Christensen Brothers

With members of four generations deeply involved in music and dancing, the Christensen Brothers are indisputably the United States' closest equivalent to the European tradition of dance dynasties. Their story sheds light on the history of ballet in twentieth-century America, both through their accomplishments as dancers, teachers, and company directors, and through their association with some of the most significant figures of the dance world such as Lincoln Kirstein, George Balanchine, Sol Hurok, and the Ford Foundation's W. McNeil Lowry. This triple biography encompasses the brothers' Mormon pioneer heritage, the circumstances that led them to enter vaudeville with a ballet act, and the rise and fall especially in the American West of companies with which they were associated for over six decades of their lives. This book provides an alternative to the New York-oriented volumes that so often pass as histories of American dance. Debra Hickenlooper Sowell received the De la Torre Bueno Special Ci

First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Audisee® eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and sentence highlighting for an engaging read aloud experience! Every December, The Nutcracker comes to life in theaters all across the United States. But how did this 19th-century Russian ballet become such a big part of the holidays in 21st-century America? Meet Willam, Harold, and Lew Christensen, three small-town Utah boys who caught the ballet bug from an uncle in the early 1900s. They performed alongside elephants and clowns on vaudeville, immersed themselves in the New York City dance scene, and even put on a ballet featuring gangsters at a gas station. Russian immigrants shared the story of The Nutcracker with them, and during World War II—on a shoestring budget and in need of a hit—they staged their own Christmastime production in San Francisco. It was America's first full-length version and the beginning of a delightful holiday tradition. Follow along and learn how The Nutcracker came to be performed all across the United States from these truly humble beginnings.

Named for Alexander Caulfield Anderson, the chief trader for the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Nisqually, Anderson Island has an early history of brick making, logging, farming, and fishing. Johnson's Landing, on the north end of the island, was the site where mosquito fleet steamships could refuel and purchase lumber for delivery as far south as San Francisco. The first permanent settlers on the island arrived from Denmark in the early 1870s, with others of Scandinavian descent coming shortly thereafter. The southernmost island in Washington State's Puget Sound, accessible only by boat or ferry from Steilacoom, Anderson Island boasts two freshwater lakes, two marinas, and a golf course. Bucolic Anderson Island received national press coverage in 2005 when the flower fairy anonymously left floral bouquets on doorsteps, a practice that continues to this day.