In the mood for a good movie? Some toe-tapping music? A thrilling book? ON THIS DAY will lead you to new possibilities every day, tied to interesting moments from history and popular culture. Whether it’s streamable and downloadable music and film, e-books and e-audio, or physical books and DVDs, we hope you’ll find something to enjoy as you pick up a few bits of history each day.

	On this day in 1931, Alvin Ailey was born. Ailey began studying dance in 1949, at the Lester Horton studio in Hollywood. He moved to New York in the mid-1950s, and found that the styles currently in vogue in contemporary dance did not appeal to him. In 1958, he founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and began choreographing his works, blending classical ballet, modern dance, jazz, and African and Native American dance styles. Ailey's choreographic style allowed for more input from his dancers than was customary; his dances were created with their strengths and thoughts in mind. Jennifer Dunning's biography, Alvin Ailey: A Life in Dance, is available in print.
	On this day in 1942, Maurizio Pollini was born. The pianist is noted for his precision and restraint, and has been a champion of new music, particularly by Italian composers such as Luigi Nono and Salvatore Sciarrino. He is equally at home with the standard repertoire; Pollini's performance of the complete Beethoven sonatas is available for streaming at Hoopla.
	And on this day in 1946, Diane Keaton was born. Keaton's first major film role was in The Godfather, but her appearances in several early Woody Allen films established her as a comic actress; she would win the Academy Award for the title role in Allen's Annie Hall. She has published two volumes of memoirs and a collection of her photography. Keaton stars with Allen in the 1975 film Love and Death, a satire of Russian literature; it's available for streaming at Hoopla.