Diana Adams

{{Short description|American ballerina and ballet teacher (1926–1993)}} {{Infobox person | name = Diana Adams | image = Diana Adams (1948).jpg | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = March 29, 1926 | birth_place = Staunton, Virginia, US | death_date = January 10, 1993 (aged 66) | death_place = San Andreas, California, US | death_cause = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | employer = | occupation = ballerina, teacher | title = | height = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Diana Adams''' (March 29, 1926 – January 10, 1993) was a principal dancer for the New York City Ballet from 1950 to 1963 and favorite of George Balanchine, later becoming a teacher at — and dean of — the School of American Ballet.

Adams was born in Staunton, Virginia and died in San Andreas, California,<ref name=gale>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Adams, Diana (1927–1993)|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2591300088.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220082440/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2591300088.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 December 2016|encyclopedia=Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia|publisher=Gale Research Inc.|accessdate=8 January 2013}}{{subscription required}}</ref> though she lived in Arnold, California.<ref name=":0">[https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/13/obituaries/diana-adams-leading-ballerina-and-dance-educator-dies-at-66.html Diana Adams, Leading Ballerina And Dance Educator, Dies at 66 - NYTimes.com] Retrieved 2016-11-19.</ref> Adams was married to Hugh Laing from 1947 to 1953.<ref name=":0" /> She later married Ronald Bates. Adams had one child, Georgina Bates.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-01-15-mn-1139-story.html|title=Diana Adams; Ballerina Starred for Balanchine, De Mille|date=1993-01-15|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-19}}</ref>

Diana Adams was one of George Balanchine's "muses" at New York City Ballet and he created roles for her in a series of ballets: ''Western Symphony, Ivesiana, Divertimento #15, Agon, Stars and Stripes, Episodes, Monumentum Pro Gesualdo,'' and ''Liebeslieder Walzer''. According to Jacques D'Amboise's memoirs, Balanchine also created roles on her in ''Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Figure in the Carpet, Midsummer Night's Dream,'' and ''Movements for Piano and Orchestra'', although she did not dance in the premieres due to illness or injury.

== Filmography ==

* ''Knock on Wood'' (1954) * ''Invitation to the Dance'' (1956)

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|id=0010909}} *[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq68pHzyfw4 A scene from Invitation to Dance] at YouTube, Adams dancing with Irving Davies

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Diana}} Category:1926 births Category:1993 deaths Category:People from Staunton, Virginia Category:American prima ballerinas Category:New York City Ballet dancers Category:American ballet teachers Category:People from Calaveras County, California Category:Dancers from California Category:Dancers from Virginia Category:20th-century American women