Mel A.Tomlinson Joins Dance Legend's Ruth Page Tribute at St Luke's Theater, 3/23
Dance Theatre of Harlem and Alvin Ailey dance star Mel A.Tomlinson joins Dancers Over 40 tribute of Chicago Ballet superstar Ruth Page in the tribute, 'A World Apart' at St. Luke's Theatre, 308 West 46th St., NYC at 7PM. A dance innovator who refused to be pigeon-holed into just one type of dance, Ruth was the first American to dance with Diaghilev'€s Ballets Russes in 1925, first American to dance with Anna Pavlova's company, first to commission George Balanchine to choreograph and the first to present Rudolf Nurevev in America. Prokofiev, Gershwin and Ravel played for her, Isamu Noguchi designed her costumes and she commissioned Aaron Coplandâ€s first ballet score. She dedicated her life to making dance and ballet accessible to everyone. Ruth's work on Broadway includes her professional stage debut in Jerome Kern and Victor Herbertâ€s Miss 1917, a leading role in Irving Berlin's Music Box Revue 1923-24 edition, and choreographing 1947's Music in My Heart. A double-bill of her famous opera ballets Revenge and The Merry Widow had a six-day a sell-out run at the Broadway Theater in 1955.