She was born Anina
Margarete Kirstina Petra Jensen on January 6, 1878 in
Denmark, and was adopted at age eight by her uncle, Alexander Genee. He was the
director of a small ballet company. Trained in dance by her uncle and his wife,
she made her debut at age ten under the name Adeline Genee.
Her career really began in 1897 when she was hired at
the Empire Theatre. For the next ten years she was featured in leading roles in
many ballets, including Coppelia,
produced by her uncle.
She visited the United States several times, and
appeared in musicals such as The Soul Kiss (1908)
and The Bachelor Belles (1910). She continued to perform until
1906 when she retired. The end of her career was somewhat overshadowed by the
appearance of Diaghilev's Ballet Russes.
However, her legacy goes beyond her performing career.
In 1920 she led a group of dance professionals who were committed to establishing standards for
dance training. They set up an organization to codify and enforce these
standards. In 1936 the Association of
Operatic Dancing of Great Britain granted a charter to them, and this became what
we know today as the Royal Academy of Dancing (RAD).
Genée remained as founder-president
until 1954.
Adeline Genee died on April 23, 1970, in England.
From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets
Dance History Factoid #231:
“Adeline Genee was the founder and president of the
Royal Academy of Dancing.”
Link of the Day:
Quote of the Day:
“Raise
your quality standards as high as you can live with, avoid wasting your time on
routine problems, and always try to work as closely as possible at the boundary
of your abilities. Do this, because it is the only way of discovering how that
boundary should be moved forward.”
― Edsger W. Dijkstra
― Edsger W. Dijkstra
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