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modern dance

(Encyclopedia)modern dance, serious theatrical dance forms that are distinct from both ballet and the show dancing of the musical comedy or variety stage. By the late 20th cent., distinctions among modern da...

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

(Encyclopedia)Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, in central Manhattan, New York City, between 62d and 66th streets W of Broadway. Lincoln Center is both a complex of buildings and the arts organizations that r...

Wuorinen, Charles Peter

(Encyclopedia)Wuorinen, Charles Peter wûrˈĭnən [key], 1938–2020, American composer, conductor, and pianist, b. New York City. Wuorinen studied at Columbia (B.A., 1961; M.A., 1963) and taught there, at the Man...

Chauviré, Yvette

(Encyclopedia)Chauviré, Yvette, 1917–2016, French ballerina. She joined the corps de ballet of the Paris Opéra Ballet in 1931, was made a principal dancer in 1937, and attained the rank of étoile in 1941. Chau...

Shubert Brothers

(Encyclopedia)Shubert Brothers sho͞oˈbərt [key], theatrical managers and producers. The brothers were Lee (1871–1953), Sam S. (1878–1905), and Jacob J. (1880–1963). Originally from Syracuse, N.Y., they beg...

Muni, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Muni, Paul myo͞oˈnē [key], 1895–1967, American actor, b. Austria, whose original name was Muni Weisenfreund. His parents brought him to the United States in 1902 and from 1903 to 1913 toured with...

Rice, Elmer

(Encyclopedia)Rice, Elmer, 1892–1967, American dramatist, b. New York City, LL.B. New York Law School, 1912. After the success of his first play, On Trial (1914), he turned his interests to the theater. Rice's fi...

Pinski, David

(Encyclopedia)Pinski, David pĭnˈskē [key], 1872–1959, Yiddish dramatist and novelist, b. Russia. He wrote stories and plays in Yiddish about the ghetto and assisted in editing a Yiddish periodical in Moscow. A...

Cunningham, Merce

(Encyclopedia)Cunningham, Merce (Mercier Philip Cunningham), 1919–2009, American modern dancer and choreographer, b. Centralia, Wash. Cunningham studied modern dance with Martha Graham and ballet at Balanchine's ...

Nijinsky, Vaslav

(Encyclopedia)Nijinsky, Vaslav vəsläfˈ nyĭzhēnˈskē [key], 1890–1950, Russian ballet dancer and choreographer; brother of Bronislava Nijinska. Nijinsky is widely considered the greatest dancer of the 20th c...