Rudi van Dantzig, 1933-2012

I grew up with the Swan Lake Rudi van Dantzing set on the National Ballet of Canada and the Romeo and Juliet he set on the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Romeo and Juliet the first ballet I ever saw; Evelyn Hart was Juliet: how could I not love ballet after that? Actually, that performance inspired an interest in dance that led to my years as a dance writer.

Later, I discovered that one of the reasons Dantzing was sweet on Canada was that his first love was a Canadian soldier (the story is told in the beautiful film, adapted from his novel, For a Lost Soldier).

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/arts/dance/rudi-van-dantzig-provocative-dutch-choreographer-dies-at-78.html?_r=1&hpw