Degree in music and languages from Pomona College
Studied dance in New York with Katherine Dunham and at The Juilliard School
Eurhythmics Training at the Dalcroze Institute, Geneva

Founding member of The Joffrey Ballet (1956-1964)
Member of Harkness Ballet (1964-?)

John Wilson performed, created and taught dance and music, and directed theater and opera productions.

He studied the Dada Surrealist movement and its influences on contemporary theater, and founded the New York-based company DaDaNewYork in 1986. He presented lecture demonstrations on Dada theater across the U.S. in 1990 and 1991. Wilson also presented Dadaist performances at Vassar College, at Dixon Place, Performance Space 122 and the Knitting Factory in New York, and in theaters in France and Germany.

He performed with his own dance group and with the companies of Joyce Trisler, Pearl Lang, Anna Sokolow and Valerie Bettis, the Juilliard Dance Theater and Kei Takei's Moving Earth company, and worked as an actor with Jean Erdman's Theater of the Open Eye.

Wilson was a founding member of the Joffrey Ballet, and performed with the company from its first tour in 1956 until he joined the Harkness Ballet in 1964. He returned to the Joffrey as guest artist in 1986, in the role of the Widow Simone in Sir Frederick Ashton's La Fille Mal Gardee.

He choreographed works for the Joffrey and the Rebecca Kelly Dance Company, and for drama, dance and opera productions presented by universities and small theater groups all over the country.

Wilson taught at the School of Theater at Boston University, the Opera and Musical Theater programs at New York University and the Juilliard School, the Lincoln Center Institute, American Dance Festival, the Laban Center of London University, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and many other schools in the United States, Europe and the Far East.

John Wilson died of AIDS in New York at the age of 64 on February 24, 1992.

—adapted by Nurit Tilles from New York Times obituary

WORKS:

Lear Limericks
Choreography by John Wilson
Music by Margaret Ruthven Lang and John Wilson
Music performed by Marcy Jellison, soprano and John Wilson, piano
Danced by Maris Wolff
Performed at American Theater Laboratory, New York 2/22/80 (Dance Theatre Workshop's Winter Events series)

Eulalie/Ulalume
Choreography by John Wilson
Music, voices and collage by John Wilson
Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
Danced by Lenore Latimer, John Wilson, Gary Davis and Colleen Cavanaugh
Performed at American Theater Laboratory, New York 2/22/80 (Dance Theatre Workshop's Winter Events series)

Ecossaises (Theme and Interrupted Variations)
Choreography by John Wilson
Music by Franz Schubert, arranged by John Wilson
Music performed by John Klingberg, Marcy Jellison and Yvonne Seggerman
Danced by John Wilson
Performed at American Theater Laboratory, New York 2/22/80 (Dance Theatre Workshop's Winter Events series)

Pas des Deeses
Music by John Field
Music arranged by John Wilson
Choreography by Robert Joffrey
Costumes adapted from an 1946 English dance print
duration: 23:00
premiere (Joffrey): Joffrey Ballet, Kaufmann Concert Hall, New York 5/29/54
premiere (ABT): Ballet Theatre Workshop, Phoenix Theatre, New York 5/7/56
revival premiere: Joffrey Ballet, City Center, New York 10/22/99

Solo Dada
Performed by John Wilson
Performance Space 122, New York 12/5/86 (Avant-Garde-Arama arriba!)

UNCOMPLETED WORKS:
Unknown

WRITINGS:
Unknown

DISCOGRAPHY:
No professionally released recordings

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• "John Wilson, A Joffrey Founder, Choreographer And Teacher, 64" (obituary) by Jennifer Dunning, New York Times, February 28, 1992.
• Obituary, Los Angeles Times, March 4, 1992.
• "John Wilson In ‘Fille'" by Anna Kisselgoff (review of guest appearance with Joffrey Ballet), New York Times, November 4, 1986.

PERFORMING RIGHTS AFFILIATION:
Unknown

RESOURCES:
Unknown

MUSICAL EXECUTOR:
Unknown

OTHER CONTACTS:
Unknown