Ellis, Lucille, 1919-1998

Lucille Ellis (October 5, 1919 - November 12, 1998) was an African American dancer, who became a prominent member of the Katherine Dunham Dance Company and later a respected teacher of the Dunham Technique and stager of Dunham's work. Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Ellis joined Dunham's troupe in Chicago, Illinois while still a teenager. Dunham selected Ellis for the production, Tropical Pinafore (1940), which she was staging and choreographing for the American Negro Light Opera Association in Chicago. Ellis and the entire Dunham company would go to New York later that same year to appear in a new Broadway musical, Cabin in the Sky, which helped to establish Dunham's popularity and fame. Ellis remained with the Dunham company from 1941 to its disbanding in 1960, becoming a principal dancer and touring extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Mexico, South America, East Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Other Broadway appearances by Ellis with the company include: Tropical Revue (1943), Carib Song (1945), Bal Negre (1946) and Bamboche!.

When not touring, Ellis often taught at Dunham's school in New York. After she stopped performing, Ellis taught dance at her own studio in Chicago, as well as at the Abraham Lincoln Centre, during the 1970s. She also taught master classes in the Dunham Technique, including the Annual Dunham Technique Seminar, well into the 1990s, until ill health began to curtail her teaching. Among her students were: Alyo Tolbert and Geraldine Williams. Ellis passed away in 1998.