Darius, Adam

Adam Darius was born in Manhattan , New York, in a family of immigrants from Turkey and Russia.

Career in ballet

Adam Darius studied ballet and modern dance from Anatoly Obukhov , Georgy Goncharov, Olga Preobrazhenskaya and Jose Lemon. Adam Darius studied acting together with Raquin Ben-Ari, actor of the Moscow Habim Jewish Theater, Oscar winner Shelley Winters and Herbert Berghof.

Subsequently, Adam danced with many ballet companies such as International Ballet (United Kingdom), Royal Ballet of Winnipeg (Canada), Ballet of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Scandinavian Ballet (Denmark). As a choreographer, he worked at the Israel National Opera Theater, and then directed his own ballet troupe called the Israeli Ballet. He acted as a choreographer for ballets with the participation of American commentary Cynthia Gregory and Melissa Hayden, and also as a ballet director of four operas with the star of the opera stage Placido Domingo .

Adam Darius played a large number of tragic and comic roles, from the role of a vagabond in the Irish film “Stigmata” to the role of Puck in the Scandinavian premiere of Benjamin Britten ’s opera “A Midsummer Night's Dream”.

In addition, Darius worked with the outstanding Swedish director Ingmar Bergman , the greatest French actor Jean-Louis Barrot and the Belgian singer and composer Jacques Brel .

Among the most memorable creations of Adam Darius include:

• Marilyn (Marylin) - ballet based on the life of Marilyn Monroe . The project was sponsored by the rock group Jethro Tull . The ballet has been played on several scenes in London’s West End for five weeks. For the first time since 1921, when Sergei Dyagilev showed the Sleeping Beauty ballet in London, the ballet lasted on the London stage for such a long time.
• Anne Frank (The Anne Frank Ballet) - the most famous ballet with Adam Darius, in which he played the role of Otto Frank, the father of Anne Frank . Subsequently, a video version of this presentation was released.

Career in the pantomime genre

Over time, Adam Darius developed his own style, combining elements of dance and pantomime and called "expressive pantomime." Adam united his achievements in the created style in a unique solo show shown in many countries of the world, including such remote and inaccessible corners, like Afghanistan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Swaziland, Papua New Guinea and Australia. In 1971, Darius embarked on a tour of the Soviet Union, the culmination of which was a performance in Leningrad, after which the public summoned Adam to bow 27 times. It is worth noting that the tour of Darius was the first visit to the USSR by an American dance artist from the time of Isadora Duncan .

Firmly believing that art can play the role of a bridge between different cultures, Adam has repeatedly spoken in the cities of the Arab world: Damascus, Casablanca, Beirut, Cairo, Alexandria, Amman, Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Istanbul and Tunisia.

The concept of the “theater of the body” developed by Darius was also realized in the London representations “The Tower of Babel” and “Rambo and Verlaine”, created in collaboration with Kazimir Kolesnik. Their collaboration continued with the production of " Yukio Misima ", which was first introduced at Holloway Women's Prison in London, and later shown in Finland, Slovenia and Portugal. Among the further collaborations of Darius and Kolesnik can be noted the production of "Snake in the Grass" (A Snake in the Grass) - the performance was first shown in the Jordanian capital Amman and awarded the award "Nur Al-Hussein."

Between 1989 and 1998, Darius, along with Kazimir Kolesnik, led the annual tour of the Shetland Islands Children's Theater. Among the shows shown are: “ The Search for Shirley Temple” , “Santa Claus Goes to Las Vegas” ( “ Santa Claus Goes to Las Vegas) and“ King of Rock and Roll ” (King of Rock ' n 'Roll) .

Adam Darius and Kazimir Kolesnik continue to tour the world with their joint presentation Death of a Scarecrow .

Teaching activity

From the earliest years of his career, Adam Darius not only spoke, but also taught

In 1978, Adam Darius and Marita Crowley opened the Pantomime Center in London, where students from around the world could learn the style of “expressive pantomime” created by Adam. This course formed the basis of the book " The Adam Darius Method" . Students at the London Pantomime Center include a pantomime actor, artist, dancer and director Casimir Kolesnik, rock star Kate Bush , Hollywood movie stars Kate Beckinsale and Jennifer Beals , British actors Warren Mitchell and Clark Peters, famous Syrian drama writer, and the famous Syrian dramatist and Clark Peters, well-known Syrian drama writer, Warren Mitchell and Clark Peters, well-known Syrian dramatist and Syrian dramatist Warren Mitchell;

In 1994, the Pantomime Center moved to Helsinki, Finland. Many prominent members of the dance world, such as the former head of the Danish Royal Ballet, Frank Andersen, the former head of the Finnish State Ballet Dinna Bjorn, Fernando Jones from the Cuban National Ballet, Hamburg ballet actors Karolina Agüero and Dario Franconi, studied at the new center.

In North America, Adam was active in teaching in New York, Florida and California.

• 1976: Silver Medal of the Belgrade Monodrama Festival (Yugoslavia)
• 1976: Honorary Member of the Community North Sumatra (Indonesia)
• 1978: American Emmy television award (USA)
• 1984: Leonid Myasin Prize for Achievements in Dance Art (Italy)
• 1987: Awarded the Gate Keys to Las Vegas (USA)
• 1998: Shetland Dance and Mime Award (UK)
• 2001: Nur Al Hussein Foundation Award (Jordan)
• 2002: Prize of the Beirut Comedy Festival (Lebanon)
• 2003: Nur Al Hussein Foundation Award (Jordan)
• 2009: Order of Louis Manuel Gutierrez (Venezuela)

• Adam Darius on Facebook
• Dansmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden