February 12
Born Today:
Anna Pavlova
Ballerina Anna Pavlova (1881-1931) is best known for her solo, The Dying Swan (1905). In the early 1920s, she was captivated by the dances of India, inviting Uday Shankar (1900-1977) to collaborate on several pieces. Shankar then dedicated his life to dance and toured the world. According to Judith Mackrell in The Guardian, in 1948, Shankar choreographed and directed the movie Kalpana, an early, ground-breaking dance musical that inspired the future direction of Bollywood films. Pavlova’s last request was for her swan costume and one wonders what she might think of the trajectory of her brief collaboration with Shankar.
Also Born Today: Paris Opera ballet dancer Lycette Darsonval (1912-1996) who won the right to be the only dancer to perform the role of Giselle from 1936-1949, when she passed the role on to Yvette Chauviré (1917-2016) in the second act. Armenian-born ballet dancer Vilen Galstyan (1941-2021) appeared in more than sixty films and performed at the Bolshoi and with the Spendiaryan Opera and Ballet Theatre, where he served as chief choreographer starting in 2013. Ross Coleman (1949-), is best known for choreographing the Broadway version of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (2011), based on the film from 1994.