Eugene Loring
Encyclopedia
Eugene Loring American
ballet and other dance-forms dancer, choreographer and teacher and administrator.
in Wisconsin
. He took gymnastic lessons. His artistic education in Milwaukee was formative. Nine years of piano training developed his musical ability broadly into orchestration, and his work with the Wisconsin Players, particularly under the direction of the Russian Boris Glagolin, developed his strong theatrical sense and gave him an awareness of dance as a theatrical force.
With savings from his job as a hardware-store manager, Loring went to New York City near the depth of the Great Depression
in 1934, and was taken into George Balanchine
's and Lincoln Kirstein
's newly-formed School of American Ballet
. With the Russian Imperial training given by SAB, he danced with Balanchine's first American company, American Ballet, and even auditioned successfully for Michel Fokine
. When Kirstein formed the specifically American choreographic training company Ballet Caravan in 1936, Loring and Lew Christensen
(who together formed a little company, Dance Players, 1941–42) emerged as its outstanding products.
Within two years Loring choreographed and danced in Billy the Kid, which enjoys status as the first American ballet classic, with an unbroken history of production since. After choreographic residence at Bennington College
, Vermont, where he made some works, Loring joined Ballet Theatre (now ABT
) in 1939, where, in that company's first season, he choreographed and danced in his The Great American Goof, with libretto by William Saroyan
.
Loring, who began dancing in his father's saloon, was at ease with all kinds of dance: national, classic, modern, theater or not. He choreographed the Broadway
musicals Carmen Jones and Silk Stockings
and had an extensive career in Hollywood, directing and choreographing for film and television. Dancers he worked with most frequently include Fred Astaire
, Cyd Charisse
, and James Mitchell
. Some of Loring's most notable films include: Silk Stockings
, Funny Face
(both in 1957), Ziegfeld Follies
, The Toast of New Orleans
, Deep in My Heart, Meet Me in Las Vegas
.
Resettled in Los Angeles in 1943 on contract with MGM (Loring had a feature role in National Velvet
even before he choreographed for them), he turned his attention to regularizing and applying his principles of versatile "Freestyle" professional dance education, including (from 1955) his own dance notation
, Kineseography. Loring operated the commercially successful American School of Dance in Hollywood along those principles, and from 1965 developed them in a university educational setting, on invitation by Dean Clayton Garrison to chair the Department of Dance within the School of Fine Arts of the newly formed University of California, Irvine
. Loring retired from UCI in 1981, returned to New York State but died a year later, aged seventy-one.
, is sometimes compared with Agnes de Mille
's later Rodeo. Like Rodeo, Billy the Kid has a score by Aaron Copland
and draws on the mythology of the American West. However unlike de Mille's ballet, Billy the Kid offers a bleak vision of the frontier, with a protagonist more fittly characterized, according to one recent critic, as a "murderous psychopath".
Dance Heritage Coalition
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
ballet and other dance-forms dancer, choreographer and teacher and administrator.
Biography
Eugene Loring was born as Le Roy Kerpestein, the son of a saloon-keeper, grew up on a small island in the Milwaukee RiverMilwaukee River
The Milwaukee River is a river in the state of Wisconsin. It is about long.- Description :The river begins in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin and flows south past Grafton to downtown Milwaukee, where it empties into Lake Michigan...
in Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
. He took gymnastic lessons. His artistic education in Milwaukee was formative. Nine years of piano training developed his musical ability broadly into orchestration, and his work with the Wisconsin Players, particularly under the direction of the Russian Boris Glagolin, developed his strong theatrical sense and gave him an awareness of dance as a theatrical force.
With savings from his job as a hardware-store manager, Loring went to New York City near the depth of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
in 1934, and was taken into George Balanchine
George Balanchine
George Balanchine , born Giorgi Balanchivadze in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to a Georgian father and a Russian mother, was one of the 20th century's most famous choreographers, a developer of ballet in the United States, co-founder and balletmaster of New York City Ballet...
's and Lincoln Kirstein
Lincoln Kirstein
Lincoln Edward Kirstein was an American writer, impresario, art connoisseur, and cultural figure in New York City...
's newly-formed School of American Ballet
School of American Ballet
The School of American Ballet is one of the most famous classical ballet schools in the world and is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a leading international ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the...
. With the Russian Imperial training given by SAB, he danced with Balanchine's first American company, American Ballet, and even auditioned successfully for Michel Fokine
Michel Fokine
Michel Fokine was a groundbreaking Russian choreographer and dancer.-Biography:...
. When Kirstein formed the specifically American choreographic training company Ballet Caravan in 1936, Loring and Lew Christensen
Lew Christensen
Lewellyn Farr "Lew" Christensen was a ballet dancer, choreographer and director for many companies. He was largely associated with George Balanchine and the San Francisco Ballet, which he directed from 1952–1984...
(who together formed a little company, Dance Players, 1941–42) emerged as its outstanding products.
Within two years Loring choreographed and danced in Billy the Kid, which enjoys status as the first American ballet classic, with an unbroken history of production since. After choreographic residence at Bennington College
Bennington College
Bennington College is a liberal arts college located in Bennington, Vermont, USA. The college was founded in 1932 as a women's college and became co-educational in 1969.-History:-Early years:...
, Vermont, where he made some works, Loring joined Ballet Theatre (now ABT
American Ballet Theatre
American Ballet Theatre , based in New York City, was one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century. It continues as a leading dance company in the world today...
) in 1939, where, in that company's first season, he choreographed and danced in his The Great American Goof, with libretto by William Saroyan
William Saroyan
William Saroyan was an Armenian American dramatist and author. The setting of many of his stories and plays is the center of Armenian-American life in California in his native Fresno.-Early years:...
.
Loring, who began dancing in his father's saloon, was at ease with all kinds of dance: national, classic, modern, theater or not. He choreographed the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musicals Carmen Jones and Silk Stockings
Silk Stockings
Silk Stockings is a musical with a book by George S. Kaufman, Leueen MacGrath, and Abe Burrows and music and lyrics by Cole Porter.Hildegarde Knef gives a vivid backstage account of the casting, rehearsals, tryouts and Broadway opening of "Silk Stockings" in her autobiography "The Gift Horse:...
and had an extensive career in Hollywood, directing and choreographing for film and television. Dancers he worked with most frequently include Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
, Cyd Charisse
Cyd Charisse
Cyd Charisse was an American actress and dancer.After recovering from polio as a child, and studying ballet, Charisse entered films in the 1940s...
, and James Mitchell
James Mitchell (actor)
James Mitchell was an American actor and dancer. Although he is best known to television audiences as Palmer Cortlandt on the soap opera All My Children , theatre and dance historians remember him as one of Agnes de Mille's leading dancers...
. Some of Loring's most notable films include: Silk Stockings
Silk Stockings (film)
Silk Stockings is a 1957 MGM musical film remake of Ninotchka. It was directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starred Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse...
, Funny Face
Funny Face
Funny Face is an American musical film released in 1957 in VistaVision Technicolor, with assorted songs by George and Ira Gershwin. The film was written by Leonard Gershe and directed by Stanley Donen. It stars Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, and Kay Thompson...
(both in 1957), Ziegfeld Follies
Ziegfeld Follies
The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
, The Toast of New Orleans
The Toast of New Orleans
The Toast of New Orleans is a 1950 musical film directed by Norman Taurog and choreographed by Eugene Loring. It starred Mario Lanza, Kathryn Grayson, David Niven, J. Carroll Naish, James Mitchell and a teenaged Rita Moreno...
, Deep in My Heart, Meet Me in Las Vegas
Meet Me in Las Vegas
Meet Me in Las Vegas is an MGM musical comedy produced by Joe Pasternak and directed by Roy Rowland filmed in Eastman Color and CinemaScope. The film has a running time of 112 minutes.-Cast and crew:...
.
Resettled in Los Angeles in 1943 on contract with MGM (Loring had a feature role in National Velvet
National Velvet (film)
National Velvet is a 1944 drama film, in Technicolor, based on the novel by Enid Bagnold, published in 1935. It stars Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp and a young Elizabeth Taylor....
even before he choreographed for them), he turned his attention to regularizing and applying his principles of versatile "Freestyle" professional dance education, including (from 1955) his own dance notation
Dance notation
Dance notation is the symbolic representation of dance movement. It is analogous to movement notation but can be limited to representing human movement and specific forms of dance such as Tap dance...
, Kineseography. Loring operated the commercially successful American School of Dance in Hollywood along those principles, and from 1965 developed them in a university educational setting, on invitation by Dean Clayton Garrison to chair the Department of Dance within the School of Fine Arts of the newly formed University of California, Irvine
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
. Loring retired from UCI in 1981, returned to New York State but died a year later, aged seventy-one.
Brief estimate
Loring's most popular choreographed work, Billy the KidBilly the Kid (ballet)
Billy the Kid is a 1938 ballet written by the American composer Aaron Copland and commissioned by Lincoln Kirstein. It was choreographed by Eugene Loring for Ballet Caravan. Along with Rodeo and Appalachian Spring, it is one of Copland's most popular and widely performed pieces...
, is sometimes compared with Agnes de Mille
Agnes de Mille
Agnes George de Mille was an American dancer and choreographer.-Early years:Agnes de Mille was born in New York City into a well-connected family of theater professionals. Her father William C. deMille and her uncle Cecil B. DeMille were both Hollywood directors...
's later Rodeo. Like Rodeo, Billy the Kid has a score by Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
and draws on the mythology of the American West. However unlike de Mille's ballet, Billy the Kid offers a bleak vision of the frontier, with a protagonist more fittly characterized, according to one recent critic, as a "murderous psychopath".
Eugene Loring: ballet choreology
- Harlequin for President (1936)
- Yankee Clipper (1937)
- Billy the KidBilly the Kid (ballet)Billy the Kid is a 1938 ballet written by the American composer Aaron Copland and commissioned by Lincoln Kirstein. It was choreographed by Eugene Loring for Ballet Caravan. Along with Rodeo and Appalachian Spring, it is one of Copland's most popular and widely performed pieces...
(1938) - City Portrait (1939)
- The Great American Goof (1940)
- Prairie
- The Man from Midian
- The Capitol of the World (1953)
- These Three (1966)
Sources
Two full, well-organized listings of collections of Loring's papers, letters, recordings, films etc. are available on line:- New York Public Library Digital Library Collections site: Index to the Eugene Loring Papers
External links
- Guide to the Eugene Loring Papers, Special Collections and Archives, UC Irvine Libraries.
- Internet Broadway Database
- IMDb
- http://www.danceheritage.org/publications/treas_blurbs07.html
Dance Heritage Coalition