The biggest dancers in the world

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alonso, Alicia
Alicia Alonso original name in full Alicia Ernestina de la Caridad del Cobre Martínez y del Hoyo born December 21, 1921, Havana, Cuba Alicia Alonso, 1955. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (neg. no. LC-USZ62-115331)Cuban ballerina highly regarded for her convincing portrayals of leading roles in the great works of classical and Romantic ballet. She was best known for her lively, precise Giselle and for her sensual, tragic Carmen. Alonso's dance studies began in her childhood with flamenco lessons in Spain. Later she studied ballet in Havana and then, at age 17, enrolled in the School of American Ballet in New York City. Having made her stage debut in the musical comedy Great Lady in 1938, she joined George Balanchine's Ballet Caravan in 1939 but moved to the newly formed Ballet Theatre (later American Ballet Theatre) in 1940; after one year she was forced to leave because of eye problems (a difficulty that persisted throughout her life). Alonso returned to Ballet Theatre in 1943 and danced the lead in Giselle, remaining with the company for five years. She then began to tour as a guest dancer, often with partner Igor Youskevitch, and in 1948 founded the Alicia Alonso Ballet Company in Cuba, through which she became known for her artistry as a choreographer, which ranged from variations on classic works such as Swan Lake to the comic ballet A Voyage to the Moon. Over the next 14 years Alonso danced with many companies, including the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo from 1955 to 1959. Her own company was renamed Ballet de Cuba in 1955. In 1957 she became the first Western dancer invited to perform in the Soviet Union. After Fidel Castro came into power in Cuba in 1959, her ballet company was renamed Ballet Nacional de Cuba (National Ballet of Cuba), with Alonso remaining as its director. UNESCO awarded her the Pablo Picasso Medal, its award for notable contributions to arts or culture, in 1999. ************

Eleonora Cassano
One of Argentina's most accomplished and best known dancers, Julio Bocca, has organized a company to give audiences outside Argentina a glimpse of the kind of talent that his native land produces. Bocca's group, Ballet Argentino, which has already toured Europe and Central and South America for two years, is scheduled to make its U.S. debut October 21 at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. The company proceeds from there on a monthlong tour, stopping in Los Angeles; Chicago; Kalamazoo; Detroit; West Palm Beach; Sarasota; Naples, Florida; and Miami Beach. Columbia Artists is presenting the tour, with additional sponsorship from Aerolineas Argentinas. [See Performance Calendar for details.] Apart from Bocca himself, the company features Argentine ballerina Eleonora Cassano, with a corps de ballet of twelve dancers, aged sixteen to twenty-two, from the celebrated Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. Another ballerina of Teatro Colon, Lidia Segni, serves as ballet mistress. The repertoire consists of two programs that are guaranteed to be crowd pleasers. On the first program, Bocca and Cassano will appear in the Carmen of Azari Plisetski. This will be followed by Tangos, set to music by a variety of composers, with choreography by Julio Lopez, Gustavo Mollajoli, and Juan Carlos Copes. Lopez and Mollajoli, both artists associated with Teatro Colon, have prepared what Bocca terms "classical modern tangos" that are danced en pointe, while Copes, the choreographer of the Broadway revue Tango Argentino, has staged the genuine article. The first program concludes with a razzle-dazzle suite from Don Quixote, including excerpts from Act I and the Grand Pas de Deux from Act III.


**Profile : Laura Legazcue
At age 7, Laura Legazcue began her ten year classical dance education with the Director of the National Ballet of Uruguay, Maestro Eduardo Ramirez and Hebe Arnoux (Toulouse Ballet,France). She took up courses on corporal expression and in 1998, started her Tango and Milonga studies at the Uruguayan Association of Authors. She continued her studies in Buenos Aires . She updates her tango techniques with periodical classes with Argentinean tango masters (Copes,Nieves,Godoy workshows). She has also studied different dancing styles in Cuba ( she know Alicia Alonso's Ballet)and Brazil (Salsa, Meringue, cha-cha and samba) Laura is currently a choreographer, first ballerina and director of the tango ballet of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Uruguay. The Laura Legazcue Ballet is under the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Culture, Montevideo City Hall for her contribution to the diffusion of Uruguay culture and arts. She received the coveted award “Condor de Oro” in Argentina in the year 2005 for her show “Tango Attraction”. She is the winner of two National Best Dancer awards. She is also the winner of the Young Dance Competition of Montevideo with her show “In the soul of a sombrero”. She is a dancer with the International Dance Company “Cirque Goldberg's” of Broadway. This year, 2006, she went to Spain to teach in workshops on Tango and Milonga dances. She also went to Mexico to hold a seminar for students of Modern Arts and professional tango dancers and teachers. Before arriving at Kuala Lumpur , she will dance and be a judge at the International Tango Festival in Japan in November. As a Jury member, she will be in charge of examining and judging tango dancers of all parts of the world. Primadonna selection (Argentine-Italy),Latin Best Selection (Mexico) , The world top dancers by Argentine Tango Dance Asociation in Japan (ATDA)

*****

Ofrece Alicia Alonso conferencia en teatro brasileño Sao Paulo.- Alicia Alonso ofreció el lunes último una conferencia en el Teatro Municipal de Osasco, una de las ciudades que conforman el complejo urbano de Sao Paulo, en Brasil. La directora-fundadora del Ballet Nacional de Cuba habló ante una numerosa audiencia integrada por profesores de la red de educación de Osasco. De esa manera quedó inaugurado un ciclo de encuentros con personalidades de la cultura de América Latina, que forma parte de un proyecto que tiene como fin la incorporación de la educación artística a la enseñanza general. **************************

Isadora Duncan,
the Biggest Dancer in the World (1966) (TV) Directed by Ken Russell Writing credits Ken Russell Sewell Stokes Add to MyMovies IMDbPro Details Genre: Biography (more) User Comments: Stick With Vanessa Redgrave's film (more) User Rating: 6.9/10 (28 votes) Credited cast: Vivian Pickles .... Isadora Duncan Peter Bowles .... Paris Singer Alexei Jawdokimov .... Sergei Yessenin Murray Melvin .... Reporter Jeanne Le Bars .... Wilma Alita Naughton .... Journalist Sandor Elès .... Bugatti (more) Also Known As: Isadora Runtime: 67 min Country: UK Language: English Color: Black and White Sound Mix: Mono Trivia: Director Cameo: [Ken Russell]a one-legged man who saves Isadora from drowning, and her chauffeur in Russia. (more) FAQ: This FAQ is empty. Add the first question. ISADORA DUNCAN... Memorabilia Books | All Products -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- User Comments: 0 out of 1 people found the following comment useful:- Stick With Vanessa Redgrave's film, 7 August 2006 Author: Louisville88 from United States Only one person can play Isadora Duncan and be successful at it and that's Vanessa Redgrave. She played every range of emotion one could possibly play and was just hypnotic...I guess that's why she received an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe nomination (to name a few) and won the Cannes (to name a few). Vivian is good, but I saw more spark from Redgrave, incidentally I saw Vivian's performance of Duncan before Redgrave's. Ken Russell is a great film maker, but this was his warming up film I suppose. His greatest is, of course, The Devil's (which also stars Vanessa Redgrave). Redgrave has many scenes in which she show cases that she is the deserved to win that Oscar, or at least tie with Kate Hepburn who was also marvelous that year. I purchased a book recently on the Oscars and they had an article that said that 1968 was a hard year to decide what films should be nominated and in their list of what films were runner-ups, Isadora was in it. Isadora ranks in Redgrave's top 10 great performances and is in the top 20 of her greatest films. Truly, this film is a great one and it has to be the BEST ever made.

>