#TBT with Agnes de Mille

April 5, 2017

60 Years Ago This Month

In the April 1957 issue of Dance Magazine, we reported on that year’s Dance Magazine Awards, one of which went to Agnes de Mille. The dancer-choreographer first leapt to prominence after choreographing—and starring in—her now-iconic Rodeo for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1942. Lauded for its realism, the “cowboy ballet” was such a success that Rodgers and Hammerstein invited de Mille to choreograph the original Broadway production of Oklahoma! Accepting her award, she said, “I think the function of saying to somebody: ‘You don’t have to take leave of the human race in order to be interested in dancing. It’s a normal expression for people’ is a worthy one. I am glad to have had some part in doing that.”