History: Icons and Legends

1.    Michio Ito was born in _____ in 1893.  
 
2.    True or False: Michio traveled to Paris to study ballet when he was 19.
 
3.    Ito studied at the _____ _____ in Dresden, Germany.
 
4.    What performance role helped to develop Ito’s abstract, elegant style? 
 
5.    In New York, Ito worked on revues and musicals including _____ and ______.
 

In 1927, Japanese artist Michio Ito presented his solo work Tango to a New York City audience. Though he dressed the part of a tango dancer, it was not a strict representation of the form. An abstract piece, it was crafted with powerful, sweeping gestures with rhythmic footing. This was not Ito’s debut performance—he had been creating work and teaching class in New York for over 10 years and would remain a major dance figure in the U.S. until 1943.
 

The moment when Isadora Duncan throws her head back in ecstasy as she dances at the Theatre of Dionysus in Greece (preserved in the 1903 photograph above) captures Duncan’s archetypal performance qualities: supple, improvisatory, transcendent. Arguably the most important American-born dance artist of the early 20th century, Duncan forged her style against ballet’s codified technique and its aristocratic lineage.

1. True or False: Isadora Duncan grew up in Paris.
 
2. Though she studied ballet in her youth, how did Duncan claim she learned to dance?
 
3. Why did she move to Europe in 1899?
 
4. What event sparked America’s fascination with Greekculture and provided Duncan with inspiration for her trademark look?
 
5. Duncan wore _____ costumes and created movement based on _____, _____, _____ and _____.
 

The great prima ballerina Galina Ulanova bends her body near Bolshoi dancer Ekaterina Maximova during a coaching session in preparation for Giselle. With her eyes focused on her student, Ulanova gestures with tender encouragement, and every part of her body conveys the subtleties of Giselle. In a series of still images from 1960, the photographer Albert Kahn captures Ulanova’s deep understanding of the role flowing from her body to her student’s.
 

1. How did Bennett model himself after Jerome Robbins?
 
2. What was the first Broadway show Bennett saw at age 11?
 
3. _______ was Bennett’s longtime collaborator.
 
4. Name a few Broadway shows Bennett directed and/or choreographed?
 
5. Who organized the 1974 tape sessions that later developed into A Chorus Line?
 
6. The musical’s story, lyrics, design and choreography were created through revisions and collaborations through what is now called the ___________.

A dancer’s ornamentally unfurling arms and catlike spine develop under a spotlight. Alone in a dark, empty space, she watches her haloed dancing figure in a mirrored triptych, whose three panels resemble a church altar painting. In this iconic “Music and the Mirror” number of A Chorus Line, director Michael Bennett revealed a dancer’s private sanctuary: the dance studio.
 

1. Who is John William Sublett?
 
2. What is Bubbles’ nickname?
 
3. Who was John Bubbles’ partner?
 
4. How old was Bubbles when he first started performing with Buck?
 
5. Buck and Bubbles were the first African-Americans to perform at what famous New York City venue?
 
6. What are some of the contributions John Bubbles made to tap dance?
 
7. Name a movie featuring the duo Buck and Bubbles.
 

 
“Tap is just about the hardest thing to explain. Just keep on tapping along. That’s about the size of it.”
        —John Bubbles