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Betsy Dickerson lectures at the University of Connecticut

 Digital Record
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11134/20002:860685468

Dates

  • 1978 November 7

Summary

Dancer Betsy Dickerson lectured on 11/7/1978 (2015-0002/RR139).

Biographical / Historical

Dickerson was one of the first Black dancers at Radio City Ballet and had a career in musical theater. Betsy Ann Dickerson was born circa 1940 and grew up in Philadelphia. She attended the McKinley School and Abington High School. She received her dance training at Sydney King’s school, alongside Billy Wilson and Joan Myers Brown, and from the Juilliard School on scholarship. She was one of the first Black dancers at Radio City Ballet and had a career in musical theater. Dickerson performed in the original Broadway casts of Bajour (1964), Sweet Charity (1966), Canterbury Tales (1969), and La Strada/title> (1969) and on the national tour of The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1962). In 1957, Dickerson taught ballet, modern, and jazz at Central Music Center in her home state of Pennsylvania. Later in her life she founded and directed The Dickerson Performing Arts Center. On January 31, 1960 at the 92nd Street Y, Dickerson appeared in the same Alvin Ailey performance in which Revelations first premiered. [https://mobballet.org/index.php/2021/01/08/betsy-ann-dickerson/]

Extent

1 Reels (Magnetic tape audio recordings) : 1 reel, 0:50:31; tape speed 3¾ IPS; track position ½-Track Mono; Substrate: Polyester.

Existence and Location of Originals

Original audio recordings reside in the University of Connecticut, Black Experience in the Arts Collection, Archives & Special Collections, UConn Library.

Repository Details

Part of the Archives and Special Collections, University of Connecticut Library Repository

Contact:
University of Connecticut Library
405 Babbidge Road Unit 1205
Storrs Connecticut 06269-1205 USA US
860-486-2524