Billy Wilson and Sydney King 

Sydney King immigrated to Philadelphia from Jamaica with her family when she was six years old. After beginning her training with dance pioneer Essie Marie Dorsey, King danced until she married in 1936 at age 19. In 1946 she opened the Sydney Marion School of Dance with Marion Cuyjet, training hundreds of Black dancers in the art of ballet. Billy Wilson studied under both King and Cuyjet, and stayed with King after the pair split in 1948.

 

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About This Orbit: Sydney King, MOBBallet

 

More about Sydney King

Sydney Gibson King, born 1919, came to Philadelphia with her family when she was just two years old and, at an early age, began studying ballet under the tutelage of dance pioneer Essie Marie Dorsey. She opened the Sydney School of Dance in 1948 and for more than six decades she trained hundreds of Black children, many of whom went on to receive national and international recognition in the dance world. These dance greats in no way diminish the accomplishments of her other students who did not choose careers in dance; because of the empowering and esteem-building training at the Sydney King School of Dance, they are today proud and successful professionals in a variety of fields. Mrs. King, the mother of three children, is a widow and, now at the age of 95, sums up her life’s dedication to dance by saying simply she wanted to, “train and create Black ballerinas.”

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About This Orbit: Sydney King, MOBBallet

 

    Ethan Richmond