Gelsey Kirkland (born December 29, 1952, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) is an American ballet dancer. Events 1170 - Thomas Becket: Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, in the
She was reportedly inspired to dance by watching a performance of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. "Dame Margot" redirects here For the medieval trouvère see Dames Margot and Maroie. Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev ( Tatar: Rudolf Xämät ulı Nuriev, Russian: Рудольф Хаметович Нуриев Kirkland joined the New York City Ballet in 1968 at age fifteen after being invited by George Balanchine and was promoted to Soloist in 1969 and principal in 1972. New York State Theater by David Shankbonejpg|thumb|300px| New York State Theater]] New York City Ballet ( NYCB) is a Ballet company founded in 1948 by See also List of ballets by George Balanchine, George Balanchine (January 22 1904 &ndash April 30 1983 born Giorgi Melitonis dze Balanchivadze She went on to create leading roles in many of the great twentieth century ballets by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Antony Tudor. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on See also List of ballets by George Balanchine, George Balanchine (January 22 1904 &ndash April 30 1983 born Giorgi Melitonis dze Balanchivadze Jerome Robbins (11 October 1918 – 29 July 1998 was an American film director and Choreographer whose work has included everything from classical ballet to Antony Tudor ( 4 April 1908 - 19 April 1987) born William Cook, highly influential twentieth-century English Ballet These include Balanchine's version of Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird, Robbins' Goldberg Variations, and Tudor's Leaves are Fading. Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский) ( &ndash 6 April 1971 was a Russian born Composer, considered by many to The Firebird ( French: L'Oiseau de feu; Russian: Жар-птица Žar-ptica) is a 1910 ballet by Igor Stravinsky The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 are a set of 30 variations for Harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach.
She joined the American Ballet Theatre after meeting Mikhail Baryshnikov, who would become her perennial partner. See also American Ballet Theatre, based in New York City, was one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov (Михаил Николаевич Барышников (born January 27, 1948) is a Soviet -born Russian She was practicing when she received a phone call from Baryshnikov's entourage asking her if she would like to dance with him and accepted. [[1]] She is perhaps most famous to the general public for dancing the role of "Clara" in Baryshnikov's 1977 television production of The Nutcracker. Also 1977 (album by Ash. Year 1977 ( MCMLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays The Nutcracker (Щелкунчик Shchelkunchik) Op 71 is a Fairy tale - Ballet in two acts three scenes by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky She left the ABT in 1984. Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar)
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Books
In 1986, Kirkland, with Greg Lawrence, published Dancing on My Grave, a tell-all autobiography detailing her struggles with eating disorders and drug addiction. The book also sharply criticizes George Balanchine and speaks about many of her partnerships, both on stage and off, with some of the most famous dancers of the time, including Baryshnikov, Peter Martins, Ivan Nagy, Anthony Dowell, Patrick Bissell, Peter Schafuss, and Stephen Jeffries. See also List of ballets by George Balanchine, George Balanchine (January 22 1904 &ndash April 30 1983 born Giorgi Melitonis dze Balanchivadze See also Peter Martins (born October 27, 1946) is a Danish Ballet Dancer and Choreographer. Sir Anthony James Dowell, CBE (born 16 February 1943 in London, United Kingdom) is a famous Ballet dancer and was Following Dancing on My Grave, Kirkland and Lawrence published The Shape of Love: The Story of 'Dancing on My Grave' Continues in 1990, which focuses on Kirkland's return to the stage in 1986. She and her ex-husband collaborated on one more book, "Little Ballerina and Her Dancing Horse," for children in 1994.
Currently
Kirkland has since departed from the stage, but now coaches younger dancers. She currently lives in Australia with husband Michael Chernov, but periodically returns to the United States. In 2006, she was awarded the Dance Magazine Award. Dance Magazine is a major American Trade publication for Dance.
She is currently a member of the guest faculty at the Broadway Dance Center in New York City, a guest artist at STEPS on Broadway, and has recently choreographed (with her husband, dramaturge Michael Chernov, and ABT artistic director Kevin McKenzie) a new production of Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty, in which, after a more than twenty year absence from the stage, she danced the role of "Carabosse, the Wicked Fairy". The Sleeping Beauty ( Спящая Красавица, Spyashchaya Krasavitsa) is a Ballet in a prologue and three acts Opus 66 by Pyotr
Trivia
- Baryshnikov called her "The best ballerina of her generation".
- She appeared as guest artist with the Royal Ballet 1980-86. The Royal Ballet is an internationally renowned Classical ballet company based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England
- She applied for the position of Artistic Director for a ballet company in Ireland, yet when she got the job, she wound up turning it down - in favor of teaching.
- Was on the May 1, 1978 cover of Time. Time (trademarked in capitals as TIME) is a weekly American Newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and
- Edward Villella described her as having "steel-like legs that are doing the most fantastic technical feats while the upper body is soft and lovely as though nothing were going on underneath" in Time magazine. See also JEssenia Villela (born October 1, 1936, Bayside New York) is an American Ballet dancer and Choreographer
- Has undergone various plastic surgery operations. She had silicone put in her lips, her earlobes shortened, a nose job and breasts enlarged.
- Balanchine rechoreographed his version of Stravinsky's The Firebird specifically for her. Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский) ( &ndash 6 April 1971 was a Russian born Composer, considered by many to The Firebird ( French: L'Oiseau de feu; Russian: Жар-птица Žar-ptica) is a 1910 ballet by Igor Stravinsky
Further reading
- Kirkland, Gelsey, and Greg Lawrence. Dancing on My Grave. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1986 (ISBN 0-385-19964-3). Garden City New York is a village in central Nassau County, New York, in the USA, which was founded by multi-millionaire Alexander Turney
- Kirkland, Gelsey, and Greg Lawrence. The Shape of Love: The Story of Dancing on My Grave Continues. New York, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc. The City of New York , 1990 (ISBN 0-385-24918-7).
External links
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