Mikhail Fokine

[Mel Johnson]

Here's a not-half-bad biography of Mikhail Fokine and family taken from the Yonkers Historical Society:

http://www.yonkershistory.org/fokine.html

There's even a picture of Vitale Mikhailovitch teaching his daughter Isabelle. Mr. Fokine looks at his paternal best.

[vrsfanatic]

Thanks Major Johnson, most interesting.

[Paul Parish]

It's good to see how yonkers folk stand by their own....

[Watermill]

The New York area responded positively to Fokine performances. In 1927 and again in 1934 Michel and Vera appeared in three performances in Lewisohn Stadium before a combined audience of 48,000

Wow! I always need to be reminded of Folkine's celebrity....here in the US...

As a memorial to Michel Fokine, one of his eighty–one ballets, Les Sylphides, was performed simultaneously by seventeen ballet companies around the world.

...and around the world.

PS: Any BalletTalkers attend any of those Lewisohn Stadium performances?

Anyone ever been to Lewisohn Stadium? (Torn down in early 70s), I heard it was the closest thing NYC had to The Roman Coliseum.

Watermill

[Marga]

Anyone ever been to Lewisohn Stadium? (Torn down in early 70s), I heard it was the closest thing NYC had to The Roman Coliseum.

Yes, I've been to the Lewisohn Stadium. My parents took me there often. I remember listening rapturously to Guiomar Novaes and Van Cliburn and so many others while the summer breezes wafted overheard as if driven by the musical cadences.

People who lived in the nearby apartment buildings used to sit on their rooftops and fire escapes enjoying the free entertainment.

It was a magical place to a young child.