Three Remarkable People
WHAT WITH TO AND FROM: A Lincoln Kirstein Reader. Nicholas Jenkins has written an anthology of the remarkable Kirstein concerning his involvement in dance and music; photography and painting; film; literature; theater and more. Kirstein was a quiet and intense man, who had a life-long devoted interest in sponsoring and promoting ballet in the United States through his professional friendship with George Balanchine, with whom he founded the School of American Ballet (1934) and the successful New York City Ballet (1946) after several previous failures. He was America's Diaghilev in almost every way. Kirstein was nightly in the audience during NYCB performances in the first row balcony, first seat. He made a short, but moving curtain speech announcing Balanchine's death in 1983 to a hushed audience.
Jenkins, who teaches 20-century culture and literature at Stanford University, has included photographs from Kirstein's private collection of Diaghilev, Cocteau, Stravinsky and many others for this University Press of Florida/Gainesville paperback, available in bookstores or by calling, 1-800-226-3822.
Elizabeth Anderson Ivantsova (1890-1973) was a legendary ballet teacher in New York during the 1930s '40s and '50s, when Manhattan was inundated by Russian émigrés, who had fled from WWII, revolutions and economic upheavals. They taught us how to dance. Her small apartment studio was filled with the famous and not-so-famous, who gladly accepted her demanding corrections. In just one class, there would be artists from ballet companies, Broadway musicals, and Music Halls...Alonso, Patricia Bowman, Bill Callahan, Edward Caton (himself a famous teacher), Rosella Hightower, Natalie Krassovska, Joan McCracken, Daniel Nagrin, John Taras, George Zorich and many, many others. None were spared her scrutiny, her Bolshoi principles and 2-hour classes ending in pointe work and "steps for men." She was adamant about proper placement, expressive feet ("speak by da feet") and demanded a strict adherence to the music. During one class, a famous dancer was enjoying his affectations, which prompted Mme. to remark: "Pigeon born in stable, make him horse?" As accompanist, her husband, a former opera singer dug into the keyboard and always emerged with the "Black Hawk Waltz."
She didn't talk about herself. What was not known was her soaring career in Russia, the turbulent escapes, her work as a choreographer at American Laboratory Theater (the first center for Stanislavski training the United States), her involvement with Nikita Baliev's "Le Théâtre de la Chauve-Souris," or that she taught actors movement and had staged Nijinska's "Les Noces," with conductor Leopold Stowkowski in 1928 at the Metropolitan Opera House.
Author Lawrence Sullivan in his book "Elizabeth Anderson-Ivanzova: A Bolshoi Ballerina Abroad" has dug deeply into her past in Europe and America and given us a loving and engrossing remembrance enhanced with rare photos of Mme. in Russia and charming stories about her life that ended in 1973. The book may be ordered from orders@xlibris.com or by calling: 1-888-795-4274.
What Tap Dancing's All About, According to Jeni LeGon (b. 1917), a picture book illustrated in watercolors by Nancy Haver, is the story of LeGon's inspiring career. She shared the stage with tap great, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, danced in Count Basie's chorus line at the age13, where she did an imitation of Josephine Baker and "learned all about show business from the Whitman Sister's Troupe." She also did an imitation of Snake Hips Tucker's routine. In Los Angeles she began her film career and incorporated flips, toe stands and splits predominately done only by male dancers and she was the first woman to wear long pants as a costume. At 17 years-of-age, LeGon was hired to dance with Robinson in the film "Hooray for Love." Jeni then performed on the London stage, returning to L.A. at the beginning of WWII.
LeGon opened a dance school but was before her time in presenting black dancers in ballet and returned to dance and drum with her cast in "Jazz Caribe." On tour, LeGon discovered that Vancouver, Canada was more racially amenable and that is where she lives today, since 1969, teaching and coaching. In 2002, LeGon was one of nine tap legends to receive an honorary Doctorate of Performing Arts in Dance from Oklahoma City University and has gathered enough awards to fill several walls. Her list of appearances is included in the book.
Over the last twenty-five years, she and her husband Frank Clavin, have been working with young performers and living the secret of what tap dancing is all about: "Tap dancing is all about love," she says. The National Film Board of Canada's documentary film of LeGon, "Living in a Great Big Way," is available on DVD and VHS from the Board. Her book is available from Warbler Press, 19 Moorland St., Amherst, Massachusetts, 1-413-549-1337.