Elvin, a Russian dancer who also performed with the Bolshoi, "gave London audiences one of the first tastes of Russian style. ... Elvin created roles in Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella (Summer Fairy, 1948), Daphnis and Chloe (Lykanion, 1951), Homage to the Queen (1953), and Birthday Offering (1956), as well as Roland Petit’s Ballabile (1950)." - Gramilano
The prison was closed to the public in 2013 on "health and safety grounds," but actors including Kate Winslet, local politicians, and more want to preserve the area, and turn the prison into a museum. Will Reading let them? - The New York Times
Oberlander, who died at the age of 99 in May, had a long, rich career whose influence continues to grow. She was "an early proponent of rewilding, community consultation, pedestrian-friendly accessibility and creative playgrounds for children," and her devotion to green spaces and the influence of greenery on humans "tell a story of a great mind that spearheaded change...
Ehlert created 38 books for young children as an author and illustrator. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, which she illustrated with her signature collages, has sold more than 12 million copies since its publication. She was a Caldecott winner for the 1997 board book Color Zoo. "Her workday, she said, was a never-ending series of paper cuts." - The New...
Five feet tall and born with a curved spine, he was a young journalist interviewing Pina Bausch when she asked him to work with her; after a decade, he began making pieces of his own. His solo work, whether for himself or colleagues, tended toward the political; his dances for larger ensembles mixed contemporary ballet with butoh and set...
The British choreographer, aged 35, died in April, one day after the Royal Danish Ballet announced it was cancelling its staging of his Frankenstein over #MeToo allegations against him; similar accusations led to his firing from London's Royal Ballet in 2020. The widespread assumption was that Scarlett committed suicide after the release of the news from Copenhagen; in fact,...
"In the early and mid-1990s, working primarily for The Source magazine, at the time the definitive digest of hip-hop’s commercial and creative ascendance, Mr. Modu was the go-to photographer. An empathetic documentarian with a talent for capturing easeful moments in often extraordinary circumstances, he helped set the visual template for dozens of hip-hop stars. The Source was minting a new generation...
Rovère's character "Arlette has struck a chord as everyone’s ideal disreputable aunt with a repertoire of outrageous stories that she just might tell if the burgundy is flowing. She is the sly, sharp-tongued doyenne of top Paris talent agency ASK, who knows where the bodies are buried, and just when to dig them up." But her character is more...
With barriers at every turn, from an anxious director who didn't want to work with the leading actors to disastrous early scripts, no one expected Midnight Cowboy to get completed - or be a hit. Jerome Hellman "helped steer the project through crisis after crisis, fudging on cost estimates, fighting with recalcitrant collaborators and surreptitiously shooting scenes on the...
MacLeod had been a working, but struggling, actor for many years when he read for The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970. He had been asked to audition for the role of Lou Grant - the role that eventually went to Ed Asner - but asked to read for Murray instead. "As Murray, the balding, humble head writer and...
Her rifle was important during the war; her camera became more important after: "As one of the only known Jewish partisan photographers, Mrs. Schulman, thanks to her own graphic record-keeping, debunked the common narrative that most Eastern European Jews had gone quietly to their deaths." - The New York Times
Dobkin was an early idol in the women-loving-women movement. "Long before K.D. Lang transformed herself from a country artist into an androgyne pop idol and sex symbol, smoldering in a man’s suit on the cover of Vanity Fair being mock-shaved by the supermodel Cindy Crawford; long before Melissa Etheridge sold millions of copies of her 1993 album, Yes I Am, and...
"As a professor at American University in Washington, where he joined the faculty in 1970, Dr. Larson taught some of the first classes offered to U.S. students on African writers. At a time when the literary canon consisted almost entirely of works by British and American authors, he helped secure a place in American academia for writers including ...
"Over the course of his career, Carle illustrated more than 70 books for kids. He didn't get started on that path until he was nearly 40, but he found great inspiration in … insects. Spiders, lady bugs, crickets and of course, that famous caterpillar, all as colorful and friendly as Carle himself." - NPR
Milan's Teatro alla Scala, where she was trained and first became famous, "recalled the 'fairytale rise' of the daughter of a tram driver who, through 'talent, obstinance and work became the most famous ballerina in the world, has inspired generations of young people, and not just in the world of dance.'" - Yahoo! (AP)
