After West Side Story Robbins left New York City Ballet for a time and formed his own company, Ballets: USA, to appear at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy. Jerome Robbins, born Jerome Rabinowitz, was the son of working class Russian-Jewish immigrants. In 1940 he moved over to ballet. Robbins was first known for his skillful use of contemporary American themes in ballets and Broadway and Hollywood His testimony was denounced by many (including some of his family) for whom McCarthyism was only steps from Nazism, but Robbins refused to justify or explain himself beyond his public statement that he had “made a great mistake… in entering the Communist Party.” His decision haunted him, however, and ultimately he placed it at the center of an autobiographical drama, The Poppa Piece, which he experimented with in workshops during the early 1990’s. With the help of a 1966 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, he established the American Theatre Lab to explore experimental music-theater techniques, from dance to Noh drama, with a small handpicked company in a workshop setting for a period of two years. As Balanchine once said to him, speaking of the legendary Russian ballet master Marius Petipa: “Very few people can do. Robbins had already been made Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, and had won 5 Donaldson Awards, 5 Tony Awards, 2 Academy Awards, 1 Emmy Award, the Kennedy Center Honors, and numerous other prizes; on the evening of his death, the lights of Broadway were dimmed for a moment in tribute. On Broadway he quickly established himself as the choreographer of the moment at a time when musical comedies were evolving out of the stylish but contentless song-and-dance anthologies that had showcased the talents of the Gershwins and Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart. AMERICA-ISRAEL CULTURAL FOUNDATION’S KING SOLOMON Award for Artistic Achievement; 1984 In 1948 Robbins joined the newly founded New York City Ballet (NYCB) as both dancer and choreographer, and the following year he became its associate artistic director under George Balanchine. Robbins was born Jerome Rabinowitz in New York on October 11, 1918, to Russian Jewish parents who came to America to flee the pogroms. In the summer of 1940 he was accepted into the recently-formed Ballet Theatre, where he soon advanced from the corps de ballet to solo roles which showed off the taut fluidity with which he compensated for his lack of heroic classical technique: the Young Man in Agnes De Mille’s Three Virgins and a Devil, an apple-munching Hermes in Helen of Troy, and — the role which made him famous — the tragic puppet in Petroushka. This Day in Jewish History / Choreographer Jerome Robbins Is Born . In 1962 he directed the American premiere of Arthur Kopit’s mordant mother-son comedy, Oh, Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You In the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad and in 1963 a production of Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children starring Anne Bancroft. Robbins received the 1958 Tony Award for best choreography for the Broadway version and Academy Awards for his choreography and codirection (with Robert Wise) of the highly successful 1961 film version. “Why can’t we do ballets about our own subjects, meaning our life here in America?” he asked before making Fancy Free. He is 102 years old and is a Libra. His last work, Brandenburg, premiered there in 1997. So the Roaring Twenties musical, Billion Dollar Baby (1946 — with book and lyrics by Comden and Green and music by Morton Gould), revolved around a gold-digging bathing beauty who serially married for money; 1947’s High Button Shoes (his first collaboration with composer Jule Styne) was a nostalgic romp set in New Jersey in 1913 and featuring a Keystone Kops ballet. He enrolled as a student at New York University, but because of his failing grades and the lasting effects of the Depression, his parents insisted he drop out and work … In 1965 Robbins resumed creating ballets with his acclaimed Les Noces. INTERNATIONAL DANCE, FILM & VIDEOTAPE FESTIVAL & CONFERENCE Dedicated to Jerome Robbins Sponsored by the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and the International Dance Council, Inc./UNESCO; 1982. He first learnt dancing from his sister Sonya and later studied modern dance at the Dance Center with Senia Glück-Sandor and Felicia Sorel, while also studying ballet with Ella Daganova and Spanish and Asian dance. Increasingly his work seemed to move in a more and more abstract direction, away from the character-driven dances of his youth — a process reflected in the changes he made in his last collaboration with Bernstein. Robbins was born Jerome Rabinowitz in 1918 and grew up in New Jersey. Robbins was born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz, exactly two months before the end of World War I, in the Jewish Maternity Hospital in the heart of Manhattan’s Lower East Side – a neighborhood populated by many immigrants. Astrological portrait of Jerome Robbins (excerpt) In 1940 he joined Ballet Theater (now American Ballet Theatre), where he soon began dancing such important roles as Petrouchka. Rabinowitz was at first a shopkeeper with a delicatessen on the Upper East Side of Manhattan; in the 1920’s he moved the family to Jersey City and then to Weehawken, New Jersey, where he and a brother-in-law established the Comfort Corset Company. In addition he collaborated with Balanchine, with whom he now shared the title of Ballet Master, on dances for Firebird (1970) and Pulcinella (1972) — a demonstration of the collegiality and mutual respect that had always marked their relationship. For the Broadway stage, Robbins choreographed a string of musicals, including Billion Dollar Baby (1946), High Button Shoes (1947), and Look Ma, I’m Dancin’ (1948). It was not just the jazz inflections or familiar, everyday gestures incorporated into the choreography that made the piece special. But the fledgling dancer — who like other members of his family took the surname of Robbins for work in the theater — also studied ballet with Ella Daganova and in 1937 appeared in the Yiddish Art Theatre production of The Brothers Ashkenazi, directed by and starring Maurice Schwartz, for which Sandor did the choreography. Intending to study either chemistry or journalism, he matriculated at New York University in the autumn of 1935; but the Depression took a turn for the worse in 1936 and his family could no longer support his education — especially considering that he was, by his own account, failing two courses (math and French) out of five. Broadway was moving in the direction of rock spectacles like Hair and Jesus Christ, Superstar, and Robbins didn’t want to move with it. In 1956, Robbins joined the American Ballet T… A self-proclaimed homosexual, he had romances or relationships with both men and women, some famous—like Montgomery Clift and Natalie Wood—some less so. Born on October 11, 1918 in New York, New York, Jerome Robbins went on to become a dancer and celebrated choreographer, earning raves for his ballet debut piece “Fancy Free.” He won an Academy Award for his direction nonetheless — sharing the Oscar with co-director Robert Wise — as well as one for choreography. Jerome Robbins was born to Harry and Lena Rabinowitz on Oct. 11, 1918, in New York City. Generation generation). He had been burning to choreograph a ballet himself for the company, preferably one with an American theme, to American music; but all his ideas were too grandiose for the perennially strapped company to consider. He had one sibling. Robbins shows — and as he began to direct as well as create ideas and dances for them, they truly were Robbins shows — had, or aimed to have, a story, characters, a point. These innovative works display his gift for capturing the essence of a particular era through his mastery of vernacular dance styles and his understanding of gesture. Biography . In 1957 he teamed up once again with Leonard Bernstein on a musical he had been discussing with him and playwright Arthur Laurents for some years: West Side Story, a retelling of Romeo and Juliet set against a background of gang warfare in New York’s Puerto Rican ghetto. He also created the dance sequences for the musicals Call Me Madam (1950), Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I (1951), and The Pajama Game (1954); and he adapted, choreographed, and directed a musical version of Peter Pan (1954) that was subsequently adapted for television in 1955 and for which Robbins won an Emmy Award. Premiered as Dybbuk (1974) and based on the S. Anski play, it was first revised as The Dybbuk Variations (1974) and then as A Suite of Dances (1980), a ballet-in-progress which Robbins kept trying to reduce to its essence. Young Jerome, who showed an early aptitude for music, dancing, and theatri… Jerome Robbins is credited as Director, Producer, Performer, Choreographer, Conception, Writer, Source Material and Other. To write the score he sought out the services of a young unknown composer named Leonard Bernstein, and Ballet Theatre’s Oliver Smith agreed to design the scenery. By then he was in fragile health, following a bicycle accident in 1990 and heart-valve surgery in 1994; in 1996 he began showing signs of a form of Parkinson’s disease and his hearing was poor; yet he insisted on staging Les Noces for City Ballet (1998). Robbins won the Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award for best choreographer in 1948 for High Button Shoes. He danced numerous quasi-dramatic roles for Balanchine — including Prodigal Son, Tyl Eulenspiegel and as a principal opposite the glamorous Tanaquil Le Clercq in Bourrée Fantasque — before retiring from performance in the mid 1950’s; but it was as a choreographer that he made his mark. #100daysofRobbins #day13” • Fancy Free was Robbins' first ballet, created for Ballet Theatre in 1944 when he was just 25. Look, Ma was succeeded by one of Robbins’s rare flops, a show called That’s the Ticket (1948), which Robbins directed but did not choreograph. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Jerome Robbins was born October 11, 1918, in New York City. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Synopsis. Petipa, you, me — we can do.”. Young Jerome, who showed an early aptitude for music, dancing, and theatrics, attended schools in Weehawken and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1935. Encouraged to “think small” he came up with the idea for a ballet about three sailors on shore leave in New York City. Updates? West Side Story was immediately recognized as a major achievement in the history of the American musical theatre, with its innovative setting, electric pacing, and tense, volatile dance sequences. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. (Stephen Sondheim, thirteen years younger, joined the team as lyricist years later.) Jerome Robbins (1918–1998) was born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz on October 11, 1918, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the son of Polish-Russian immigrants. The first time he created the choreography for a ballet was in 1944 for the show Fancy Free, which was later made into the musical On the Town. He staged the all-American Ford 50th Anniversary Show (1953) for television with Ethel Merman and Mary Martin; co-directed The Pajama Game (1954) on Broadway; conceived, directed, and choreographed Peter Pan (1954) starring Mary Martin; directed Aaron Copland’s opera The Tender Land (1954); directed and co-choreographed Bells Are Ringing (1956) starring Judy Holliday; and choreographed the film version of The King and I (1956). Wendy Lesser, founder and editor of The Threepenny … During this time he also began creating dances for Tamiment’s Revues, both comic and dramatic genre. In the more than sixty years in which he had been active in the theater, he had transformed it because he never stopped asking questions. Robbins continued to write ballets for NYCB, including Dances at a Gathering (1969); The Goldberg Variations (1971); Requiem Canticles (1972); In G Major (1975); Glass Pieces, performed to the music of Phillip Glass (1983); In Memory of... (1985); Ives, Songs (1988); and West Side Story Suite (1995). And, speaking of the collaboration that made West Side Story, “Why couldn’t we, in aspiration, try to bring our deepest talents together to the commercial theater?” His own work answered both questions in the affirmative. His work from this period consisted mainly of burlesque-like blackout sketches on the one hand and dramatic works with strong social content, like Death of a Loyalist or Strange Fruit, (set to Abel Meeropol’s song about a lynching) on the other. Rabinowitz was at first a shopkeeper with a delicatessen on the Upper East Side of Manhattan; in the 1920s he moved the family to Jersey City and then to Weehawken, New Jersey, where he and a brother-in-law established the Comfort Corset Company. In accordance with Robbins’ earlier wishes, in 2003 the foundation awarded the first Jerome Robbins Prizes in recognition of excellence in dance. (The original musical was successfully revived on Broadway in 1980.) His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants who had many show business connections, including vaudeville performers and theater owners. He dropped out of college when he realized his limited potential as a student and found work training as a ballet dancer at the Sandor Dance School. The son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Rabinowitz studied chemistry for one year at New York University before embarking on a career as a dancer in 1936. In the meantime Robbins had also directed the ultimate backstage musical, Gypsy (1959) with Ethel Merman, and now he began to branch out into non-musical theater. The ballet—in which Robbins danced "the rumba" sailor—was set to a commissioned score by the relatively unknown Leonard Bernstein and was an instant masterpiece. Robbins continued to work on Broadway, as the choreographer of two Irving Berlin shows, Miss Liberty (1949) and Call Me Madam (1950), Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I (1951), and Two’s Company (1952), a revue starring Bette Davis. Two Broadway hits followed — both shows he had originally agreed to direct, then withdrew from, and finally returned to when each seemed in danger of shipwreck during out-of-town tryouts. For the next phase of his career Robbins was to divide his time between musicals and ballet. Seemingly re-charged from this work, he re-emerged at City Ballet with Dances at a Gathering (1969), a poignant and playful celebration of youth and love which was widely hailed as a masterpiece. Jerome Robbins was a famous American choreographer, who was born on October 11, 1918.As a person born on this date, Jerome Robbins is listed in our database as the 76th most popular celebrity for the day (October 11) and the 53rd most popular for the year (1918). On April 18, 1944, Fancy Free premiered at the Metropolitan Opera House to a raucous two dozen curtain calls; and in December of that year On the Town, a musical comedy based on the ballet, with music by Bernstein, dances by Robbins, sets by Smith (who also produced), and book and lyrics by a pair of Bernstein’s cabaret buddies named Betty Comden and Adolph Green, had a fairy-tale opening on Broadway. For the next three years he worked on an experimental theatre project, the American Theatre Laboratory, but in 1969 he returned to NYCB. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. He studied a wide array of dance traditions, appeared with the Gluck Sandor–Felicia Sorel Dance Center, and danced in the chorus of several Broadway musicals. American theater producer, director, and choreographer – Jerome Robbins was born in New York City (largest city in the United States) on October 11th, 1918 and died in New York City (largest city in the United States) on July 29th, 1998 at the age of 79. He later took lessons in modern, Spanish, and Oriental dance. JEROME ROBBINS (born 11 October 1918 in New York City) was the younger of two children of Harry Rabinowitz, who emigrated to America from Poland in 1904, and his wife Lena Rips. Born on October 11, 1918 in New York, New York, Jerome Robbins went on to become a dancer and celebrated choreographer, earning raves for his ballet debut piece “Fancy Free.” He eventually served as director and/or choreographer on a number of musicals destined to become classics, including. Childhood & Early Life Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz was born on October 11, 1918, in New York City, USA, to Harry Rabinowitz and his wife Lena Rips. 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