Research Catalog

Encore for Ruby

Title: Encore for Ruby [videorecording] / KTEH, San Jose Public Television ; produced, directed, written and narrated by Margot Jones.
Publication: U.S. : West Coast Arts Foundation, c1999.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	VHS	Use in library	*MGZIA 4-3797	Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance

Details

Additional Authors

Description

1 videocassette (54 min.) : sd., col. with b&w sequences NTSC; 1/2 in. (VHS)

Summary

American ballet dancer and teacher Ruby Asquith looks back upon notable personalities and events in her long career. Prominent among them are the three Christensen brothers, Willam, Lew and Harold, whose professional lives were intertwined with hers. Asquith recalls her beginnings as a child prodigy, and her tours on the vaudeville circuit with Lew and Harold. They danced on Broadway in The great waltz, choreographed by Albertina Rasch ; in the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, under the leadership of George Balanchine ; and in Lincoln Kirstein's Ballet Caravan. In 1940 Asquith and Harold, whom she married, moved to the West Coast to join the San Francisco Ballet, where Asquith was prima ballerina until 1954. She reminisces about ballets she danced with the San Francisco company, particularly Willam's Coppélia and Romeo and Juliet. She is seen teaching at the San Francisco Ballet School, and alumna Cynthia Gregory praises her class in pointe technique. The program closes with scenes of Asquith and a group of longtime students, recorded at her 50th class anniversary in 1998.

Donor/Sponsor

Gift of Margot Jones, West Coast Arts Foundation.

Uniform Title

Filling station (Choreographic work : Christensen, L)
Charade (Choreographic work : Christensen, L)
Nutcracker (Choreographic work : Christensen, W)
Coppélia (Choreographic work : Christensen, W)
Midsummer night's dream (Choreographic work)
Harlequin for president (Choreographic work : Loring)
Perséphone (Choreographic work)

Subjects

Genre/Form

Dance.
Biographies.
Video.

Credits (note)

Executive producers, Jola Anderson, Margot Jones, Danny McGuire, KTEH ; musical director, Gini Wilson.

Contents

Dance excerpts and archival footage: interspersed throughout the video are rehearsal and performance excerpts from Persephone, the first ballet Asquith danced in as a child, which she was asked to reconstruct for a special event. The cast is led by Andrea Basile (Persephone) and Troy Sellers (Pluto). Depicted in archival footage are performances of The great waltz (chor.: Rasch) -- Charade (also called The debutante) (chor.: Lew Christensen) -- Filling station (chor.: Lew Christensen) -- The nutcracker (chor.: Willam Christensen) -- Coppélia (chor.: Willam Christensen) -- A midsummer night's dream (chor. not credited) -- Harlequin for president (chor.: Eugene Loring). The video also includes candid footage of company tours by Ballet Caravan and the San Francisco Ballet (world tour, 1959). Among the many personalities portrayed are the Christensen brothers, Gisella Caccialanza, George Balanchine, Lincoln Kirstein, Aaron Copland, Eugene Loring, Jocelyn Vollmar, Cynthia Gregory, David Anderson.

Call Number

*MGZIA 4-3797

OCLC

NYPY99-F1359

Title

Encore for Ruby [videorecording] / KTEH, San Jose Public Television ; produced, directed, written and narrated by Margot Jones.

Imprint

U.S. : West Coast Arts Foundation, c1999.

Country of Producing Entity

U.S.

Credits

Executive producers, Jola Anderson, Margot Jones, Danny McGuire, KTEH ; musical director, Gini Wilson.

Performer

Introduced by Cynthia Gregory.

Interviewee: Ruby Asquith Christensen.

Local Subject

Musical comedies. The great waltz.

Dance company tours.

Added Author

Asquith, Ruby, interviewee.

Asquith, Ruby, dancer.

Caccialanza, Gisella, 1914-1998, depicted.

Rasch, Albertina, choreographer.

Loring, Eugene, 1911-1982, choreographer.

Vollmar, Jocelyn, depicted.

Basile, Andrea, dancer.

Sellers, Troy, dancer.

Gregory, Cynthia, commentator.

Anderson, David, depicted.

Jones, Margot, producer, director, narrator.

Anderson, Jola, producer.

McGuire, Danny L., producer.

KTEH-TV (Television station : San Jose, Calif.)

DHCA.

Added Title

Filling station (Choreographic work : Christensen, L)

Charade (Choreographic work : Christensen, L)

Nutcracker (Choreographic work : Christensen, W)

Coppélia (Choreographic work : Christensen, W)

Midsummer night's dream (Choreographic work)

Harlequin for president (Choreographic work : Loring)

Perséphone (Choreographic work)

Research Call Number

*MGZIA 4-3797

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