Choreographers

In 1950, Mr. Solov starred with Jackie Gleason and Viola Essen in the Broadway show "Along Fifth Avenue." He made regular appearances as a dancer on television shows including Your Show of Shows, and the Fred Allen Show. That year he was also the first choreographer in The Music Circus theater in the round in Lambertville, New Jersey. The critical acclaim and attention he received from New York City's dance critics came to the attention of Rudolf Bing, newly installed as the director of the Metropolitan Opera.

Mr. Solov made history in his debut at the Met by hiring Janet Collins, an African American, to be his first prima ballerina. She was the first African-American to star at the house. The production was the new production of "Aida" on November 13, 1951. Of Mr. Solov's debut as choreographer of the opera, Miles Kastendieck of the New York Journal American wrote: "The dancing suggested that perhaps the problem of the opera ballet is about to be solved."

Mr. Solov died of complications arising from heart failure in 2004. He was 81 years old.

Source: capezio.com/foundation

Kenneth MacKenzie, was an American dancer with Col. W. de Basil's Ballets Russes in the 1940s and a star of one of that troupe's most controversial productions. A native of Chicago, where he received his early training, Mr. MacKenzie was a member of the Ballets Russes from 1940 to 1947. An attractive and muscular dancer, he created a sensation in 1946 as Cain in David Lichine's "Cain and Abel," with Oleg Tupine as Abel. The ballet raised eyebrows because the choreography required the men to wrestle in skimpy trunks and to dance erotically with flimsily clad women symbolizing Good and Evil. Another unusual role Mr. MacKenzie danced with the Ballets Russes in 1946 was the Sun God in Vania Psota's "Yara," a retelling of Brazilian folklore with Surrealist scenery by the painter Candido Portinari.

After the Ballets Russes, Mr. MacKenzie appeared in summer theaters and in a City Center revival of "Carousel" in 1949. Then, having injured his Achilles' tendon, he worked on a pipeline and in a General Motors factory in Ewing, N.J. He bought property in New Hope during the 1950s and opened a coffeehouse there. Shortly after his wife, Mildred Ferguson, a former Ballet Theater dancer, died in 1981, he was reintroduced to Nina Stroganova, a Danish-born ballerina he had known from the Ballets Russes. They remained companions until her death in 1994. Mr. MacKenzie , died on Sept. 23, 1999 at his home in New Hope, Pa. He was 79.

Source: nytimes.com/

Mr. Hoskins was the choreographer for the Music Circus' 1951 production of "Carmen Jones." He was one of the Dancing Boxers in the original Broadway production of the show in 1943 and a second production in 1946.

Source: broadwayworld.com/

A native of Yugoslavia, Boris started his dancing career as a member of the Royal Opera Ballet, and later joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. He was the dance lead in "Oklahoma" and was Valerie Bettis' parner in "Inside U.S.A." He was a member of the Ballet Theater.

Source: Music Circus 1952 Season Souvenir Program

Rex Cooper was a featured dancer with Ballet Theatre for five years and with the Markova-Dolin Company after being a student of Ted Shawn. He was the principal dancer in the original Broadway productions of "High Button Shoes," and "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." Mr. Cooper also appeared with light opera companies in Dallas, TX, Louisville, KY,, and Kansas City, MO. In 1952 he appeared at the Jacob's Pillow Festival of the Dance and was a soloist with the Metropolitan Opera Company ballet, dancing the leads in "Die Fledermaus," "Aida," "Samson and Delilah," and others.

Mr. Cooper was the choreographer for the World Premier production of "To Hell with Orpheus" at the Music Circus.

Born Arnold Jerry Rosey, Ross studied piano while growing up in Washington, D.C., intending to be a concert pianist. But all that changed by chance. Washington Times Herald columnist Ernie Schier wrote in 1948 that Ross was in a George Washington University opera audience in 1938 when the pianist ''stubbed his toe'' and couldn't go on. "In desperation [the director] asks if there's a pianist in the house. Suddenly a hush falls over the audience as one slim, solitary young man makes his way down the aisle. Amid cheers, he sits down to the piano, the house lights are darkened, the curtain is gently raised, and the performance goes on.

He earned a fine arts degree from GWU, where he studied with Martha Graham protégé Elizabeth Burtner. After serving in London during the war, Ross launched his Broadway career. By 1944, he'd won the New York Drama Critic's Award for the best dance performance of the year, in "Rhapsody."

His summer-stock experiences includes the famous Tamiment Playhouse in Pennsylvania, where he sometimes performed with his sister Marcia.

Read more at: legacy.com/

A former dancer with Ballet Theatre Duncan Noble has danced in "One Touch of Venus" 1943 to 1945, "Something for the Boys" 1943 to 1944, and was a lead dancer in "On The Town," 1944 to 1946, "Annie Get Your Gun" 1946 to 1949, and "Pal Joey" on Broadway. For five years he and Valerie Bettis danced as partners on the concert circuit. He became a leading soloist with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and danced with such leading ballerinas as Danilova, Slavenska, Chauvire, Novak and Krassovaka. On television he was featured with Zorina and Katherine Lee.

Noble, who had a long and successful dance career in this country, Canada, and abroad, was instrumental in the development of the West Virginia Dance Festival and served as its honorary chairman for many years. He was a member of the dance panel of the National Endowment for the Arts and had served as a consultant to the West Virginia Commission on the Arts and other state arts councils, including Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Massachusetts. He also was a founding faculty member of the North Carolina School of the Arts School of Dance. Noble's influence on the dance community in West Virginia is greatly missed. Duncan Noble died on August 5, 2002 at 80 years old in Winston-Salem, NC, following a brief illness.

Source: ballettalk.invisionzone.com/

Kirsten Valbor was soloist with the Ballet Theatre and the Markova-Dolin Ballet Company. On Broadway she was the featured dancer in "Oklahoma!," "One Touch of Venus" 1943-45, "Brigadoon" 1947-48, "Miss Liberty" 1949-50, "Call Me Madam" 1950-52, "One Night In Venice", "Guys and Dolls", and "Finian's Rainbow" 1955.

Source: Music Circus Website Archives

In addition to being a fine actress and dancer, Joan Mann was a noted choreographer. On Broadway she was in "Inside USA," Billion Dollar Baby," "Bloomer Girl," "Small Wonder," and the revival of "Of Thee I Sing." She did the choreography for "Tickets Please!" on Broadway.

Source: Music Circus Website Archives

Born in Carey, Idaho on May 20, 1927, Don, as a young boy, was always thinking about traveling and doing big things with his life and his passions: dance and theater. Don's parents had a love for dancing and would take their children on weekends to church dances where Don, his sister, and brothers all developed their own love of dancing. Although he had been exposed to theater and dance in his small Idaho town, Don knew he would someday have to travel to the big city to pursue his dreams. Don contracted polio while he was young and eventually overcame the paralyzing disease.

Don entered the military in 1943 at the age of 18. While in the Army, he received an honorable discharge due to his deafness and returned to Idaho where he studied dance at the Dori Moon Dance Studio in Boise Idaho. Don proved to be so talented that his instructors told him they couldn't teach him much more so he soon left Idaho for NYC to pursue his dream of becoming a professional dancer. With his talent and good looks, he quickly became well known in the circles of dance, ballet, and theater.

Don performed on Broadway in the original "Bye Bye Birdie" with Chita Rivera and Dick VanDyke. He danced and acted in a number of other shows and productions like Broadway's 1957 "Shinbone Alley" (with Eddie Bracken, Eartha Kitt, and Jacques d'Amboise), further developing his talents into his own dance and teaching techniques which he taught to a large number of students and industry greats in his own NYC dance school and rightfully earned the title of "Ballet Master". Don went on to choreograph and contribute to a number of productions and was well respected and loved in many communities.

Don settled in West Milford, NJ and had traveled throughout Europe, eventually buying a small place in Athens, Greece in his later years where he would vacation. He taught dance in Greece, worked on clients and friends and developed his own style and techniques in the specialties of Shiatsu and Reiki for which he became certified as a "Reiki Master."

Don Farnworth died on Febraury 20, 2006.

Bio information courtesy of Paul Valvo, Sussex, NJ.

Eric Schepard's Broadway credits include "Mexican Hayride" (1944) and "Hazel Flagg" (1953). After a career as a dancer and choreographer, Mr. Schepard went to work as an agent at M.C.A. MCA Inc. (Music Corporation of America) was an American media conglomerate founded in 1924. Originally a talent agency with artists in the music business as clients, the company became a major force in the film industry, and later expanded into television production. He died in 1991 of AIDS.

His Broadway career was limited to three shows ("The Teahouse of the August Moon" 1953, "Auntie Mame" 1956, and "Pacific Overtures" 1976), but each was quite successful, and each led to an important role in a film version.

Shimoda soon had success obtaining small parts in television series (Hawaiian Eye, Johnny Midnight, Peter Gunn, The Islanders, Mr. Ed, Thriller) and films (Career, Seven Women from Hell, The Horizontal Lieutenant, A Majority of One (with Alec Guinness in yellowface as a Japanese industrialist). Through the sixties and early seventies he could be seen in more substantial parts on McHale's Navy (as a Major), The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle, I Spy, It Takes a Thief, Bill Cosby (as a salesman), Ironside (as a ship's captain), Police Story (as an officer), and Sanford and Son, among several other series.

Yuki Shimoda died at 59 of complications from colon cancer.

Source: masterworksbroadway.com/

Hutchison grew up in England, Ark., and moved to New York after winning talent competitions, where he appeared on Broadway in musicals including "Kean," "Happy Hunting," "The Ziegfeld Follies," and "The Pajama Game." He appeared in films such as "Hello, Dolly!" and on Jackie Gleason, Ed Sullivan and Steve Allen's TV shows, as well as serving as choreographer for The Jimmy Dean Show. He appeared in Jim Henson's 1965 short film Time Piece as half of the nightclub dance team.

After moving to Honolulu, he appeared frequently on "Hawaii Five-O," "Magnum, P.I." and "Jake and the Fatman," and in miniseries "Blood & Orchids." Hutchison headed the Honolulu City Ballet prior to its becoming Ballet Hawaii, where he served on the organization's board of directors and taught tap dancing. He spent many years as artistic director for Honolulu Community Theater, directed and choreographed for organizations including the Honolulu Symphony. He also served as the Hawaii director for the Screen Actors Guild, representing the state at mainland meetings and national events. He died April 16 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was 75.

Source: variety.com/

A former student of Agnes De Mille's, Arthur Partington had his first dancing job at the age of 16 in "Bloomer Girl." He has since been the leading dancer in an impressive array of Broadway musicals including "High Button Shoes," "Arms and the Girl," "Call Me Madam," "Can Can," and "The Most Happy Fella" for which he was also assistant choreographer. Television audiences have seen him on The Toast of the Town, The Perry Como Show, and the U. S. Royal Showcase.

See footnote1 about the Music Circus theater circuit.

Frank Westbrook began his career dancing in such Broadway hits as "On The Town," "Allegro," and "One Touch of Venus." For three years, he was choreographer for the concert ballet group, Theatre Dance, Inc. He has consistently won reviewers' praise for his work on television spectaculars including The Paul Whiteman Revue, The Buick Music Circus, The Martha Wright Show, and Voice of Firestone.

See footnote1 about the Music Circus theater circuit.

Ray Harrison was born in St. Louis, MO around 1917 and Died July 27, 1981 in Boston, MA. His Broadway credits include:
"The Student Gypsy" (Sep 30, 1963 - Oct 12, 1963 Musical Staging)
"From A to Z" (Apr 20, 1960 - May 07, 1960 Choreographer)
"Portofino" (Feb 21, 1958 - Feb 22, 1958 Choreographer)
"My Darlin' Aida" (Oct 27, 1952 - Jan 10, 1953 Assistant Choreographer)
"Out of This World" (Dec 21, 1950 - May 05, 1951 Assistant Choreographer)
"Kiss Me, Kate" (Dec 30, 1948 - Jul 28, 1951 Asst. to the Choreographer)
"Make Mine Manhattan" (Jan 15, 1948 - Jan 08, 1949 Performer)
"Allegro" (Oct 10, 1947 - Jul 10, 1948 Performer)
and a dozen or so before those back to 1939.

Source: ibdb.com/
See footnote1 about the Music Circus theater circuit.

In the 1950s, Mr. Young choreographed the ice ballet in "Song of Norway" at the Jones Beach Marine Theatre, was been featured with Sonja Henie on TV, and performed as a dancer and skater at the Roxy Theatre in NYC.

Mr. Pagent's career began at the Chicago Opera Ballet and continued with both the De Basil and Massine Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo companies. He was featured dancer in the original productions of such Agnes De Mille shows as "Carousel," "Oklahoma," "One Touch of Venus" and with the Jerome Robbins productions of "Call Me Madam" and "Two's Company. "A pioneer in early television, he choreographed such series as The Bell Telephone Hour and Voice of Firestone Hour and Miss America Pageants. He died on September 4, 2001 of a stroke.

Edward Earle, resident choreographer of the Music Circus from 1960 to 1964, will be remembered for his starring roles 1962's productions of "Bye Bye Birdie" and "West Side Story," and he was also in "Wish You Were Here" and many other Music Circus productions..

His professional credits include "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" on Broadway and many off-Broadway, television and movie performances for over 30 years—the first at the tender age of three in "Babes in Toyland." Off-Broadway, Mr Earle composed and choreographed "The Decameron".

In the Lambertville area, he choreographed productions at Rider College, and directed at the McCarter Theater in Princeton. He also produced and staged the Spring Swing Spectacular for the Trenton Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1963. Mr. Earle founded the Trenton Studio of Performing Arts—School of Drama and Dance, in which he also teaches.

During his years at the Music Circus, he not only choreographed most of the shows, but also brought his talents to playing supporting and leading roles in such productions as "Brigadoon" and "Irma La Douce" in 1963, and "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off" in 1964. He went on to understudy Anthony Newley on Broadway in "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off."

As a performer, Mr. Knight has danced in "The Littlest Circus," "Ballet Carnival," Nellie Fisher Dance Company," and New York's Judson Hall Dance Series. As a choreographer, he spent two seasons at the Rochester Music Theater in New Hampshire and choreographed a number of night club acts in New York City. He was a graduate of Wayne State University and is married to Harriet All of the 1965 Music Circus dance ensemble.

From the 1960s into the 1990s, Mr. Knight choreographed and/or directed productions of "The King and I," "Candide" "Evita," "Greater Tuna," and "The Boy Friend" in regional theaters about the country.

In 1991 he produced and directed a TV film version of "The Phantom of the Opera."

Hoskins dance journey began as a child in St. Louis where he studied tap dancing and emulated his silver screen dance icons. According to Hoskins, he was so entranced with movie musicals that he would walk the two miles between his local movie theater and his house practicing the dance moves he just saw up on the screen. He watched "Singin' in the Rain" a reportedly 32 times and took a job at the movie theater so he didn't have to keep paying admission.

He took that unbridled passion and dedication to dance to Drury University in Springfield, MO. Hoskins majored in art while continuing his dance studies in ballet, tap and jazz. He used his growing dance prowess to become a ballroom dance instructor back in St. Louis. There he partnered with popular local dancer Reina, Queen of the Mambo, and developed a Latin dance act that toured in hotels and nightclubs throughout the city.

The tour with Reina led to an audition as a member of screen legend Mae West's "Muscle Man" revue. After performing with West as a swing dancer in production in California. Once the production closed, Hoskins hitchhiked back home to Missouri and soon joined the Army. He had attended college, joined Mae West, traveled through the western United States and joined the army all by the age of 19. He had only just begun.

While an enlisted man, Hoskins' dancing talents were employed to good use by the military. He was a member in the "Fifth Army Soldier Show" that was filmed in Chicago and broadcast to encourage recruitment into the armed forces. The show and his talent caught the attention of military and entertinament talent scouts, which led to performing for President Dwight D. Eisenhower and on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Source: yourobserver.com/