Film Society Of Lincoln Center Presents A MAN OF DANCE/VINCENT WARREN

From dancing under the baton of Igor Stravinsky, having a passionate love affair with celebrated poet Frank O'Hara, and appearing as lead dancer in the masterpiece Pas de deux by the great filmmaker Norman McLaren, Vincent Warren touched hands with history. His is a tale worth telling, the story of a man and the road he travelled, recounted in a documentary that by extension celebrates important and compelling moments of our recent history.

A Man of Dance (Un Homme de Danse), a celebration of the life of Vincent Warren (1938-2017), makes its New York premiere at the 46th edition of the Dance on Camera Festival (July 20-24), a wide-ranging selection of dance films over a five-day period presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Dance Films Association. Written and directed by Marie Brodeur, and presented in English and French with subtitles, A Man of Dance will be shown Sunday July 22 at 8:30 PM, followed by a Q&A with director Brodeur and preceded by the premiere of Scalamare, a 10 minute film with choreography by Jiri Kylian.

The film features Vincent Warren and also affords viewers the opportunity to see well-known dancers in excerpts from Anton Dolin's production of Giselle; Fernand Nault's Nutcracker, Tommy and Carmina Burana; Per-Q-Delic and Vers l'azur des lyres by Jeanne Renaud; Diabelli Variations and Tam Ti Delam by Brian MacDonald; Pas de deux and Jeux d'Arlequin by Ludmilla Chirriaeff; Lichine's Graduation Ball, and more. Featured artists are Peter Boneham, Veronique Landory, Aileen Passloff, Jeanne Renaud, Linde Howe-Beck, Annette av Paul, Brian MacDonald, Paul-Andre Fortier, Gaetan Patenaude, Arnab Bandyopadhyay, Mamata Niyogi-Nakra, Jean-Sebastien Couture, Marie-Josee Lecours, Anik Bissonnette, and Chris Huizinga.

A native of Florida, Vincent Warren became a celebrated figure in the dance world of Canada. After a distinguished career as a principal dancer with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Warren became widely known and respected as a teacher, historian and archivist. In 1948, at age ten, the young Vincent saw the movie The Red Shoes (1948) and discovered his future profession. His professional career began as a member of the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in New York from 1957 to 1959, during which time he continued his training with Igor Schwezoff, Anatol Oboukoff, Valentina Pereyaslavec, and Antony Tudor, as well as taking classes with James Waring,Merce Cunningham and Nureyev. After stints with the Santa Fe Opera Ballet and the Pennsylvania Ballet, he joined Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in Montreal, where, except for guesting with Ballet Nacional de Guatemala, seasons with the Theatre Francais de la Danse in Paris, and the Cologne Opera Ballet, he remained until his retirement from the stage in 1979. His versatility was apparent in roles that ranged from Albrecht in Giselle and Siegfried in Swan Lake, to leads in several Balanchine ballets, to the hugely successful Tommy, set to the rock opera by The Who.

Following his retirement, Warren distinguished himself as a teacher, lecturer, librarian and archivist. In recognition of his accomplishments, he received a Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977, the Dance in Canada Service Award in 1984, and the Prix Denise-Pelletier in 1992. In 2004, the artist was named a member of the order of Canada, having become a Canadian citizen in 1973, and in 2012 was among the recipients of the Queens Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
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Sunday, July 22 at 8:30 PM Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street Tickets: $15; $12 for students, seniors and persons with disabilities For information: www.dancefilms.org