Agnes De Mille

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Agnes De Mille was a journalist, a writer, and a choreographer, but most importantly, a ballet dancer. She was born on September 18, 1905 in New York, New York. She died on October 7, 1993, also in New York, New York. Her cause of death was a stroke. Agnes came from a very successful family. Her father, William, was a playwright. Her grandfather, Henry George, was a political economist. Her uncle, Cecil B de Mille was a director and film producer. Her family moved to California in 1913, and this is where she graduated cum laude from UCLA. Overall, her family’s career choices introduced her to the arts, as she wanted to be a ballet dancer from when she was a little kid. Later, in 1943 Agnes go married to Walter Prude who, at the time, was an officer in the Army. Walter and Agnes had a son named Jonathan de Mille Prude. …show more content…
In 1940, she created Black Ritual for the Ballet Theatre. This Theatre moved on to be called the American Ballet Theatre. Her work in Black Ritual influenced the arts because this was the first time that African American dancers had been involved in a serious ballet company dance. One of her biggest successes came in early in her career. In 1942, she choreographed and had the leading role in Rodeo. Shortly after rodeo she choreographed Oklahoma!. Oklahoma! and Rodeo was both the western musicals and both successes. In fact, these two musicals are still performed today. Her later works were less successful. But she continued to work until the time of her death. As well as influencing dance styles, she also influenced performers. With one of her later works Allegro, created in 1947, she worked as the stage director and the choreographer. This was the first time that this had been done by a dancer. Overall, Agnes performed and created many musicals and