Eleanor Powell was born on November 21st, 1912 in Springfield, Massachusetts. At the age of two, her father abandoned her family, leaving her mother working hard to make ends meet. Her mother had told her that her father had died. At twenty three years of age, her father had re-introduced himself to her.
She was a very shy kid, so her mother enrolled her in dance lessons. Eleanor took ballet and acrobatic lessons. Surprisingly enough, she didn’t take tap lessons until a bit later in her life, around the mid-1920’s.
At eleven years old, she was discovered by Gus Edwards and performed in a dinner show called the Vaudeville Kiddie Revue. In her teenage years she could often be found dancing in clubs. Then, she started auditioning for Broadway shows. The reason she started tap dancing was because the fact that every audition she went to, she was asked to tap dance. So, she enrolled in the Jack Donahue School in New York. After her first class, she didn’t want to come back because she felt so behind. Jack called her and told her to come back, so she did. By her seventh lesson, she was finally getting good.
In 1929, Eleanor made her Broadway debut in Follow Thru. After being in a Broadway show, her stardom kept rising until she made it to Hollywood. In 1935 she appeared in her first movie, George White's 'Scandals of 1935'.From then on, she just got more and more successful. One of her more memorable performances was in ‘Broadway Melody in 1940’ dancing alongside Fred Astaire to “Begin the Beguine’.
One of the things that made Eleanor stand out was her unique style. At the Jack Donahue School, she was taught to but on a belt with sandbags attached. This is how she developed her low to the ground style and how she made it look like s...
... middle of paper ...
...ell.html
In, J. (2008, November 12). Eleanor Powell - AFI Tribute to Fred Astaire [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vBLRO9pZ4c
Lobosco, D. (2013, September 27). A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE: ELEANOR POWELL: QUEEN OF THE TAP [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://greatentertainersarchives.blogspot.com/2013/09/eleanor-powell-queen-of-tap.html
Looseleaf, V. (2009, May 15). Eleanor Powell | Dance Teacher magazine | Practical. Nurturing. Motivating. The voice of dance educators. Retrieved April 26, 2014, from http://www.dance-teacher.com/2009/05/eleanor-powell/
Nicoll, R. (n.d.). The Dancing Minister. Retrieved April 26, 2014, from http://www.footnotesontap.com/LegendBiosPhotos/EleanorPowellPage.html
Turner Classic Movies (n.d.). Overview for Eleanor Powell. Retrieved April 26, 2014, from http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/154693%7C46071/Eleanor-Powell/
Frank, Rusty E. . "First Tap Dancing Star of the Silver Screen." Tap! New York: Da Capo, 1994. 30-32. Print.
There were Dunham Technique seminars where for example she taught her dance students how to move their body like a snake. While the dancers would warm up, Dunham would teach them the cultural history behind her technique such as the isolation technique as well as the difference behind techniques and dance movements. (Dunham
As the wife of a popular United States president, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born in New York City, October 11, 1884, and died November 7, 1962. She was an active worker for social causes. She was the niece of President Theodore Roosevelt, and was raised by her maternal grandmother after the premature death of her parents. In 1905 she married her cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They had six children, but one of them died in infancy. Although she was extremely shy, Eleanor worked hard and became a well known and admired humanitarian. (Webster III, 100).
Eleanor Roosevelt was born on October 11, 1884 in New York, New York. While her parent were alive she lived in Italy with them. He father was Elliot Roosevelt, he was a junior partner at a real estate firm. He had alcohol and narcotic issues. Her mother was Anna Rebecca Hall, she was a popular debutante and elite figure. She died when Eleanor was almost 10 and Eleanor was an orphan until she was given to her maternal grandmother. Eleanor Roosevelt was the oldest of her siblings, Elliot and Gracie Hall Roosevelt. Growing up she received private tutoring since she was wealthy. She was taught grammar, arithmetic, literature and poetry. Later, she was also taught German, French, Italian, composition, music, drawing, painting and dance. Although she was not taught on subjects like politics and history, geography and philosophy, her instructor informed her a limitedly exposed her to it. She was raised as Episcopalian, and she kept that as her religious affiliation. This religion is a form of Catechism, which is Catholic, which is the religion that most people were during the time she lived. When she was about 20 years old, instead of returning to the United States from England where she received her schooling but she became involved in the social reform movement during the Progressive Era. After a while, she moved to New York and became a teacher. She was 20 when she married Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was 22. They got married on March 17, 1905. They had one daughter and five sons. They were fifth cousins once removed. After she got married, she fulfilled her duties as a wife and a mother...
Katherine Dunham not only significantly contributed to the rise of modern dance, but she was also a pioneer in the field of dance anthropology; and a staunch political and social activist. Dunham was born in Chicago, Illinois and primarily raised in nearby Joliet, Illinois. Dunham first became interested in dance when she was a teenager and trained with Ludmilla Speranzeva, formerly of the Moscow Theatre, Vera Mirova, Mark Turbyfill and Ruth Page in Chicago before and during her college education. She even started her own private dance school, Ballet Négre, in 1930, while at the University of Chicago where she first began to cultivate her own technique that would change modern dance.
Alvin was born during the Great Depression to two working class parents in Rogers, Texas. His father abandoned the family when Alvin was a mere six months old, leaving him and his mother with the struggle of fending for themselves. The inability for Alvin’s mother to find work led to their move to California in 1942, where Alvin was introduced by a classmate to the most influential person that would be the foundation for his future successful career in modern dance, Lester Horton (DeFrantz 1). Alvin was captivated by Lester’s work, which focuses on building a strong body, and made the executive decision to start his dance training in 1949 when he was eighteen years old. Because Lester Horton’s dance company embraced diversity, and accepted dancers of all ethnicities and backgrounds, Alvin was given the opportunity to do something great with his
Not great at sports, Alvin excelled in the less common athletics of gymnastics, especially the floor exercise (36). Being an African-American male, this was hard for Ailey and he struggled fitting in with his peers. Alvin Ailey had little experience with dance or the theater and it wasn’t until he moved to Los Angeles that his eyes were opened to the world of theatrics by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carolos and the performance of Katherine Dunham’s black dance company (DeFrantz 43). Ailey pursued 1940s dancing styles such as tap, but experimented and settled on modern dance when a school friend, Carmen de Lavallade, convinced him to join Lester Horton’s lively theatrical, Hollywood Studio in 1949 (43). As Ailey’s mentor, Horton proved to be a major role model and helped mold Alvin’s technique and
The documentary is narrated by Tony Bennett and includes footage of Ella Fitzgerald singing in concerts all over the world and live interview recordings of her and of her close friends and family.
when Eleanor was still at a young age. Heaven forbid, her mother didn't think Eleanor
Eleanor was born on October 11th 1884 in New York City to Anna and Elliott Roosevelt. Six years later, Elliott was confined to a mental asylum and Anna died of diphtheria. Eleanor’s grandmother followed her mother’s wishes, and enrolled Eleanor at Allenswood School in England when she was 15 and was there until 1902 (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eleanor/). During this time, President McKinley was assassinated and her Uncle, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt became president. When Eleanor finished school, she went back to New York and enmeshed herself into upper class society at the Waldorf- Astoria Hotel in New York City. When she was 19 she became engaged to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, her fifth cousin once removed. In 1903, Eleanor enrolled in the Junior League of New York where she taught calisthenics and dancing to immigrants (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eleanor/). She also became involved in social warfare by joining the Consumers’ League, which investigated working conditions in the garment district. Eleanor and Franklin were married on March 17th 1905, with President Teddy Roosevelt giving the bride away (http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/ar32.html).
... social dance. Many people in today’s society enjoy social; dancing. Chapter eleven dance concert, properly planning and establishing a dance concert is of the utmost importance. The partnership with the lighting designer usually takes priority over all other factors. One of the most important issues concerning customers has to do with mobility. The dancer must be able to move comfortably in the costume. The task of producing a dance concert is an overwhelming and tiring one. Chapter twelve dance in education and career in dance, many dance educators present the argument that teaching and learning dance as an art form is obviously absent from the American student education. There has always been and always will be people who have a love, desire, and passion to instruct and learn the art of dance, will ensure an important place for dance in higher education.
However, New York Public Schools offered ballroom dancing classes to low-income students of color, which allowed the arts to be included in their curriculum. Watching the film, I observed the positive reaction the children had to the dance classes. Overall, they were exposed to different cultures, made new friendships, became more confident, and aware of different career options such as professional dancers or singers (Agrelo, 2005).
She got to work with Ted Shawn which was where she improved her dance techniques and also where she began dancing as a professional. Ted Shawn p...
Dancing and acting were my passion. After the competition when I was 14 my dancing and acting career began. 1926 I performed at the Craterian Theater in Medford, Oregon("Ginger Rogers." - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.), and continued to appear in Vaudeville productions, at age 17 I also married my first husband Jack Culpepper, singer/dancer/comedian/recording artist("Biography." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.), we created a short-lived Vaudeville double act known as "Ginger and Pepper". Our marriage was over within months after realizing I had made an extraordinarily huge mistake("Biography." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.). After the divorce I went back on tour. When the tour got to New York City I stayed getting a radio singing job, soon after my Broadway theater debut called "Top Speed" opened("Biography." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.). Within two weeks of the opening I starred on Broadway in “Girl Crazy” by George Gershwin. My appearance made me a star overnight at age 19("Biography." The Official Site of Ginger Rogers. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr.
Civil rights activist and writer, Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928. At the age of three, Angelou witnessed a divorce between her parents and was sent to live with her grandmother. At the age of eight, she was removed from her comfortable lifestyle