Born: 12 March 1914, United States
Died: 8 May 1984
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Ellen Virginia Williams
The following is republished with permission from the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail.
The founder of the Boston Ballet in 1963 was E. Virginia Williams (1914–84), a dynamic leader and artist. A dancer herself, Williams chose to devote her life to creating the first professional repertory ballet company in New England. Under Williams’s leadership and those of her successors, the company is now one of the top five ballet companies in North America. Upon the recommendation of choreographer George Balanchine, Virginia Williams started the Boston Ballet with a large Ford Foundation grant, changing its name from the New England Civic Ballet Company. The Boston Ballet’s official debut was on January 25, 1965, in John Hancock Hall.