Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Cirque du Soleil

(Encyclopedia)Cirque du Soleil, [Fr.,=circus of the sun], innovative Canadian circus, est. 1984, with headquarters in Montreal. The best-known exemplar of cirque nouveau, Cirque du Soleil is a mixture of spectacle,...

disco

(Encyclopedia)disco, style of popular music that flourished during the 1970s. Originating in the United States, it evolved mainly from funk, soul, and salsa and became popular worldwide. Characterized by a heavy, t...

Feld, Eliot

(Encyclopedia)Feld, Eliot, 1942–, American dancer and choreographer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. As a teenager he danced in musicals, notably West Side Story on Broadway and film, and on television. While a dancer (1963–...

Floyd, Carlisle

(Encyclopedia)Floyd, Carlisle (Carlisle Sessions Floyd, Jr.), 1926–, American composer, b. Latta, S.C., grad. Syracuse Univ. (B.A., 1946; M.A., 1949). His reputation rests on his operas, for which he writes both ...

Huntington's disease

(Encyclopedia)Huntington's disease, hereditary, acute disturbance of the central nervous system usually beginning in middle age and characterized by involuntary muscular movements and progressive intellectual deter...

Ivanov, Lev

(Encyclopedia)Ivanov, Lev lyĕf ēväˈnôf [key], 1834–1901, Russian dancer, teacher, choreographer, and ballet-master. Ivanov was assistant to chief ballet-master Marius Petipa at the Imperial St. Petersburg Th...

happening

(Encyclopedia)happening, an artistic event of a theatrical nature, but usually improvised spontaneously without the framework of a plot. The term originated with the creation and performance in 1959 of Allan Kaprow...

minimalism

(Encyclopedia)minimalism, schools of contemporary art and music, with their origins in the 1960s, that have emphasized simplicity and objectivity. In music, the minimalist movement was, like minimal art, a react...

Degas, Edgar

(Encyclopedia)Degas, Edgar (Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas) ēlĕrˈ zhĕrmăNˈ ĕdgärˈ dəgäˈ [key], 1834–1917, French painter and sculptor, b. Paris; son of a banker. Although prepared for the law, he abandon...

Anderson, Lennart

(Encyclopedia)Anderson, Lennart (Anders Lennart Anderson), 1928–2015, American artist, b. Detroit. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago (B.F.A., 1950) and Cranbrook Academy of Art (M.F.A., 1952) and at New ...

Browse by Subject