Richard Powers (dance historian)

Last updated

Richard Powers is an expert in American social dance, noted for his choreographies for dozens of stage productions and films, and his workshops in Paris, Rome, Prague, London, Venice, Geneva, St. Petersburg and Tokyo as well as across the U.S. and Canada. He has been researching and reconstructing historic social dances for twenty-five years and is currently a full-time instructor at Stanford University Dance Division. He teaches a variety of social dance history and practicum classes for the dance division of the Stanford University Drama Department. He joined the Dance Faculty in 1992 and serves as a faculty liaison to the Friends of Dance at Stanford organization.

Contents

Richard co-founded the Flying Cloud Academy of Vintage Dance (1981) to produce large-scale monthly recreations of Victorian and Ragtime Balls. Formed the Flying Cloud Troupe, a 30-member performing company (1982) and co-founded the supporting Fleeting Moments Waltz & Quickstep Orchestra.

Richard started and directed the Stanford Vintage Dance Ensemble (1992) and serves as an advisor and choreographer for the Swingtime Dance Troupe.

Before his tenure as a dance professor, Richard was a successful inventor. He currently holds patents for eight products including the modern tampon inserter. [1]

Recognition

Powers was selected by the Centennial Issue of Stanford Magazine as one of Stanford University's most notable graduates of its first century and was awarded the Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award for distinctive and exceptional contributions to education at Stanford University (1999).

Recipient of the Post-Corbett Award, Cincinnati's foremost arts recognition (1992).

Choreographies in film

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ballroom dance</span> Set of partner dances

Ballroom dance is a set of European partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vintage dance</span>

Vintage dance is the authentic recreation of historical dance styles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander's Ragtime Band</span> 1911 song composed by Irving Berlin

"Alexander's Ragtime Band" is a Tin Pan Alley song by American composer Irving Berlin released in 1911; it is often inaccurately cited as his first global hit. Despite its title, the song is a march as opposed to a rag and contains little syncopation. The song is a narrative sequel to Berlin's earlier 1910 composition "Alexander and His Clarinet". This earlier composition recounts the reconciliation between an African-American musician named Alexander Adams and his flame Eliza Johnson as well as highlights Alexander's innovative musical style. Berlin's friend Jack Alexander, a cornet-playing African-American bandleader, inspired the title character.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Powers</span> American novelist

Richard Powers is an American novelist whose works explore the effects of modern science and technology. His novel The Echo Maker won the 2006 National Book Award for Fiction. He has also won many other awards over the course of his career, including a MacArthur Fellowship. As of 2023, Powers has published thirteen novels and has taught at the University of Illinois and Stanford University. He won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Overstory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cakewalk</span> Type of dance

The cakewalk was a dance developed from the "prize walks" held in the mid-19th century, generally at get-togethers on Black slave plantations before and after emancipation in the Southern United States. Alternative names for the original form of the dance were "chalkline-walk", and the "walk-around". It was originally a processional partner dance performed with comical formality, and may have developed as a subtle mockery of the mannered dances of white slaveholders.

<i>Ragtime</i> (film) 1981 film by Miloš Forman

Ragtime is a 1981 American drama film directed by Miloš Forman, based on the 1975 historical novel Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow. The film is set in and around turn-of-the-century New York City, New Rochelle, and Atlantic City, and includes fictionalized references to actual people and events of the time. The film stars James Cagney, Mary Steenburgen, Howard Rollins, Brad Dourif, James Olson and Elizabeth McGovern, features the final film appearances of Cagney and Pat O'Brien, and features early appearances in small parts by Jeff Daniels, Fran Drescher, Samuel L. Jackson, Ethan Phillips and John Ratzenberger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E. L. Doctorow</span> Novelist, editor, professor

Edgar Lawrence Doctorow was an American novelist, editor, and professor, best known for his works of historical fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social dance</span> Participatory dance focused on human interaction

Social dances are dances that have social functions and context. Social dances are intended for participation rather than performance. They are often danced merely to socialise and for entertainment, though they may have ceremonial, competitive and erotic functions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vernon and Irene Castle</span> British-American ballroom dancing duo

Vernon and Irene Castle were a husband-and-wife team of ballroom dancers and dance teachers who appeared on Broadway and in silent films in the early 20th century. They are credited with reviving the popularity of modern dancing. Castle was a stage name: Vernon was born William Vernon Blyth in England. Irene was born Irene Foote in the United States.

Some films feature recognizable dance forms, demonstrating them, shedding light on their origin, or being the base of a plot.

Drag is a performance of exaggerated femininity, masculinity, or other forms of gender expression, usually for entertainment purposes. Drag usually involves cross-dressing. A drag queen is someone who performs femininely and a drag king is someone who performs masculinely. Performances often involve comedy, social satire, and at times political commentary. The term may be used as a noun as in the expression in drag or as an adjective as in drag show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankie Manning</span> American dancer and choreographer (1914–2009)

Frank Manning was an American dancer, instructor, and choreographer. Manning is considered one of the founders of Lindy Hop, an energetic form of the jazz dance style known as swing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Argentine tango</span> Musical genre and accompanying social dance

Argentine tango is a musical genre and accompanying social dance originating at the end of the 19th century in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. It typically has a 2
4
or 4
4
rhythmic time signature, and two or three parts repeating in patterns such as ABAB or ABCAC. Its lyrics are marked by nostalgia, sadness, and laments for lost love. The typical orchestra has several melodic instruments and is given a distinctive air by the bandoneon. It has continued to grow in popularity and spread internationally, adding modern elements without replacing the older ones. Among its leading figures are the singer and songwriter Carlos Gardel and composers/performers Francisco Canaro, Juan D'Arienzo, Carlos Di Sarli, Osvaldo Pugliese, and Ástor Piazzolla.

Paul Joseph Mercurio is an Australian actor, choreographer, dancer, TV presenter and politician. Mercurio is best known for his lead role in the 1992 film Strictly Ballroom and his role as a judge on TV series Dancing with the Stars.

Richard “Dick” Zimmerman is a ragtime performer, historian, author and producer. He is regarded as being one of the key figures responsible for the worldwide revival of ragtime. Zimmerman is the first pianist to have recorded the complete works of Scott Joplin and in 1987 was awarded the first place prize “Champion Ragtime Performer of the World”. Zimmerman was technical advisor for the film Scott Joplin. He is a founder of the "Maple Leaf Club", and is the editor of its publication, "The Rag Times". Zimmerman is also a professional magician. He has contributed many signature illusions to the field of magic and has acted as consultant for such magicians as David Copperfield.

The Peabody is an American ballroom dance that evolved from the fast foxtrot of the ragtime era of the 1910s and 1920s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaskell Ball</span>

The Gaskell Ball is a Victorian-styled ball held by Ye Gaskell Occasional Dance Society in Oakland, California, United States, popular among historical re-creationists and vintage dance enthusiasts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernard Lightman</span> Canadian historian (born 1950)

Bernard Vise Lightman, FRSC is a Canadian historian, and professor of humanities and science and technology studies at York University, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He specializes in the relationship between Victorian science and unbelief, the role of women in science, and the popularization of science.

Elizabeth Aldrich is an American dance historian, choreographer, writer, lecturer, consultant, administrator, curator, and archivist. She is internationally known for her research, performance, choreography, teaching, and lectures on Renaissance and Baroque court dance, nineteenth-century social dance, and twentieth-century ragtime dance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Sawyer (dancer)</span> American society dancer, composer, suffragist and businesswoman

Joan Sawyer, born Bessie Josephine Morrison, was an American society dancer, composer, suffragist, and businesswoman, who performed on the vaudeville circuit in the 1910s. Among her dance partners was a young Rudolph Valentino.

References

  1. "Richard Powers leaves engineering for a happier life in dance". Stanford Daily. 30 October 2015.