Long, Larry, 1937-2010.

Dancer, choreographer, and ballet director, Ruth Page (1899-1991) was a pioneer in creating works on American themes.

To the classical ballet vocabulary she added movements from sports, popular dance, and everyday gestures. Born in Indianapolis, Ruth Page studied with Adolph Bolm in New York, and after a tour with Anna Pavlova's ballet company she joined Bolm's Ballet Intime. In 1919 she came to Chicago to dance the leading role in Birthday of the Infanta, choreographed by Bolm to a score by Chicagoan John Alden Carpenter. After dancing in a Broadway musical, she returned to Chicago in 1924 as principal dancer with Bolm's Allied Arts Ballet. From 1926 to 1931 she was a principal dancer and choreographer for the Ravinia Opera Company. While dancing and directing the ballet ensemble for the Chicago Opera Company (from 1934 to 1945, with several off-seasons), Page codirected with Bentley Stone the Dance Project of the Works Progress Administration's Federal Theatre (1938 and 1939). From 1954 to 1969 she directed the ballet for Chicago Lyric Opera. Miss Page formed the Chicago Opera Ballet in 1955, choreographing a number of ballets based on opera subjects, following the story line as closely as possible and using the music. This company performed in Chicago and toured in the United States; the company later became known as the Ruth Page's International Ballet. From1965 to 1968, Miss Page choreographed and produced a full-scale of The Nutcracker at Chicago's Arie Crown Theatre, sponsored by the Chicago Tribune Charities, using dancers from her own Chicago Opera Ballet. There were no performances of the Ruth Page Nutcracker in 1969 and 1970; the ballet performances resumed in 1971 and lasted until 1997.

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