Doris W. Jones
Doris Winnefred Jones (June 3, 1913 – March 21, 2006) was an American ballet dancer and dance instructor, known for founding the Jones-Haywood School of Ballet in 1941 with Claire Haywood.
Life and career
[edit]Doris Winnefred Jones was born on June 3, 1913, in Malden, Massachusetts, to Maddie Lightfoot Jones and Walter James Jones.[1] She wanted to become a ballet dancer, even though she had never met a black ballet dancer and many studios refused to teach her.[2] However, some let her watch the classes, and from then on she taught herself through observation and books. Soon, she began to teach others and founded a ballet school of her own in 1933.[3] Jones founded the Jones-Haywood School of Ballet in 1941 with Claire Haywood in Washington, D.C., in order to give African-American students the opportunity to learn classical dance.[1] In 1961, Jones and Haywood founded the Capitol Ballet Company as an extension of their school. The Capitol Ballet Company was the leading Jones invited Keith Lee, the first African-American principal male dancer at the American Ballet Theatre, to be a guest teacher at the company, which he accepted. Lee later revived the school in 1988, after it closed in 1985 due to lack of funds.[4]
Famous pupils of Jones include Chita Rivera,[5] Sylvester Campbell, Sandra Fortune, and Louis Johnson.[3]
Jones died on March 21, 2006, in Washington, D.C.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Doris Jones's Biography". The HistoryMakers. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
- ^ a b Dunning, Jennifer (2006-04-04). "Doris W. Jones, 92, Ballet Dancer Who Founded School for Blacks". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
- ^ a b "Jones-Haywood School of Ballet, African American Heritage Trail - www.culturaltourism.org". www.culturaltourismdc.org. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
- ^ "Capital Ballet – Black Dance Festival: DMV". Retrieved 2020-01-02.
- ^ Kaufman, Sarah L. "How Chita Rivera keeps dancing at 83, with 16 screws in her leg". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2016-03-16. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
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- People from Malden, Massachusetts
- American ballerinas
- 1913 births
- 2006 deaths
- African-American ballet dancers
- 20th-century African-American women
- 20th-century African-American people
- 21st-century African-American people
- 21st-century African-American women
- 20th-century American ballet dancers
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