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Ballet Alert! Quiz #34
April 19, 1999
Female Ballet Choreographers

1. She was associated with American Ballet Theatre from its beginning, creating numerous ballets, the most famous of which was Rodeo.

Agnes De Mille

2. She danced in the first production of Apollo (choreography: Adolf Bolm), choreographed a ballet for Danilova and Franklin in which Danilova spoke, and became most famous for a series of opera ballets she choreographed for various companies which bore her name.

Ruth Page

3. She was a ballerina with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Her Americana ballet, Cakewalk, was created for New York City Ballet.

Ruthanna Boris

4. Although her career was primarily in England, this British dancer/choreographer also staged two of her ballets for Ballet Theatre (the more famous was Lady Into Fox).

Andree Howard

5. One of the pioneers of American regional ballet, she choreographed musicals and ballets (Barn Dance was probably the most famous), was the first American to take a full ballet company to Europe (London and Paris, 1937), and was the first to stage a complete Sleeping Beauty in the States.

Catherine Littlefield

Extra credit question: One of Balanchine's most sophisticated ballerinas, she directed the Paris Opera Ballet and is now a master teacher and coach. Her first ballet, choreographed in 1965 (Cantabile) was one of the first to use the music of Pachelbel.

Violette Verdy

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Ballet Alert Quiz #33
April 12, 1999
The adventures of Giselle in America

1. When and where was the first performance of Giselle in the United States?

Boston, January 1, 1846.

2. Who danced the role of Giselle at that performance?

Mary Ann Lee.

3. Who danced the role of Albrecht at that performance?

George Washington Smith.

4. The Mordkin Ballet performed Giselle in New York in 1937. Who danced the role of Giselle at the premiere?

Lucia Chase

5. What English dancer was closely associated with Ballet Theatre, producing Giselle and other classics, and dancing many leading roles, including that of Albrecht? What dancer, also English, was his most regular partner in Giselle?

Anton Dolin and Alicia Markova

Extra credit question:
Who was the first American ballerina to dance Giselle in Europe?

Augusta Maywood (Mary Ann Lee's Philadelphia-trained rival). Probably in Lisbon.

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Ballet Alert Quiz #32
April 5, 1999
An American Ashton Quiz

1. Frederick Ashton created two ballets for the New York City Ballet. Name the ballets.

Picnic at Tintagel and Illuminations.

2. The directors of which American ballet company invited Ashton to be its resident choreographer (he never received the letter).

American Ballet Theatre

3. Ashton created the dances for what 1934 avant-garde opera (in the USA)?

Four Saints in Three Acts. (Factoid: This was an all-black production, and he found his dancers in the Lindy Clubs.)

4. What was the name of the ballet Ashton created for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo company on the eve of World War II, and who were its stars? (Lest there be any confusion, we are referring to the American Ballet Russe company directed by Sergei Denham.)

Devil's Holiday, for Danilova and Franklin. (Amusing anecdote: Franklin's big solo was inspired by a Mexican hat dance that Ashton saw Franklin dance at a party. Supposedly he asked Franklin to dance it for him again in the studio, and fiddled and fussed, and came up with a classical solo. The ballet was a casualty of the War.)

5. What American company amassed the largest Ashton repertory in the United States?

The Joffrey Ballet. Joffrey was a big Ashton fan. They never danced it very well, in my opinion, but they danced it. Monotones I and II, A Wedding Bouquet, Illuminations, La Fille Mal Gardee, Les Patineurs, Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan.

Extra credit question: What was Ashton's contribution to the film "The Turning Point"?

The solo under the closing credits, danced by Leslie Browne, intended for Gelsey Kirkland.