Schönberg, Bessie

Bessie Schönberg was born in Hanover, Germany on December 27, 1906, the youngest of three girls. Her American born mother, Rose MacGrew had met and married Alexander Schönberg, then an engineering student, while studying music in Germany. When Schönberg was very young the family moved often as MacGrew pursued a career as opera singer. In 1911 or 1912 however, apparently due to her mother's illness and problems in the marriage, MacGrew suddenly left the family and returned to the United States.

Two years later Schönberg's father was called into active military duty and she and her sisters were left in the care of Gertrude Bierschenk, a young woman originally hired as a companion to Schönberg's mother. She moved to Dresden with the three girls at the start of World War I. At age nineteen at the invitation of her mother, and with the encouragement of her father, Schönberg moved to Eugene, Oregon to be with her mother and to study at the University there. Finally she had an opportunity to study dance, in which her father had never approved of her becoming involved. Yet after the rich cultural climate she had experienced in Dresden she was at first quite dissatisfied with the teachers and art she experienced in the United States. It wasn't until 1927 when Martha Hill joined the faculty of the University of Oregon that Schönberg became truly inspired by her studies in dance.

In 1929 Schönberg decided to leave Oregon with Hill and go to New York to study dance. Hill helped Schönberg in numerous ways, including arranging for her to meet Martha Graham. After taking a few classes with Graham, Schönberg was invited to join her company and had the opportunity to observe first hand the earliest years of the company's existence and Graham's development as an artist. She performed in the original casts of such Graham masterworks as Primitive Mysteries and Heretic, as well as with other choreographers through her connection to the Neighborhood Playhouse, before her career was cut short by a knee injury. During this same period she also met Dimitry Varley, an economist working for the Department of Labor. They married in January of 1934.

In the fall of 1933 Schönberg accepted a position as Hill's assistant at Bennington College where she simultaneously completed the undergraduate studies that had been interrupted when she left Oregon. In the summer of 1934 she assisted Hill at the first Bennington Summer School of the Dance. She continued there in the summers through 1941, but after graduating in 1935 lived during the year with her husband in New York. She continued however to travel and teach at numerous institutions including Sarah Lawrence College. In 1941, she was appointed chairperson of the Sarah Lawrence Dance Department where she remained until her retirement in 1975.

During these years Schönberg also developed numerous long-term relationships with key institutions in the field of modern dance including the American Dance Festival at Connecticut College, Jacob's Pillow in the Berkshires and Dance Theater Workshop in New York City. Additionally, she served as advisor and advocate to countless individuals working at all levels of professionalism and in a vast range of styles, many whom have came to rely on her as both a mentor and a friend. In honor of her contributions to the field, the New York Dance and Performance awards given annually by Dance Theater Workshop were dubbed the "Bessies" and theaters at both Dance Theater Workshop and Sarah Lawrence were named after her. She joined the faculty of the Juilliard School in her mid-80s and she remained an extremely sought after teacher and advisor up until her death in 1997.

From the guide to the Bessie Schönberg papers, 1932-1997 and undated, (The New York Public Library. Jerome Robbins Dance Division.)