Vanity Fair is a novel by the English author William Makepeace Thackeray, which follows the lives of Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley amid their friends and families during and after the Napoleonic Wars. It was first published as a 19-volume monthly serial from 1847 to 1848, carrying the subtitle Pen and Pencil Sketches of English Society, which reflects both its satirisation of early 19th-century British society and the many illustrations drawn by Thackeray to accompany the text. It was published as a single volume in 1848 with the subtitle A Novel without a Hero, reflecting Thackeray's interest in deconstructing his era's conventions regarding literary heroism. It is sometimes considered the "principal founder" of the Victorian domestic novel.
Anna Pavlovna Pavlova was a Russian prima ballerina. She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, but is most recognized for creating the role of The Dying Swan and, with her own company, being the first ballerina to tour the world, including South America, India, Mexico and Australia.
New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's first music director. City Ballet grew out of earlier troupes: the Producing Company of the School of American Ballet, 1934; the American Ballet, 1935, and Ballet Caravan, 1936, which merged into American Ballet Caravan, 1941; and directly from the Ballet Society, 1946.
James Edward Abbe was an American photographer.
Lincoln Edward Kirstein was an American writer, impresario, art connoisseur, philanthropist, and cultural figure in New York City, noted especially as co-founder of the New York City Ballet. He developed and sustained the company with his organizing ability and fundraising for more than four decades, serving as the company's general director from 1946 to 1989. According to the New York Times, he was "an expert in many fields", organizing art exhibits and lecture tours in the same years.
Lisa Fonssagrives, was a Swedish model, dancer, sculptor, and photographer. She is widely credited with having been the first supermodel.
Heather Watts is a former ballet dancer and teacher most known for her time with the New York City Ballet.
Christian Witkin is a New York based fashion and portrait photographer. He is well known for capturing revealing moments of celebrities - including President Barack Obama, Meredith Vieira, Steve Jobs, Lil' Kim, Quentin Tarantino, Foxy Brown, and Christopher Hitchens - as well as for his extensive campaigns for Gap Inc., Vanity Fair, and People. His work is described as "iconic, beautiful portraiture defined by a refined yet approachable point of view."
Amar Ramasar is an American ballet dancer and former principal dancer of the New York City Ballet (NYCB). Ramasar joined the NYCB as an apprentice in 2000 and joined the corps de ballet in 2001. As of 2010, Ramasar remained the only person of color who was a principal in NYCB.
Mozartiana is a ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to Tchaikovsky's Orchestral Suite No. 4, Mozartiana. The current version of the ballet was made for New York City Ballet's Tchaikovsky Festival, and premiered on June 4, 1981, at the New York State Theater. It is considered Balanchine's last major work.
Anna-Lou Leibovitz is an American portrait photographer best known for her portraits, particularly of celebrities, which often feature subjects in intimate settings and poses. Leibovitz's Polaroid photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, taken five hours before Lennon's murder, is considered one of Rolling Stone magazine's most famous cover photographs. The Library of Congress declared her a Living Legend, and she is the first woman to have a feature exhibition at Washington's National Portrait Gallery.
Misty Danielle Copeland is an American ballet dancer for American Ballet Theatre (ABT), one of the three leading classical ballet companies in the United States. On June 30, 2015, Copeland became the first African American woman to be promoted to a principal dancer in ABT's 75-year history.
Catherine Littlefield was an American ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet teacher, and director. She founded the Philadelphia Ballet in Philadelphia in 1935. It was the first American ballet company to tour Europe and the first to present a full-length version of The Sleeping Beauty in the United States. In addition to producing American-themed ballets such as Barn Dance, Terminal, Cafe Society and Ladies' Better Dresses, Littlefield choreographed Broadway musicals and Sonja Henie's professional ice skating shows. She was among the first class of inductees (1987) into the National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame.
Hee Seo is a South Korean ballet dancer who is a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), one of the three leading classical ballet companies in the United States. She became the company's first Korean ballerina to be promoted to principal dancer in ABT's 75-year history. She is also one of the youngest dancers in ABT history to be promoted to principal at the age of twenty-six. The New York Times has described her style and dancing to "exude an unhurried purity that sums up all that is lovely about ballet" and by Vogue as "unspeakably lissome". Several critics have noted her style as "lyrical and open" and she has been critically acclaimed for her "humility" and "unique feminine strength".
Jack Mitchell was an American photographer. He photographed American artists, dancers, film and theatre performers, musicians and writers. His portraiture, lighting skill, and ability to capture dancers in what he termed "moving stills" made him one of the most important dance photographers of the 20th century.
Gibney Dance, founded in 1991 by choreographer Gina Gibney, is a multi-faceted dance organization occupying two locations in New York City: one at 890 Broadway in the Flatiron District and the other at 280 Broadway in Tribeca. The organization's activities are divided into the following three interrelated fields: Center, Company, and Community. The first, Center, refers to the facility and its programming, which provide rehearsal space to nonprofit and commercial renters in addition to classes, programs, and services to the New York dance community. Company refers to Gibney Dance Company, a professional contemporary dance company operating out of the Center. Finally, Community refers to Community Action, an outreach program uniting dancers with survivors of domestic violence in shelters around New York City. In 2008, Gibney Dance was inducted into Vanity Fair's Hall of Fame for "making art and taking action".
Martha Joan Swope was an American photographer of theatre and dance.
Patti Karr, born Patsy Lou Karkalits, was an American actress, dancer, and singer in Broadway musicals, and in film and television.
In the Countenance of Kings is a ballet choreographed by Justin Peck to music from Sufjan Stevens's The BQE. The ballet was Peck's first ballet made for the San Francisco Ballet, and premiered in 2016 at the War Memorial Opera House.
