Sallie Wilson

Person
Biography
Sallie Wilson, who died in May 2008 of cancer at age 76, was closely linked throughout her career with the works of Antony Tudor—an association that began at the Pillow in the summer of 1951 when she was a 19-year-old member of the Metropolitan Opera Ballet.  She was one of several dancers brought to the Pillow by Tudor as the nucleus of what was called the Jacob's Pillow Ballet.  This little group  performed on six of the season's ten programs, presenting the world premieres of several works by Tudor and other choreographers, as well as a performance of the classic Dark Elegies (the ballet in which Wilson is seen in this John Lindquist photo from that summer).  She returned to the Pillow to perform with different companies the following two summers, and then had little further connection until she was brought back by Benjamin Harkarvy to coach Tudor works for the Ballet Project in 1988 (the year after Tudor's death).  We have a video of a showing she co-hosted with the students that summer, in which she introduces herself by saying, "I had the privilege of working with Antony Tudor for, I think, about 38 years, and it started here at Jacob's Pillow.  There was a 'bonding' with Mr. Tudor that began here."  Most recently, she was a member of the Pillow's 65th Anniversary Honorary Artists' Committee.
Related Productions
Dark Elegies (dancer)
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