"Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark."
-- Agnes de Mille
Dancer and choreographer Agnes de Mille lived from 1905 to 1993. Born into a theatrical family, she worked toward becoming an actress before being told she was not "pretty" enough, and turned to dance. She graduated from UCLA and, in 1939, affiliated herself with a very young American Ballet Theatre. She choreographed stage shows, like "Rodeo," "Three Virgins and a Devil," and "Fall River Legend," as well as stage versions of "Carousel" and "Gentleman Prefer Blondes." She also choreographed the film version of "Oklahoma!." Her two television specials from the 1960s on "The Art of Ballet" and "The Art of Choreography" did an enormous amount to deepen public understanding of the arts. de Mille was a close friend of Martha Graham, and she published, the year before her own death, a biography of the founder of modern dance called Martha. She wrote numerous other books, including To a Young Dancer: A Handbook and Dance to the Piper. Carol Easton authored a biography of Agnes de Mille called No Intermissions. An anthology of de Mille's writing is also available -- Leaps in the Dark: Art and the World.
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