Lidija Franklin

Lidija Franklin (born May 17, 1917 in Wyschni Wolotschok , Russia as Lidija Kocers ; † December 5, 2019 in Caracas , Venezuela ) was a Russian dancer , dance teacher and choreographer .

Life

The daughter of the Latvian Hugo Kocers and the Russian Ekatherina Stukolova moved to Latvia with her family at the age of 5 . She began her ballet studies in 1925 in the city of Tukums . She also received private piano lessons . In 1931 Lidija returned to Riga with her family and continued her ballet studies at the Latvian National Opera , where she stayed for five years. In Riga she decided to expand her dance skills and went to the school of the teacher Beatriz Vigners, where she learned the so-called Plastic Dance or Artistic (inspired by Isadora Duncan ). In this school she received courses in aesthetics, history and psychology of pedagogy, Latvian folk dances, character dances, Spanish dances with castanets, acrobatics, technique and composition of artistic dances, and classical and rhythmic training for five years. At the suggestion of the teacher Vigners, she traveled to Totnes in 1937 and applied to the Jooss - Leeder -School of Dance. She was accepted and received a scholarship. There she studied for two years, and in 1939 she became part of the Jooss ballet company as a solo dancer .

ballets Jooss

With the ballets Jooss, Kocers was given the opportunity to work as a soloist in famous choreographies such as B. The Green Table to perform. Between 1940 and 1941 they made a long tour of the United States , Argentina , Chile , Uruguay , Ecuador , Peru , Colombia , Cuba , Brazil and Venezuela . When they performed at the Teatro Municipal de Caracas in Venezuela in 1941 , they didn't get the same reception as the rest of the tour. This performance was attended by only 4 people (including Gustavo Franklin, who would become her husband a year later), so they decided to postpone the second performance. They stayed in Venezuela for 3 months because it was difficult for some members of the ballet company to get the American visa. After the visa problem was resolved in late 1941, the ballet company traveled to New York City , where they had their last performance. The renowned choreographer Agnes de Mille saw this performance, was fascinated by the work and artistic interpretation of Lidija Kocers and wanted to work with her.

Agnes de Mille

In 1942 Lidija Kocers married the Venezuelan designer Gustavo Franklin in New York City and took his last name from then on. In the same year Lidija Franklin began to work as a soloist in the choreographies Bloomer Girl and Brigadoon by Agnes de Mille. De Mille later founded her own company Agnes De Mille Dance Theater , in which Lidija participated as a soloist and solo dancer. Lidija Franklin later worked as an assistant in the various productions that Agnes de Mille shot for the American Ballet Theater . Last year Lidija also performed choreographies by John Butler with Agnes De Mille for Kate Smith's TV show in New York.

Venezuela

In mid-1957, Lidija Franklin and her husband settled in Venezuela. The dancing atmosphere in the country was not what she expected. At that time, the teacher Nena Coronil decided to close the Escuela Nacional de Ballet and contacted Gustavo Franklin to make the studio available to his wife, the newly arrived Russian dancer. In September of the same year, Lidija Franklin and her husband opened the doors of the Ballet Arte School until they had to give up at the beginning of 1974 because of the sale of the property. At this school u. a. studied outstanding personalities such as Vicente Abad, Isabel Llull, Yolanda Machado, Gaudio Vacaccio, Elsa Recagno, Eloisa García, Graciela Díaz, Maryorie Estévez and Anita Le Bleis. In 1967, Lidija Franklin, with the support of her husband, decided to found a free ballet school in the city of Caracas, which would run parallel to her private academy and would enable all children with dance talent to gain a foothold in this art, regardless of their social situation. So in 1968 they opened the Municipal Ballet School (which was named Ballet Arte School in 1985) with the sole aim of continuing to train specialists in classical dance in the country.

Franklin was 102 years old.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Fallció la maestra de la danza Lidija Franklin