Lee Theodore

Lee Theodore
Lee (Becker) Theodore was a Broadway theater director, choreographer, performer and dance archivist.
Early life
Born in 1933 to Russian Jewish immigrants Zena and Gayna (Klasner) Becker, Lee was raised in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. She began dance lessons at the age of 4. As a child, she often performed at her parents' "Veyetcherinkas": Russian cultural arts nights in their home, with her brother Eugene (who later became a New York Philharmonic violist) and her sister Rita (later Zweig). Lee graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts in 1949.
Work as a dancer and choreographer
As a young dancer, Lee (then still Becker) appeared as the character Anybodys in the original 1957 production of West Side Story; indeed, the role was created for her by Jerome Robbins. She can therefore be heard on that production's 1957 soundtrack LP, released by Columbia Records. She also performed in Tenderloin and The King And I.
As a choreographer, Theodore created dances for Baker Street, Darling Of The Day, and Flora, The Red Menace. In 1967, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Choreography for The Apple Tree. This was a time period of rich cross-pollination of various styles of dance, and Theodore's work seamlessly and fluidly melded many influences. She also choreographed the 1970 feature film, Song Of Norway, an adaptation of the 1944 operetta of the same name.
Work in choreography preservation
In 1976, Theodore founded and created The American Dance Machine, which was a living archive of Broadway theater dance, with seasons on Broadway and international tours. Originally, American Dance Machine was created to rescue great Broadway choreography which, at the time, often was neither filmed nor notated. While the great shows had musical scores and Books to preserve dialogue, the great dances were doomed to be lost. Theodore's "rescue sessions" brought the original dancers from Broadway shows into the studio. Often, they had not performed these dances for many years. But with the understanding that memory resides in a dancer's body, the collaborators played music from the shows and the dancers gradually recreated the choreography—often starting with the memory of just a single step. Once recreated, the dances were filmed and notated.
Furthermore, believing that dances must be performed to be truly alive and accessible, Theodore trained a group of talented performers to bring these dances live to audiences. Through this process, American Dance Machine saved the choreography of Agnes De Mille, Jack Cole, Joe Layton, Michael Kidd, Ron Field, Bob Fosse, Onna White and Peter Gennaro. Featured dancers and guest artists included Janet Eilber, Carol Estey, Harold Cromer, Liza Gennaro, Patti Mariano, Nancy Chismar and Donald Young.
For many years, Theodore taught a daily Broadway Dance class—perhaps the first such class ever—at Harkness Dance Center on the Upper East Side. Her class, which relied on dancers' previous and significant ballet training, was divided into decades by day: Mondays 1950s (think West Side Story), Tuesdays 1960s, and so on. She was a tough teacher who demanded a great deal from her students and was beloved by them. Watching her demonstrate technique effortlessly in class was a lesson in technique, artistry, and, as she became ill, also of extraordinary determination.
Personal life and death
Theodore died on September 3, 1987.
References
External links
Profile on a website documenting the history of American Dance Machine
Profile on the official website of ADM21, a successor to American Dance Machine
A New York Public Library (NYPL) photograph of then-Lee Becker during rehearsals for West Side Story, 1957
An NYPL photograph of Lee Becker Theodore assisting dancers in rehearsal for Baker Street, 1965
1987 deaths
American choreographers
American musical theatre actresses
20th-century American actresses
1933 births