James Jamieson (1920 – December 25, 1993) was a specialist in Highland dancing, best remembered for both performing in and restaging Agnes de Mille's Brigadoon .
Agnes George de Mille was an American dancer and choreographer.
Jamieson (also known as Jamie Jamieson) was a native of Evanston, Illinois and studied at Northwestern University. He began his career in ballet, but by the mid-1940s was an internationally recognized Scottish dance champion. In 1947, de Mille hired Jamieson to coach the cast of Brigadoon in traditional Scottish dancing, which inaugurated a decades-long association with the musical. (He had earlier worked with de Mille on the first national tour of Oklahoma! ) Jamieson replaced James Mitchell as Harry Beaton, then went on to play Harry on tour, overseas, and in assorted stock productions. In New York, he recreated de Mille's choreography for Brigadoon at New York City Center in 1957, on Broadway in 1980, and at New York City Opera in 1986 and 1991; in addition, he was de Mille's assistant for the 1963 City Center revival, which starred Edward Villella as Harry. De Mille also featured Jamieson in the Agnes de Mille Dance Theatre and the Heritage Dance Theatre, as well as in television specials.
Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, 12 miles (19 km) north of downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north. It had a population of 74,486 as of 2010. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan and is the home of Northwestern University. The boundaries of the city of Evanston are coterminous with those of the former Evanston Township, which was dissolved in 2014 by voters with its functions being absorbed by the city of Evanston.
Northwestern University (NU) is a private research university based in Evanston, Illinois, United States, with other campuses located in Chicago and Doha, Qatar, and academic programs and facilities in Miami, Florida; Washington, D.C.; and San Francisco, California. Along with its undergraduate programs, Northwestern is known for its Kellogg School of Management, Pritzker School of Law, Feinberg School of Medicine, Bienen School of Music, Medill School of Journalism, and McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Ballet is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread, highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary based on French terminology. It has been globally influential and has defined the foundational techniques used in many other dance genres and cultures. Ballet has been taught in various schools around the world, which have historically incorporated their own cultures and as a result, the art has evolved in a number of distinct ways. See glossary of ballet.
Besides his various productions of Brigadoon, Jamieson choreographed for a number of regional and stock theatres, working with such stars as Judy Holliday. He had considerably greater influence, however, as a dance teacher. With Helena Antonova, he opened the Academy of the Dance in 1956 in Wilmington, Delaware; his students there included modern dancer Tina Fehlandt, Scottish dancer Victor Wesley, and choreographer Susan Stroman.
Judy Holliday was an American actress, comedian, and singer.
Delaware is one of the 50 states of the United States, in the South-Atlantic or Southern region. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, north by Pennsylvania, and east by New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean. The state takes its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, an English nobleman and Virginia's first colonial governor.
Victor Wesley is a Scottish-born American dancer. He is a three-time Highland Dance World Champion, winning at the Cowal Highland Gathering in Dunoon, Scotland, in 1968, 1969, and 1972.
In 1967, he began his celebrated productions of Tchaikovsky’s "The Nutcracker Ballet" and for 27 consecutive years, produced, directed and performed various roles in the work. [1] Mr. Jamieson died on Christmas Day, 1993, nine days after he appeared as the grandmother in the opening night presentation of the Academy of the Dance's 27th production of "The Nutcracker". [2]
The Delaware Community Foundation offers the James Jamieson Memorial Scholarship to ballet students on a competitive basis.
The Delaware Community Foundation (DCF), one of more than 750 community foundations in the United States, is a nonprofit organization that establishes and manages charitable funds for individuals and organizations primarily from the state of Delaware and surrounding areas. Fundholders include individuals, families, businesses and organizations. The DCF awards annual grants of approximately $15 million and manages over $230 million in assets. The organization's 25th anniversary celebration in 2011 was attended by Vice President Joe Biden, who served as one of Delaware's U.S. Senators for 36 years.[5]
