English-born dancer and dance educator
This article is about the British-born dancer. For the British poet, see
Muriel Stuart .
Muriel Stuart
Muriel Stuart, in costume and wig, from a 1921 publication.
Born Muriel Mary Stuart Popper
December 13, 1900Died January 29, 1991 (aged 90) Occupation(s) Dancer, dance educator Spouses
Julian Brodetsky
(
m. 1926, divorced)
James Warwick
(divorced)
Children 1
Muriel Stuart (born Muriel Mary Stuart Popper ; December 13, 1900 – January 29, 1991) was an English-born dancer and dance educator, based in the United States. She trained with
Anna Pavlova , and taught at the
School of American Ballet .
Early life and education
Muriel Mary Stuart Popper was born in 1900,
[1] in
South Norwood , London.
[2]
[3] She was discovered by Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova as a girl, and trained with Pavlova,
[4] and with
Ivan Clustine and
Enrico Cecchetti . Later she studied modern dance with
Martha Graham ,
Harald Kreutzberg , and
Agnes de Mille .
[5] "Every new phase of the art is interesting to me," she explained to a newspaper interviewer in 1931.
[6]
Career
Stuart was a featured dancer with Pavlova's company
[7]
[8] on world tours from 1916 to 1926.
[9]
[10] She moved to Los Angeles in 1927, and opened a ballet school in Hollywood.
[11]
[12]
[13] One of her Los Angeles students, Joan Bayley, recalled that "Muriel Stewart was so inspiring! She had this long neck and gorgeous epaulement."
[14]
Stuart danced and did choreography with the
Chicago Civic Opera Ballet in the 1928-1929 season. She taught for many years at the School of American Ballet in New York, beginning in 1935.
[5]
[15] Among the noted dancers who studied with Stuart were
Myra Kinch ,
Todd Bolender ,
Laura Dean ,
[16]
Michael Kidd ,
[17]
Jacques d'Amboise ,
[18] and
Alicia Alonso .
[19]
Stuart co-wrote a textbook with
Lincoln Kirstein , The Classic Ballet: Basic Technique and Terminology (1952), with an introduction by
George Balanchine .
[20]
[21] In 1987, she was the first winner of the
Mae L. Wien Faculty Award for Distinguished Service at the School of American Ballet.
[22]
Personal life
Stuart married and divorced twice. Her first husband was a violinist, Julian Brodetsky.
[23] Her second husband was a playwright, James Warwick.
[24] She had a son, Peter Warwick. She died in 1991, in New York City, aged 90 years.
[5] Her papers, including lesson plans and photographs, are in the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the
New York Public Library .
[25] The New York Public Library also has an oral history interview with Stuart, given in 1978.
[26]
References
^
Who's who in music and dance in Southern California . University of California Libraries. Hollywood : Bureau of Musical Research. 1933. p. 255 – via Internet Archive. {{
cite book }}
: CS1 maint: others (
link )
^
"Girl Gets Letter from England" . St. Louis Globe-Democrat . 1915-10-13. p. 7. Retrieved 2020-04-21 – via Newspapers.com.
^
"Muriel Mary Stuart Popper, naturalization petition (1930)" . Fold3 . Retrieved 2020-04-21 .
^ Kinney, Margaret West (1924).
The Dance; Its Place in Art and Life . Frederick A. Stokes Company. p. 304.
^
a
b
c Dunning, Jennifer (1991-01-30).
"Muriel Stuart, 90, Dancer for Pavlova And Ballet Teacher" . The New York Times .
ISSN
0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-04-21 .
^ Mayer, Mary (1931-11-29).
"Pavlowa Disciple Clings to Classic Ballet Ideal" . The Los Angeles Times . p. 34. Retrieved 2020-04-21 – via Newspapers.com.
^
"Distinguished Dancers to Assist Pavlowa" . Pacific Coast Musical Review . 41 : 4. January 7, 1922.
^
"Pavlowa's Ballet Russe" . Pacific Coast Musical Review . 41 : 5. December 17, 1921.
^
"Muriel Stuart's biography" . Dance Class Music, Jay Distributors . Retrieved 2020-04-21 .
^
"Colorful Dances Brighten the Stage" . Theatre Magazine : 25. July 1921.
^
"American Girls Praised" . The Los Angeles Times . 1930-02-16. p. 30. Retrieved 2020-04-21 – via Newspapers.com.
^
"Exponent of Russian Dancing Arrives" . The Los Angeles Times . 1929-11-03. p. 38. Retrieved 2020-04-21 – via Newspapers.com.
^
"Dancer Commands Large Following" . The Los Angeles Times . 1931-03-01. p. 36. Retrieved 2020-04-21 – via Newspapers.com.
^
"Early life and training" . Joan Bayley . Retrieved 2020-04-21 .
^ Fisher, Barbara (2013-09-01).
In Balanchine's Company: A Dancer's Memoir . Wesleyan University Press. p. 11.
ISBN
978-0-8195-7447-3 .
^
"Laura Dean Biography" . Laura Dean - Dancer, Choreographer, Composer . Retrieved 2020-04-21 .
^
"Remembering the Legendary Michael Kidd" . L.A. Dance Chronicle . 2018-12-21. Retrieved 2020-04-21 .
^ D'Amboise, Jacques (2011-03-01).
I Was a Dancer . Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. 81–82.
ISBN
978-0-307-59523-2 .
^ Tompkins, Cynthia; Foster, David William (2001).
Notable Twentieth-century Latin American Women: A Biographical Dictionary . Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 6–7.
ISBN
978-0-313-31112-3 .
^ Stuart, Muriel; Kirstein, Lincoln (1952).
The Classic Ballet: Basic Technique and Terminology . University Press of Florida.
ISBN
978-0-8130-1617-7 .
^
"Miss Muriel Stuart to Talk on Ballet" . The Times-Tribune . 1954-01-25. p. 31. Retrieved 2020-04-21 – via Newspapers.com.
^
"The Mae L. Wien Awards" . School of American Ballet . Retrieved 2020-04-21 .
^ WJW (1991-02-16).
"Muriel Stuart (obituary)" . The Guardian . p. 21. Retrieved 2020-04-21 .
^
"James Warwick Is Dead at 89; Playwright and Screen Writer" . The New York Times . 1983-08-19.
ISSN
0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-04-21 .
^
"Muriel Stuart papers" . New York Public Library Archives and Manuscripts . Retrieved 2020-04-21 .
^
"Interview with Muriel Stuart, 1978" . NYPL Digital Collections . Retrieved 2020-04-21 .
International National Academics