Word: lew
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...through a new technique." The Royal Ballet? "Too tradition-bound." The Bolshoi? "Too obsessed with characterization and athletics." The Kirov? "The finest in the world." Balanchine? "The greatest influence on ballet and dance in the Western world. He is pushing forward." So says the San Francisco Ballet's Lew Christensen, who in his 17 years in San Francisco has developed his company into one of the most versatile anywhere, and second only in the U.S. to George Balanchine's New York City Ballet...
...child in Brigham, Utah. At the urging of a balletomane uncle, he and his two elder brothers, William and Harold, formed a dance team and toured the vaudeville circuit as "the Christensen Brothers." Then came a four-year tour of duty as an infantryman in World War II, and Lew returned to find himself too stiff-muscled to dance. He turned to choreography and in 1948 took over the reins of the San Francisco Ballet from his eldest brother William, who had headed the company for a decade. In all, Lew has created some 70 original ballets, including the frolicsome...
...work. A nifty hooker and a delicate outside shooter, Alcindor is so fast, scrappy and versatile that Power Coach Jack Donahue could probably saw him in half and get two varsity guards. High school games last only 32 minutes (v. 40 minutes for a regulation college game), but Lew is averaging 31 points a game, and no less an authority than Wilt ("The Stilt") Chamberlain,* a seven-footer of note himself, calls Alcindor "the greatest high school player I've ever seen...
Somewhere in Manhattan.That would be enough to keep the college scouts hammering at Lew's door-if only they knew where to hammer. Papa Alcindor is a 6-ft. 3-in. New York subway policeman, and Mama is 5 ft. 11 in.; to all but their closest friends they live "somewhere in upper Manhattan," and their phone number is unlisted. All of Lew's letters are screened by his coach, and sportswriters are required to submit questions in writing-a procedure that has led some to suggest nastily that Donahue is really John Alden in disguise. One Midwestern...
...colleges have invited Lew to look them over. Boston College Coach Bob Cousy writes him mash notes; Princeton, Cincinnati and St. John's would all like invitations to his graduation this June. And the pros, who have four years to wait, are already saving up: they figure that Alcindor will start out somewhere around $50,000 a year. Imagine. All that fuss over a 17-year-old who has only grown one inch in the last two years...