Duport, Pierre Landrin (1762?–11 April 1841), dancing master and composer of dance music, was born in Paris, France, into a family named Landrin. His father, whose first name is unknown, was a dancing master and choreographer who Duport claimed had taught cotillions to the “late royal family.” ...
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Duport, Pierre Landrin (1762?–11 April 1841), dancing master and composer of dance music
Kate Van Winkle Keller
Article
Herman, Mary Ann
See Herman, Michael
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Herman, Michael (1911-1996), folk music and folk dance teachers
Kathryn N. Demos
Herman, Michael (1911–03 May 1996), and Mary Ann Herman (1912–24 March 1992), folk music and folk dance teachers, were born into urban immigrant communities in Cleveland, Ohio, and New York City, respectively. Little is known about Michael's early life, except that he was of Ukrainian descent. Mary Ann Bodnar, the daughter of Matwey and Anna Bodnar, grew up in a New York City ghetto that reflected a melding of many different cultures. She attended a Ukrainian neighborhood school. After graduating from James Monroe High School, she attended several colleges in the New York area but never received a degree. She became a dancing performer in her neighborhood Ukrainian folk group and launched her folk dance teaching career at the YMCA....
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Horst, Louis (1884-1964), composer, arranger, dance critic and pedagogue, and publisher
Richard Carlin
Horst, Louis (12 January 1884–23 January 1964), composer, arranger, dance critic and pedagogue, and publisher, was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of German immigrants Conrad Horst, a cornet player, and Corline “Lena” Nickell. Horst’s family traveled to San Francisco, California, in 1893, where Louis studied violin and piano. From about 1900 to 1914 he worked as a pianist in pit orchestras and for silent films. While working at a summer resort he met and subsequently married in 1910 eighteen-year-old Bessie (called Betty) Cunningham. They had no children. In 1911 they went to New York City, where he continued to work as a part-time musician and studied composition and piano, but they returned to San Francisco by 1914....
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Le Clercq, Tanaquil (02 October 1929–31 December 2000), ballerina, teacher, author, and photographer
Mindy Aloff
Le Clercq, Tanaquil (02 October 1929–31 December 2000), ballerina, teacher, author, and photographer, was born in Paris, France, the daughter of Edith Whittemore Le Clercq, a socialite from St. Louis, Missouri, and the American writer Jacques Georges Clemenceau Le Clercq, a poet and a prolific translator, principally from the French. Le Clercq's father named her after “Paul Tanaquil”—his own occasional pseudonym, which referred to the Etruscan queen and prophetess of ancient Rome. From Le Clercq's childhood on, however, she was known as “Tanny” to family and friends....
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Le Clercq, Tanaquil (02 October 1929–31 December 2000)
In
Tanaquil Le Clercq. Courtesy of The Ballerina Gallery.
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Luahine, Iolani (1915-1978), kuma hula (hula master teacher), dancer, and chanter
Barbara Bennett Peterson
Luahine, Iolani (31 January 1915–10 December 1978), kuma hula (hula master teacher), dancer, and chanter, kuma hula (hula master teacher), dancer, and chanter, was born Harriet Lanihau Makekau at Napoopoo near Kealakekua Bay on Hawaii (meaning the Big Island), the daughter of Manasseh Makekau and Koolani (maiden name unknown). In the traditional belief that the exchange of children strengthened ...
Article
Wayburn, Ned (30 March 1874–02 September 1942), theatrical director and dance teacher
James Ross Moore
Wayburn, Ned (30 March 1874–02 September 1942), theatrical director and dance teacher, was born Edward Claudius Wayburn in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Elbert Wayburn, a machinery manufacturer, and Harriet Beech. Educated in Atlanta and Chicago schools, Wayburn worked his way into vaudeville by ushering at an opera house, taking small parts in amateur plays, directing at an acting school, and becoming a specialty dancer....
