Word: doyen
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Died. Ted Shawn, 80, doyen of modern dance in the U.S.; of a heart attack; in Orlando, Fla. Shawn was studying for the ministry when an attack of diphtheria left his legs paralyzed. The prescribed therapy-ballet exercises-worked so well that Shawn decided to "evangelize" through dance. Though the hulking six-footer's early performances were greeted with sneers, Shawn found an ally in the late Ruth St. Denis; they were married in 1914. Together they reigned during the 1920s as the nation's top modern dance team, their repertory drawing heavily on American and ethnic themes...
...Eastern Roman imperial court. Modern diplomacy came with the Renaissance and Reformation. In 1815, Rome's envoys achieved considerable sway in Europe when the Vatican delegate to the Congress of Vienna, Cardinal Consalvi, won a remarkable concession from the Congress: henceforth a papal nuncio (ambassador) would be the doyen of the resident diplomatic corps wherever he was accredited...
...practice in the London suburb of Epsom and launched his musical quest in earnest. The Royal Academy and the Royal College of Music both rejected him as too old to enroll in conducting courses, so he practiced with amateur orchestras around London. When he approached Sir Adrian Boult, the doyen of British conductors, Boult offered to become his patient if he would stick to medicine. Instead, Bialoguski took a master class in conducting with Franco Ferrara in Siena, Italy. Eventually, Boult let Bialoguski rehearse the New Philharmonia in Beethoven's Prometheus overture. He did so well that the orchestra...
...first flush of mutual admiration survived despite (or because of) 20 years' separation. In the 1950s, Durrell is still telling Miller that he will be "the homegrown doyen of Yankee litcheratewer yet, mark my word," that "the surf-thunder of your prose is the biggest experience of my inner man." But Durrell is also warning: "Beware of cowboy evangelism and Loving Everything and Everybody Everywhere! Or you'll be doing a Carl Sandburg with a portable harp...
Most highly prized by the tastemakers is the Thonet rocker. A cross between a badminton racquet and a Flexible Flyer, this calligraphic doyen of gracious sitting shows off to great advantage against the stark whiteness of painted bricks or modish raw plaster walls. Pablo Picasso owns one, and so does Hollywood Director Billy Wilder. Original Thonet rockers sell nowadays for between $75 and $185 (depending on state of repair and elegance of design) in Manhattan antiqueries, sold for much more until imports of them from Europe began to flood the U.S. market two years...