Adams, Diana (1927–1993)
Adams, Diana (1927–1993)
American ballerina. Born in Staunton, Virginia, in 1927; died in San Andreas, California, in January 1993; studied with her stepmother, Emily Hadley Adams , in Memphis, Tennessee; studied at the Ballet Arts School in New York City with Agnes de Mille and Edward Caton; lived in Arnold, California.
A leading ballerina with both the New York City Ballet and the American Ballet Theater (ABT), Diana Adams was one of George Balanchine's favorite dancers. She performed in many of his major ballets in the 1950s and is especially remembered for the difficult pas de deux danced with Arthur Mitchell in the Balanchine-Stravinsky Agon in 1957. "Diana's nervous intensity made the whole pas de deux work," said Mitchell, "because it's not so much the difficulty of the steps or how flexible you are, it's the precariousness."
A year after making her 1943 debut in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma!, which was choreographed by her former teacher Agnes de Mille , Adams joined the ABT. She was seen in the title role of David Lichine's Helen of Troy and as the Queen of the Wilis in Giselle. In 1948, she created the role of the mother in de Mille's Fall River Legend. Two years later, Adams joined the New York City Ballet, where she performed until her retirement in 1963. She also appeared in the Danny Kaye film Knock on Wood (1954) and Gene Kelly's Invitation to the Dance (1956). Following her retirement, Adams taught at the School of American Ballet in New York.