Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 8, 1993 TAG: 9310080241
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-2 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
De Mille, who had suffered for years from the effects of a stroke, died at her Manhattan home.
She alternated between Broadway - doing dances for shows such as "Brigadoon," "Carousel," "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and "Paint Your Wagon" - and the world of ballet and modern dance, where she created such works as the 1942 "Rodeo," with music by Aaron Copland.
"She taught us that it was not enough to dance the steps, but we had to portray a character and do so honestly, with sincerity and vitality," said Kevin McKenzie, artistic director of American Ballet Theater. "She possessed a choreographic genius, an awe-inspiring literacy and a potency of character that was mesmerizing."
She was a niece of famed film director Cecil B. De Mille, and she spent much of her girlhood in Hollywood when the movie industry was in its infancy. Her father, Cecil's older brother William, also was a director and writer in theater and films.
"I came of a family of doers," she once said. "I was brought up never to sit down if possible. Artists' commitment is lifelong and total. We're happy doing it. . . . I never was bored. I never was exhausted emotionally. Ever, ever."
On Broadway, she won Tony Awards for "Brigadoon" in 1947 and "Kwamina" in 1962. But for theatergoers, she is best known for "Oklahoma!," which made its debut on Broadway in March 1943.
De Mille used dance like the show's writers, Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rodgers, used words and music - to explore character, particularly in the dream ballet when the heroine thinks about who will take her to the social.
"What moves me to do what I can do is that I am essentially a storyteller," she once said.
Her work helped elevate the status of dance in a musical. Until she and George Balanchine came along, dance was more of an afterthought, to give performers something to do while the scenery was being changed or to give men in the audience a good view of female limbs.
by CNB