Diana Adams

Who was Diana Adams?

Diana Adams was a principal dancer for the New York City Ballet from 1950 to 1963 and favorite of George Balanchine, later becoming a teacher at — and dean of — the School of American Ballet.

Adams was born in Staunton, Virginia and died in San Andreas, California.

Diana Adams was one of George Balanchine’s “muses” at New York City Ballet and he created roles for her in a series of great ballets: Western Symphony, Ivesiana, Divertimento #15, Agon, Stars and Stripes, Episodes, Monumentum Pro Gesualdo, and Liebeslieder Walzer. According to Jacques D’Amboise’s memoirs, Balanchine also created roles on her in Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Figure in the Carpet, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Movements for Piano and Orchestra, although she did not dance in the premieres due to illness or injury.