Ballet Master

Karel Shook, an internationally known ballet master and co-founder of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, has died at his Englewood, N.J., home after a long illness. He was 64. In the 1950s Shook was one of the few teachers who trained and encouraged blacks in ballet. Among his students were Arthur Mitchell, Alvin Ailey and Geoffrey Holder. Shook was born in Renton, Wash., and began his career as a child actor in the Seattle Repertory Theatre.

On a brisk January afternoon, there's an air of high spirits as dozens of American Ballet Theatre's dancers and staff gather in the largest studio of the company's Lower Manhattan headquarters. For two hours, as they run through ABT's newest full-length ballet, "The Bright Stream," bravura mixes with hilarity, as virtuoso turns alternate with comic vignettes. Numerous characters not usually found on the ABT stage — a tractor driver, a milkmaid and the denizens of a 1930s Soviet agricultural collective — express themselves with individuality and distinctive styles.

Raymond Van Mason, formerly a principal dancer with Ballet West in Salt Lake City, Utah, has been appointed Ballet Pacifica's first ballet master. A dancer with Ballet West for 17 years, Van Mason also choreographed for that company, Rocky Mountain ballet, Utah Opera and Ballet Pacifica in its 1998 summer choreographers project. His duties for the Irvine-based troupe will include training and coaching dancers, as well as assisting in community outreach activities.

When Frederick Ashton's "Cinderella" premiered at Covent Garden in December 1948, London resembled a lovely woman with ash on her face. It was a grim time. Remnants of the war lingered in the city: rubble from the blitzkrieg, treasury coffers riddled with debt, homelessness, food rationing. A splendid fairy-tale ballet -- the first by a British choreographer -- promised an escape. In its January 1949 review of "Cinderella," Time magazine noted that the English audience was "eager to be enchanted."

As the pianist worked the keys of the black piano, the ballet mistress stood with her back to her young pupils, scrutinizing their images in the mirror as they tried to duplicate her fluid movements. And so it went through nearly two hours of pirouettes, stretches and bends for 23 dance students from Hamilton High School Academy of Music and Los Angeles High School for the Arts. Make no mistake; Wednesday's session was no ordinary practice.

Claire Motte, former prima danseur at the Paris Opera and most recently its ballet master, died Wednesday in Paris after a long illness, the opera announced. She was 48 and the cause of her death was not reported. Miss Motte, trained by Carlotta Zambelli and Serge Lifar, spent her entire career with the Paris Opera. She was known as a masterful technician in her interpretations of the leading roles in 60 ballets.

Ivan F. Novikoff, 102, a Russian immigrant ballet master whose students included Robert Joffrey, died March 20 in Seattle of pneumonia. Born in Kazan, Russia, Novikoff studied at the Imperial Ballet School along with Vaslav Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova. He fled from Russia after the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, taught dance to the children of Russian soldiers in Harbin, China, and emigrated to the United States in 1923.

John Hart, former ballet master, assistant director of London's Royal Ballet and a San Diego resident for 15 years, has been named artistic director for Ballet West in Salt Lake City. Hart was San Diego Ballet's last artistic director before the company ceased operations in 1980. Hart opened the Utah company's 1985-86 season Wednesday with the production of three ballets by Sir Frederick Ashton, according to a ballet company spokesman, and will be moving to Utah soon.

Serge Lifar, the Diaghilev protege who was the unchallenged premier danseur at the Paris Opera during what is considered by many to be its most creative period, has died in Switzerland, it was reported Tuesday. His death was announced in Paris and confirmed by a spokeswoman for the luxurious Beau Rivage Hotel in lakeside Lausanne, where Lifar had moved with his wife several months ago. He was 81 and reportedly had been suffering from cancer.

The Bolshoi Ballet has rested on its laurels for too long and allowed its standards to drop, a Soviet weekly magazine has charged. The latest issue of Ogonyok blamed chief ballet master Yuri Grigorovich for what it called the company's dull and unimaginative repertory. Grigorovich's insistence that the company concentrate only on his own productions has limited its scope and resulted in a virtual absence of new ideas in choreography, the magazine said.

Basil Thompson, 67, a former ballet soloist and ballet master for the Joffrey and Milwaukee ballet companies, died Tuesday in Lynchburg, Va., of cardiac arrest. He was on sabbatical from the University of Iowa, where he had taught since 2000. Trained by the Sadlers Wells Ballet School in London, Thompson began his performance career with the Covent Garden Opera Ballet. In 1955, he moved to the Sadlers Wells Ballet Company, now London's Royal Ballet. Returning to the U.S.

John Taras, 84, internationally praised choreographer and ballet master for the New York City Ballet and others, died Friday at his New York City home of unspecified causes. Born in New York into a family of Ukrainian descent, he began studying Ukrainian folk dance at age 9 and ballet at 16. Professionally, he danced for the Philadelphia Ballet and at the 1939 New York World's Fair with dancers associated with George Balanchine, who would become his choreography mentor.

Ivan F. Novikoff, 102, a Russian immigrant ballet master whose students included Robert Joffrey, died March 20 in Seattle of pneumonia. Born in Kazan, Russia, Novikoff studied at the Imperial Ballet School along with Vaslav Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova. He fled from Russia after the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, taught dance to the children of Russian soldiers in Harbin, China, and emigrated to the United States in 1923.

Ballet Pacifica has laid off Raymond van Mason, the company's first ballet master, appointed only a year ago, because of "financial constraints," artistic director Molly Lynch said Tuesday. "You set a budget for the year and have to adapt due to changes in income and expenses. You're continuously monitoring your budget and keeping things in balance. I needed to make some adjustments," Lynch said.

Evan Zimroth's story goes like this: When she is 12, Zimroth, an ambitious ballet student, falls under the sway of an older Russian ballet teacher--identified (rather annoyingly) only as F. He is seductive, controlling, a bully.

Raymond Van Mason, formerly a principal dancer with Ballet West in Salt Lake City, Utah, has been appointed Ballet Pacifica's first ballet master. A dancer with Ballet West for 17 years, Van Mason also choreographed for that company, Rocky Mountain ballet, Utah Opera and Ballet Pacifica in its 1998 summer choreographers project. His duties for the Irvine-based troupe will include training and coaching dancers, as well as assisting in community outreach activities.

Ruth Page, a Midwestern ballerina and choreographer who designed more than 100 ballets, has died in her Chicago home. She was 92. Miss Page, an innovative and versatile choreographer credited with arranging Soviet dancer Rudolf Nureyev's New York debut, died of respiratory failure. A native of Indianapolis, she performed in and created chiefly opera ballets throughout the world, but made Chicago her base.

On a brisk January afternoon, there's an air of high spirits as dozens of American Ballet Theatre's dancers and staff gather in the largest studio of the company's Lower Manhattan headquarters. For two hours, as they run through ABT's newest full-length ballet, "The Bright Stream," bravura mixes with hilarity, as virtuoso turns alternate with comic vignettes. Numerous characters not usually found on the ABT stage — a tractor driver, a milkmaid and the denizens of a 1930s Soviet agricultural collective — express themselves with individuality and distinctive styles.

If it's true that an arts compound isn't truly broken in until it hosts the perennial "Nutcracker," this weekend will be a landmark one in the life of the Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks. Doing the honors will be the California Dance Theater along with the Conejo Symphony Orchestra. Whatever you might think about Tchaikovsky's lavish ballet, it's one of the more benign of seasonal phenomena.

As the pianist worked the keys of the black piano, the ballet mistress stood with her back to her young pupils, scrutinizing their images in the mirror as they tried to duplicate her fluid movements. And so it went through nearly two hours of pirouettes, stretches and bends for 23 dance students from Hamilton High School Academy of Music and Los Angeles High School for the Arts. Make no mistake; Wednesday's session was no ordinary practice.