Lavinia Williams
Encyclopedia
Lavinia Williams who sometimes went by the married name Lavinia Williams Yarborough, was an African-American dancer and dance educator who founded national schools of dance in several Caribbean
countries.
, grew up in Portsmouth, Virginia
and Brooklyn, New York and studied in New York City
after high school, where she joined the American Negro Ballet, beginning her career in a number of dance companies and stage productions.
Her work included classical ballet
, folk
, modern
, musicals
, and, most importantly, Caribbean dance, which she mastered in the 1940s while working with Katherine Dunham
. She spent nearly the entirety of the years from 1953 through the late 1980s teaching dance and founding and developing national schools of dance in Haiti
, Guyana
, and the Bahamas
.
She spent most of the last years of her life teaching in New York City
, but left the United States for Haiti in 1984 February. She finally died of a heart attack in Port-au-Prince
, although several sources and Beryl Campbell reported it as "some kind of food poisoning". Diana Dunbar, Lavinia's friend and student, arranged her funeral service.
in the middle 1930s. In 1938, Theremin suddenly returned to the Soviet Union
, where he was imprisoned and later sent to a labor camp. Williams never saw him again.
She married Shannon Yarborough in the late 1940s and had two daughters, Sharron and Sara. The younger daughter, Sara Yarborough-Smith, followed in her mother's footsteps as a professional dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Dance Theater of Harlem and the Robert Joffrey Ballet, among others.
Lavinia visited Clara Rockmore
in 1974 and expressed happiness in discovering that Theremin was still alive; shortly afterwards she and Theremin started corresponding with Theremin even proposing re-marriage.
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
countries.
Biography
Lavinia Williams was born the second of six children in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, grew up in Portsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the city had a total population of 95,535.The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard, is a historic and active U.S...
and Brooklyn, New York and studied in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
after high school, where she joined the American Negro Ballet, beginning her career in a number of dance companies and stage productions.
Her work included classical ballet
Classical ballet
Classical Ballet is the most formal of the ballet styles, it adheres to traditional ballet technique. There are variations relating to area of origin, such as Russian ballet, French ballet, British ballet and Italian ballet...
, folk
Folk dance
The term folk dance describes dances that share some or all of the following attributes:*They are dances performed at social functions by people with little or no professional training, often to traditional music or music based on traditional music....
, modern
Modern dance
Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.-Intro:...
, musicals
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
, and, most importantly, Caribbean dance, which she mastered in the 1940s while working with Katherine Dunham
Katherine Dunham
Katherine Mary Dunham was an American dancer, choreographer, songwriter, author, educator, and activist...
. She spent nearly the entirety of the years from 1953 through the late 1980s teaching dance and founding and developing national schools of dance in Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
, and the Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
.
She spent most of the last years of her life teaching in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, but left the United States for Haiti in 1984 February. She finally died of a heart attack in Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince is the capital and largest city of the Caribbean nation of Haiti. The city's population was 704,776 as of the 2003 census, and was officially estimated to have reached 897,859 in 2009....
, although several sources and Beryl Campbell reported it as "some kind of food poisoning". Diana Dunbar, Lavinia's friend and student, arranged her funeral service.
Marriages and children
Williams married Léon ThereminLéon Theremin
Léon Theremin was a Russian and Soviet inventor. He is most famous for his invention of the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments. He is also the inventor of interlace, a technique of improving the picture quality of a video signal, widely used in video and television technology...
in the middle 1930s. In 1938, Theremin suddenly returned to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, where he was imprisoned and later sent to a labor camp. Williams never saw him again.
She married Shannon Yarborough in the late 1940s and had two daughters, Sharron and Sara. The younger daughter, Sara Yarborough-Smith, followed in her mother's footsteps as a professional dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Dance Theater of Harlem and the Robert Joffrey Ballet, among others.
Lavinia visited Clara Rockmore
Clara Rockmore
Clara Rockmore was a virtuoso performer of the theremin, an electronic musical instrument.-Biography :Born as Clara Reisenberg in Vilnius, Lithuania, Rockmore was a child prodigy on the violin and entered the Imperial conservatory of Saint Petersburg at the age of five...
in 1974 and expressed happiness in discovering that Theremin was still alive; shortly afterwards she and Theremin started corresponding with Theremin even proposing re-marriage.
Featured in
- Aschenbrenner, Joyce. Katherine Dunham: reflections on the social and political contexts of Afro-American dance. New York: CORDCongress on Research in DanceCongress on Research in Dance is an international non-profit interdisciplinary society for dance researchers, artists, performers and choreographers. CORD publishes the Dance Research Journal, and sponsors annual conferences which distribute annual awards...
: 1981.