Mary Helen Bowers | |
---|---|
Born | 1979 Charlotte, North Carolina, United States |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Columbia University |
Occupation(s) | Dancer, fitness professional, author |
Years active | 1995–present |
Known for | Black Swan , Ballet Beautiful |
Spouse | Paul Dans |
Parent | Fred & Carrie Bowers |
Website | Official site |
Mary Helen Bowers (born 1979) is an American celebrity fitness guru, entrepreneur and former New York City Ballet dancer originally from Charlotte, North Carolina. She attended Alexander Graham Middle School in Charlotte, North Carolina before leaving for New York. [1] She was a full scholarship student at the School of American Ballet in Manhattan at fifteen years old. One year later she was invited to join the New York City Ballet. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Columbia University in New York City. She danced with the New York City Ballet for a decade.
On June 12, 2012, she released her book, Ballet Beautiful: Transform Your Body and Gain the Strength, Grace, and Focus of a Ballet Dancer. Her list of clients include Natalie Portman, Zooey Deschanel and Liv Tyler. Other celebrities include actresses Kirsten Dunst and Dakota Johnson, model Helena Christensen, Karen Elson, Sarah Sophie Flicker and Rachel Antonoff. [2] [3] [4] [5]
Bowers helped train actress Natalie Portman for the Oscar-winning performance in the 2010 movie, Black Swan . She is married to Paul Dans, a lawyer and a controversial Trump Administration appointee at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, [6] with whom she has a daughter. [4] [7]
Natalie Hershlag, known professionally as Natalie Portman, is an Israeli-born American actress. She has had a prolific screen career from her teenage years and has starred in various blockbusters and independent films, receiving multiple accolades, including an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards.
Darren Aronofsky is an American filmmaker. His films are noted for their surreal, melodramatic, and often disturbing elements, frequently in the form of psychological fiction.
Swan Lake, Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failure, it is now one of the most popular of all ballets.
In filmmaking, a double is a person who substitutes for another actor such that the person's face is not shown. There are various terms associated with a double based on the specific body part or ability they serve as a double for, such as stunt double, "dance double", "butt double" and "hand double".
The Spence School is an American all-girls private school in New York City, founded in 1892 by Clara B. Spence.
Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya was a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet director, and actress. In post-Soviet times, she held both Lithuanian and Spanish citizenship. She danced during the Soviet era at the Bolshoi Theatre under the directorships of Leonid Lavrovsky, then of Yury Grigorovich; later she moved into direct confrontation with him. In 1960, when famed Russian ballerina Galina Ulanova retired, Plisetskaya became prima ballerina assoluta of the company.
Dayle Haddon is a Canadian model and actress, presently known for promoting anti-aging products manufactured by L'Oréal. Additionally, she is credited as the author of Ageless Beauty: A Woman's Guide to Lifelong Beauty and Well-Being.
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Benjamin Millepied is a French dancer and choreographer, who has lived and worked in the United States since joining the New York City Ballet in 1995, where he became a soloist in 1998 and a principal in 2002. He has also created choreography for the company, and choreographed pieces for other major companies. He retired from the NYCB in 2011.
Sybil Louise Shearer was an American choreographer, dancer and writer. She was hailed as a "maverick" or "nature mystic" of modern dance.
Sara Ann Mearns is an American ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer at New York City Ballet.
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.
Sarah Lane is an American ballet dancer who was a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre (ABT). She served as a "dance double" for Natalie Portman in the 2010 film Black Swan.
Ksenia Solo is a Latvian-Canadian actress known for portraying Mackenzie "Kenzi" Malikov on Lost Girl. She portrayed Peggy Shippen on Turn: Washington's Spies. Solo also portrayed the character "Natasha" in the 2010 American television series Life Unexpected and Shay Davydov in Season 3 of Orphan Black. As of January 2023, her most recent work was in the main cast for the two seasons of the series Project Blue Book (2019–20).
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".
Black Swan is a 2010 American psychological horror film directed by Darren Aronofsky from a screenplay by Mark Heyman, John McLaughlin, and Andres Heinz, based on a story by Heinz. The film stars Natalie Portman in the lead role, with Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, and Winona Ryder in supporting roles. The plot revolves around a production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake by the company of New York City Ballet. The production requires a ballerina to play the innocent and fragile White Swan, for which the committed dancer Nina Sayers (Portman) is a perfect fit, as well as the dark and sensual Black Swan, which are qualities better embodied by the new rival Lily (Kunis). Nina is overwhelmed by a feeling of immense pressure when she finds herself competing for the role, causing her to lose her tenuous grip on reality and descend into madness.
Georgina Parkinson was an English ballet dancer and ballet mistress. She joined The Royal Ballet in 1957 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1962. Best known for dancing 20th-century works, she was a frequent collaborator of choreographer Kenneth MacMillan, and had also created roles for Frederick Ashton. In 1978, she accepted the invitation to become a ballet mistress at the American Ballet Theatre for a year, before assuming the position permanently in 1980. She also performed character roles with the American Ballet Theatre.
The Black Swan dance double controversy concerns an American film and the credit its production gave to performers. Black Swan is a 2010 American psychological horror film about a ballerina directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, and Mila Kunis. After the 83rd Academy Awards, where Portman won Best Actress for her performance in the film as a ballerina, controversy arose over how much credit for the dancing in the film was being given to her and how much to her "dance double", American Ballet Theatre soloist Sarah Lane.
Natalie Portman is an Israeli-American actress and filmmaker. She made her film debut in Luc Besson's action thriller Léon: The Professional, which starred her as the young protégée of a hitman. She followed this by appearing in Michael Mann's crime thriller Heat (1995), Ted Demme's romantic comedy Beautiful Girls (1996), and Tim Burton's science fiction comedy Mars Attacks! (1996). Three years later, her supporting role as the precocious, responsible daughter of a narcissistic mother played by Susan Sarandon in the drama Anywhere but Here earned Portman her first Golden Globe Award nomination. In the same year, she played Padmé Amidala in the first of the Star Wars prequel trilogyStar Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, which brought her international recognition. She reprised the role in its sequels Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002), and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005).