Background
De Jong was born in Tanjung Balai on Sumatra, Indonesia and moved to the Netherlands in 1946.
De Jong was born in Tanjung Balai on Sumatra, Indonesia and moved to the Netherlands in 1946.
In November 2007 Bettie de Jong received the Dance Magazine Award to recognize her contributions to dance. After Indonesia she continued her early training in dance and mime in Wageningen, the Netherlands. Her first professional engagement was with the Netherlands Pantomime Company.
After coming to New York in 1958 to study at the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, she performed with the Martha Graham Dance Company, the Pearl Language Dance Theater, John Butler and Lucas Hoving and was seen on Columbia Broadcasting System with Rudolf Nureyev in a duet choreographed by choreographer Paul Tayor.
Bettie de Jong joined the Taylor Company in 1962. Bettie de Jong belonged to the best dancers in United States of America and finished her active dancing career in 1985.
During those 24 years Paul Taylor set 24 parts in these dances for her:
Tracer
Piece Period
Louisiana Negra
Scudorama
Party Mix
The Red Room
9 Dances With Music by Corelli
From Sea To Shining Sea
Post Meridian
Orbs
Lento
Public Domain
Churchyard
Foreign Exchange
Big Bertha
Book of Beasts
Fetes
Guests of May
Noah"s Minstrels
American Genesis
Esplanade
Cloven Kingdom
Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rehearsal)
House of Cards
In from 1966/1967, filmed by Hilary Harris, Bettie de Jong performed the same dance nine times, starting and ending in a recline position. As the film proceeds the camera becomes more and more adventurous.
The film was shown at the Museum of Modern Art for a very long time as an example for dance film-making.