or August in
Jamaica but spend time touring as well, despite being an all-volunteer group.

Over time, nearly 40 distinctive dances have been identified, but there are
seven main styles that Jamaican dances fall into: Maroon, Myal, Kumina,
Revival, Rastafari, Jonkonnu, and Hosay. All but Jonkonnu and Hosay are
considered to be religious dances, while the others are secular. Jonkonnu
dances still exist today, as does the Revival dance style of Pukkumina.

More to come...

Ska