Background
Blossom, Beverly was born on August 28, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Daughter of Theodore and Florence (Pfeiffer) Schmidt.
Blossom, Beverly was born on August 28, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Daughter of Theodore and Florence (Pfeiffer) Schmidt.
Bachelor, Roosevelt University, 1950. Master of Arts, Sarah Lawrence, 1953.
She was an original member and soloist with the Alwin Nikolais Dance Theater, a modern dance choreographer for Illinois Dance Theatre, Blossom & Company and others, and a Professor at the at Urbana-Champaign. Born in Chicago, Illinois to Theodore and Florence Schmidt, she held a bachelor"s degree in liberal arts from Roosevelt University and a master"s degree in dance from Sarah Lawrence College. New York She was a principal dancer of the Alwin Nikolais Dance Theatre from 1953-1963, dancing alongside Murray Louis and Phyllis Lamhut.
Blossom was Professor of Dance at the at Urbana-Champaign from 1967-1990, and was a Professor Emerita until her death.
She choreographed and performed more than 100 works and received numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council for the Arts, Illinois Arts Council, and private foundations. She renewed her career as a performer, presenting her solo works at the 1988 Jacob"s Pillow, Massachusetts “Splash” Festival, and at the Joyce Theatre 1989 showcase “Womanworks”.
Jennifer Dunning of the The New York Times called Blosson “a rare performer”, adding "a zany, hilarious goof of a clown, Mission Blossom is also a tragic figure of great dignity, bringing an audience to tears and laughter as her dances ravel and unravel, simultaneously, before one’s eyes” (1985). In 1994 Anna Kisselgoff described Blossom"s tribute to her mentor Nikolais after his death: "Here, she is the tattered clown with a suitcase, gazing at a shattered Styrofoam mannekin.
Reassembling the figure, she swept it into a soaring curve. but this was only a remembrance of poetic time past, a strong tribute to the death of an artist."
The couple had one son, Michael.
After her retirement, she choreographed for her own company (Blossom & Company Incorporated), in addition to guest performing and teaching. In December 2010, she appeared in the Nikolais Centennial Alumni Concerts at Hunter College, speaking and performing at both presentations. Blossom was a mentor to Henning Rübsam, who first studied with her at the Nikolais studio and then performed her work starting in 1994.
Other interpreters of Blossom"s dances have included Betsy Fisher, Cynthia Pipkin-Doyle and Christine Reisner.
Beverly Blossom died in Chicago, Illinois on November 1, 2014, from cancer, aged 88.
Member American Guild of Musical Artists (certified), Screen Actors Guild (certified), Union of Professional Employees (certified). F C.
Married Roberts Blossom, 1966 (divorced). 1 child, Michael.