YEAR IN REVIEW 2001: RELIGION

Religion Interfaith relations took centre stage in the world of religion during 2000 as faith groups came into conflict in some situations and found themselves making breakthroughs in cooperation in others. Same-sex unions and the role of women sparked internal conflicts in some traditions, and the relationship between religion and government challenged both sides on several fronts. (For figures on Adherents in the U.S., see Table II.) Riabouchinska, Tatiana Russian-born dancer and teacher (b. May 23, 1917, Moscow, Russia-d. Aug. 24, 2000, Los Angeles, Calif.), was the oldest of the "baby ballerinas," the three teenage dancers who in the 1930s captured public attention and attracted an audience to the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, the company formed to fill the gap left by the dissolution of the renowned Ballets Russes following the death of impresario Sergey Diaghilev in 1929. She was known for her speed, her light, delicate style, her musicality, and her sensitive interpretation of roles. To many, however, she was also known in a completely different light-as the "model" for the hippopotamus ballerina in the Walt Disney animated film Fantasia (1940), whose artists had made rehearsal sketches of her. Riabouchinska escaped from Russia with family members during the Russian Revolution and settled in Paris. She was performing with a variety show, the Chauve Souris, when George Balanchine discovered her and signed her for the Ballet Russe, with which she danced from 1932 to 1942 and again in 1947. Among her most notable roles for the company were the Child in Jeux d'enfants, the Mistress of Ceremonies in Cotillon, the title role in Le Coq d'or, the Florentine Beauty in Paganini, Frivolity in Les Prsages, and the Prelude in Les Sylphides. In another of her most famous roles, the Romantic Girl in Graduation Ball, she was partnered by the ballet's choreographer, David Lichine, whom she married in 1943. The couple made a number of guest appearances internationally over the following years-during which Riabouchinska added the title roles in the classics La Sylphide and Giselle to the list of her more memorable triumphs-and in 1953 moved to California and opened a ballet school in Beverly Hills. For a few years they attempted to found a permanent Los Angeles-based ballet company, but they were unable to attract sufficient financial support. Riabouchinska continued teaching ballet until a few hours before her death. Robards, Jason Nelson American actor (b. July 26, 1922, Chicago, Ill.-d. Dec. 26, 2000, Bridgeport, Conn.), was one of the most distinguished and well-respected stage and screen performers of the second half of the 20th century. He was especially noted for his interpretations of roles in the plays of Eugene O'Neill and was credited with having enhanced O'Neill's reputation and having helped secure his position in theatrical history. Robards enlisted in the navy in 1939 after graduating from high school. He was serving in the South Pacific when the U.S. entered World War II, participated in 13 major engagements, and was awarded the Navy Cross. Following the war-at the urging of his father, actor Jason Robards, Sr.-he enrolled (1946) at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. Robards took a number of odd jobs while seeking to launch his acting career and had a few small parts in stage productions, and in 1953 director Jos Quintero gave him a lead role in an Off-Broadway play, American Gothic. His career did not take off, however, until Quintero offered Robards a small part in a 1956 revival of O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh. When the lead role of Hickey had not been cast, Robards asked to read for it, and by the time he had finished one monologue, it was clear that he could totally inhabit the role. That production made Robards a star and began the revival of O'Neill's reputation. Robards and Quintero further collaborated on Broadway productions of the O'Neill plays Long Day's Journey into Night (1956), Hughie (1964), A Moon for the Misbegotten (1973), and A Touch of the Poet (1977), and Robards revisited some of those roles in later revivals. Robards also starred in such Broadway hits as The Disenchanted (1958), for which he won a Tony Award in 1959; Toys in the Attic (1960); A Thousand Clowns (1962); After the Fall (1964); and No Man's Land (1994). While live theatre was his first love, Robards also had an extensive film and television career. Among his motion pictures were film versions of two of his Broadway successes, Long Day's Journey into Night (1962) and A Thousand Clowns (1965), and two for which he won Academy Awards for best supporting actor, All the President's Men (1976) and Julia (1977). Other notable film performances came in The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968), Melvin and Howard (1980), Philadelphia (1993), and Magnolia (1999). Robards was presented the National Medal of Arts in 1997 and a Kennedy Center Honor in 1999.