William Dollar

William Dollar (20 April 1907 – 28 February 1986) was an American dancer, ballet master, choreographer, and teacher. As one of the first American danseurs nobles, he performed with numerous companies, including the Philadelphia Opera Ballet, the American Ballet, Ballet Caravan, Ballet Society, Ballet Theatre, and New York City Ballet.

Early life and training

William Henry Dollar, born in St. Louis, Missouri, was raised in East St. Louis, a city just across the Mississippi River in Illinois, where his parents ran a grocery store and meat market. As a boy, Bill Dollar was a student of piano and gymnastics, in which he excelled, and he had a strong interest in studying ballet. His parents tried to discourage him, but he finally won them over and began his dance training in his mid-teens. After a few years with local teachers, he moved east to pursue dance studies with professional teachers. He had studied with Catherine Littlefield in Philadelphia and with Mikhail Mordkin, Alexandre Volinine, and Michel Fokine in New York before he took his first class with George Balanchine at the newly established School of American Ballet in 1934. He was, by then, already an accomplished technician.

Professional career

Dollar was poised to begin a varied career as a dancer, a choreographer, and a teacher. He would find success in all three fields of endeavor and would make a significant contribution to the development of ballet in the United States and abroad.

Dancer

In 1935, after Balanchine, Lincoln Kirstein, and Edward M.M. Warburg formed the American Ballet, Dollar joined the company as a soloist and was soon dancing principal parts. He appeared in six of the seven ballets, all by Balanchine, in the company's first New York season, presented in March at the Adelphi Theater.

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