Guest segreta Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 Could somebody tell me about her dance career?I'd appreciated any information a lot. Especially if someone knew what's her real name! Everywhere I've seen her name it's been just "Jillana".. Link to comment
Guest jillana Posted May 4, 2001 Share Posted May 4, 2001 Originally posted by jillana: Originally posted by *Segreta*:[qb]Could somebody tell me about her dance career?I'd appreciated any information a lot. Especially if someone knew what's her real name! Everywhere I've seen her name it's been just "Jillana".. [/QB] You might check my web site: www.jillanaschool.com. Jillana has always been my name! no more, no less Link to comment
Guest segreta Posted May 4, 2001 Share Posted May 4, 2001 Oh, thanks for unraveling the mystery! And thanks a lot for the link too, your website is very intresting! Link to comment
Alexandra Posted May 4, 2001 Share Posted May 4, 2001 To give you some background, Segreta, Jillana is an American ballerina who danced with New York City Ballet (beginning with Ballet Society, I believe), American Ballet Theatre (briefly) -- and on Broadway. She was part of the generation of City Ballet dancers known for their individuality -- Diana Adams, Tanaquil LeClerq, Melissa Hayden, Patricia Wilde, Allegra Kent. She was in the original cast of "Liebeslieder Walzer" and created the role of Helena in Balanchine's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and was the first Coquette in the NYCB production of "Night Shadow." Link to comment
ORZAK Posted May 4, 2001 Share Posted May 4, 2001 I can give you some further information. Jillana retired to San Diego - and that is where I knew her. I was in class with her many, many times - both as a classmate and when she would occasionally teach class. She danced with San Diego Ballet under the artistic direction of Keith Martin and Sonia Arova. She danced Juliet in Romeo and Juliet with Sonia Arova's husband Thor Sutowski. I can tell you from personal experience she is not only a very lovely dancer, a great teacher, but also a very kind and caring person. I got to talk to her quite a bit one evening when she was at my home, as well as in ballet class. Basheva Link to comment
Estelle Posted May 4, 2001 Share Posted May 4, 2001 Segreta, there is an entry about Jillana in Horst Koegler's "Concise Oxford dictionary of ballet" (a very useful book, by the way. It is out of print on amazon.com, but seems to be available on amazon.co.uk). It says that she studied with Emily Hatley and the School of American Ballet, and joined the Ballet Society in 1948. She became a soloist of the NYCB in 1955 and stayed with the company until 1966 (dancing for one season 1957-58 with ABT). As Alexandra wrote, she was in the original casts of "Liebeslieder Walzer" (1960) and "A Midsummer night's dream" (1962), and also Robbins' "The Pied Piper" (1951). It also says that her name was Jillana Zimmermann. Link to comment
Alexandra Posted May 4, 2001 Share Posted May 4, 2001 And, I believe Jillana's teacher, Emily Hatley, was Diana Adams mother. (BTW, I agree with you on the usefulness of Horst Koegler's dictionary, Estelle. The new version ("The Oxford Dictionary of Dance") is troublesome -- a lot of omissions, lots of complaints of inaccuracies, and, perhaps most important, the lack of Koegler's broad background and knowledge. I've been saving up some book announcements and comments, including one about this one, and hope to get to them this weekend.) Link to comment
Estelle Posted May 4, 2001 Share Posted May 4, 2001 Oops, I had made a mistake: it is Hadley with a "d", not Hatley. Koegler's book said that Adams studied with her, but doesn't say if she was her mother. Link to comment
Alexandra Posted May 4, 2001 Share Posted May 4, 2001 Estelle, that was in Chujoy's Dance Encyclopedia. Link to comment
Guest jillana Posted May 5, 2001 Share Posted May 5, 2001 Mr. Koegler made a few errors in his book regarding my background: I joined Ballet Society in 1947, was made a principal, by passing soloist, in 1955 and left the company in 1967. Emily Hadley was Diana Adam's stepmother. [Edited to delete a posting error. AT] [ 05-04-2001: Message edited by: alexandra ] Link to comment
Ed McPherson Posted June 30, 2002 Share Posted June 30, 2002 DANG!!! you all are sharp! I dont know but, man that is like what i want to be able to do, know that much about ballet and its history, all the famous dancers from NYC, its cool! quite classy! keep up the good work! Link to comment
Paquita Posted June 30, 2002 Share Posted June 30, 2002 You might be interested in reading this recent interview with Jillana (she could do 32 fouettes en pointe at age 6! Now I'm feeling terribly behind!). Here's the link: http://www.criticaldance.com/interviews/ji...lana020603.html Link to comment
Ed McPherson Posted June 30, 2002 Share Posted June 30, 2002 OMG! thats sooooo cool! thanks a ton!!! Link to comment
Guest Ange4567 Posted July 3, 2002 Share Posted July 3, 2002 OMG, you are really Jillana? Wow! My mom has an old book with photos of you in it(can't remember the name of the photo.. think it had fonteyn in it?) Anyways, nice to meet you! You look like such a wonderful dancer! **Can you tell I've never met anyone famous before??** Link to comment
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