Williams, Lavinia, 1916-1989

Lavinia Williams; dancer and teacher; died of a heart attack at Canapé Vert Hospital, Port-au-Prince, Haiti on July 19; age 73; danced leading roles with Katherine Dunham Dance Company, 1940-1945; also appeared with the company in Broadway musical, Cabin in the Sky, and the films, Stormy Weather and Carnival of Rhythm; toured Europe with revival of Shuffle Along; also appeared on Broadway in revival of Showboat, Finian's Rainbow, and My Darlin' Aida; considered a leading teacher in Haitian dance; went to Haiti to work with National Folkloric Troupe, 1953; founded Haitian Institute of Folklore and Classic Dance, 1954; also taught in Antigua, the Bahamas, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad; later taught at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in Manhattan; wrote on Haitian dance; born in Philadelphia; began studying dance at 3; attended Arts Students League on a scholarship; joined Eugene Von Grona's American Negro Ballet and remained in company for three years; danced in Agnes de Mille's Black Ritual for Ballet Theater in 1940; teachers included: Anna Sokolow, Martha Graham; Lisan Kay, and Kyra Nijinsky; marriage to Shannon Yarborough ended in divorce; had two daughters, Sara Yarborough Smith and Sharon Yarborough

Lavinia Williams; born in Philadelphia as Grace Lavinia Poole Williams; was of Native American, Irish, and African American descent; attended Washington Irving High School; received scholarship to Art Students Leagueas an 18 year old art student became involved with the American Negro Ballet; met Russian/Soviet inventor Leon Theremin at company rehearsal; he was interested in having company experiment with one of his inventions, the terpsitone (an electronic musical instrument, which consisted of a platform fitted with space-controlling antennae, through and around which a dancer would control the musical performance); Williams and Theremin developed a romantic relationship and received a Russian marriage license at the Soviet Consulate, "early" 1938; Theremin grew estranged from former associates due to the interracial marriage; later that year Theremin decided to return to the Soviet Union without telling his wife; Williams assumed he had been kidnapped by authorities and was unable to make contact until many years later; she continued with her own life, eventually marrying Shannon Yarborough, 1948; they had two daughters Sharron and Sara; Williams opened a children's dance studio on Irving Place, Brooklyn; left for Haiti with two daughters, 1953; husband followed, but marriage ended in divorce; Williams reconnected with Theremin in later life, but although they corresponded they never met again in person

Lavinia Williams; African American dancer, teacher, and choreographer; played an influential role in the development of modern and folkloric dances in Haiti, Jamaica, Guyana, and the Bahamas; was a member of the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, 1940-1945; her daughter, Sara Yarborough, was a star dancer with the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater; Williams died in Haiti in 1989;

Lavinia Williams (1916-1989); African American dancer, choreographer, and teacher; was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;later resided in Brooklyn, New York, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti; danced with Katherine Dunham's company; appeared in various Broadway musicals such as Showboat and Cabin in the Sky; invited by the Haitian government to establish a dance school in Haiti, 1953; founded the Haitian Institute of Classic and Folklore Dance of which she was the director;also founded the Ballets d'Haiti dance company; later divide her time between Haiti and the United States; taught at New York University and the Alvin Ailey Dance School, 1980s; Sara Yarborough, Williams's daughter, became a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Lavinia Williams; sometimes went by the married name Lavinia Williams Yarborough; African-American dancer and dance educator; founded national schools of dance in several Caribbean countries; born July 2, 1916 as Grace Lavinia Poole Williams in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; grew up in Portsmouth, Virginia and Brooklyn, New York; studied at Washington Irving High School; attended the Art Students League of New York; joined the American Negro Ballet; worked in: classical ballet, folk dance, modern dance, musicals, and Caribbean dance, which she studied with Katherine Dunham; taught dance and founded and developed national schools of dance in Haiti, Guyana, and the Bahamas, 1953 through the late 1980s; spent most of the last years of her life teaching in New York City; went to Haiti in February 1984; Williams was married to Léon Theremin; later married Shannon Yarborough with whom she had two daughters, Sharron and Sara (who also became a professional dancer); died July 19, 1989 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Lavinia Williams; born in Philadelphia and began taking dance lessons at the age of three; family relocated to Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1920, where she studied ballet through her high school years; Williams moved to New York after she won a scholarship to the Art Students' League, 1935; became a dance teacher at the Urban League in Brooklyn; one of the models at the Art Students' League was a dancer with Eugene Von Grona's American Negro Ballet; Van Grona invited her to audition and she was accepted into the company; she danced with the American Negro Ballet for three years in the late 1930s; danced for one season with Ballet Theatre's "Negro Unit" directed by Agnes de Mille; appeared in the debut of de Mille's "Obeah!" ("Black Ritual"); Katherine Dunham saw Williams perform with the Ballet Theatre and asked her to join the Dunham company; she was a dancer and instructor with Dunham, 1940-1945; working with Dunham, she discovered an interest in ethnic dance that she developed throughout her life; Williams danced numerous solos with the company in works such as: "Rites de Passage," "Bolero," and "Rara Tonga"; also appeared with the company in the Broadway musical "Cabin in the Sky" (1940) and the film STORMY WEATHER (1943); Williams left the Dunham Company to join Sivilla Ford sic] [Syvilla Fort] as a ballet instructor at the first Katherine Dunham School of Dance in Manhattan; she Europe in Noble Sissle's revival of "Shuffle Along" (1945-1946); returned to New York in 1946 to dance in a revival of "Showboat" and the premiere of "Finian's Rainbow"; she later appeared in a production of "My Darlin' Aida" (1952); she married Shannon Yarborough; they purchased a house in Brooklyn and converted the basement into a dance school; the Haitian Education Bureau and the Bureau of Tourism hired Williams to develop a national school of dance, 1953; she trained the National Folklore Group, taught at a girls' high school, and trained monitors from the Bureau of Sports to become dance teachers; founded the Haitian Institute of Folklore and Classic Dance and became the director of Haiti's Theatre de Verdure, 1954; she remained in Haiti for 26 years, training hundreds of dancers, including her daughter, Sara Yarborough, who became a professional dancer; Williams traveled to other countries: Guyana (1972-1976) and the Bahamas (1976-1980)to develop national schools of dance; she returned to Haiti to assist the government in organizing the National School of Dance of Haiti and the Ballet National d'Haiti, 1985; she returned to New York in the late 1980s; taught dance at Alvin Ailey American Dance Center School, New York University, Steps, and Jo Jo's Dance Factory; died on July 19, 1989 from a heart attack