Billy Wilson and Marion Cuyjet

Marion Cuyjet was born in Delaware and began her dance career in Philadelphia under the training of Essie Marie Dorsey in the 1930s. In 1946 she opened the Sydney-Marion School of Dance with Sydney King. There, she taught Billy Wilson until the pair separated in 1948. Upon the split, she formed a new school on her own the same year called The Judimar School of Dance named after herself and her daughter, Judy.

 

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About This Orbit: Marion Cuyjet, MOBBallet

 

More about Marion Cuyjet

Marion Cuyjet was a former student of Essie Marie Dorsey. After a brief partnership with classmate Sydney King in 1946 where they opened The Sydney-Marion School of Dance, Cuyjet opened the Judimar School of Dance, which offered classes in ballet, Afro-Caribbean dance, modern dance, tap, jazz, social dance, folk dance, children’s dance, and acrobatics. She named the school after her and her daughter Judy, born 1940.. The school was located in Philadelphia’s city center and was the first African American business located downtown. Cuyjet’s major objectives were twofold: the first was to make dancers and the second was to provide dance preparation to all youth as a vehicle for social, cultural, intellectual, and physical development. Some of Judimar’s former students include Judith Jamison, Arthur Hall, Joan Myers Brown, John Jones, Elmer Ball, Donna Lowe, Delores Browne, China White, and Tamara Guillebeaux.

 

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MOB Balley Presents Timeline: 1949, MOB Ballet

 

 

Ethan Richmond