William Weslow is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 dancer who split his career between ballet

Ballet

Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...

 and musical theatre

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

.

Dance career

Weslow studied ballet with the noted teacher Mary Ann Wells, whose other students included Marc Platt

Marc Platt

Marc Platt is a British writer. He is most known for his work with the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.After studying catering at a technical college, Platt worked first for Trust House Forte, and then in administration for the BBC...

 and Tommy Rall

Tommy Rall

Thomas Edward "Tommy" Rall is an American ballet dancer, tap dancer and acrobatic dancer who was a prominent featured player in 1950s musical comedies...

. He spent most of his career with the New York City Ballet

New York City Ballet

New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Leon Barzin was the company's first music director. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company...

, where he was promoted to soloist by 1960. In addition to featured roles in George Balanchine

George Balanchine

George Balanchine , born Giorgi Balanchivadze in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to a Georgian father and a Russian mother, was one of the 20th century's most famous choreographers, a developer of ballet in the United States, co-founder and balletmaster of New York City Ballet...

's Night Shadows (or La Somnambula), Theme and Variations, The Prodigal Son, Western Symphony, and The Four Temperaments, Weslow also danced in ballets by Frederick Ashton

Frederick Ashton

Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton OM, CH, CBE was a leading international dancer and choreographer. He is most noted as the founder choreographer of The Royal Ballet in London, but also worked as a director and choreographer of opera, film and theatre revues.-Early life:Ashton was born at...

, Todd Bolender

Todd Bolender

Todd Bolender was a renowned ballet dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director. He was an instrumental figure in the creation and dissemination of classical dance and ballet as an American art form...

, Willam Christensen

Willam Christensen

Willam Farr Christensen was an American ballet dancer, choreographer and founder of the San Francisco Ballet and Ballet West in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is known for bringing the complete version of the Russian ballet The Nutcracker to the United States, as well as staging the first American...

, and Lew Christensen

Lew Christensen

Lewellyn Farr "Lew" Christensen was a ballet dancer, choreographer and director for many companies. He was largely associated with George Balanchine and the San Francisco Ballet, which he directed from 1952–1984...

. At American Ballet Theatre

American Ballet Theatre

American Ballet Theatre , based in New York City, was one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century. It continues as a leading dance company in the world today...

, he was featured in Katherine Litz's The Enchanted. Some of his performances were filmed and have been archived at the New York Public Library

New York Public Library

The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...

.

On Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

, Weslow was featured in Annie Get Your Gun

Annie Get Your Gun (musical)

Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley , who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler.The 1946 Broadway production...

and appeared in the original casts of four other musicals, including Call Me Madam

Call Me Madam

Call Me Madam is a musical with a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse and music and lyrics by Irving Berlin.A satire on politics and foreign affairs that spoofs America's penchant for lending billions of dollars to needy countries, it centers on Sally Adams, a well-meaning but ill-informed...

, Wonderful Town

Wonderful Town

Wonderful Town is a musical with a book written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Leonard Bernstein...

, and Plain and Fancy

Plain and Fancy

Plain and Fancy is a musical comedy with a book by Joseph Stein and Will Glickman, lyrics by Arnold Horwitt, and music by Albert Hague. One of the first depictions of an Amish community in American pop culture, it includes a traditional barn-raising and an old-fashioned country...

. He also performed at Radio City Music Hall

Radio City Music Hall

Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...

.

Weslow's television credits include being a regular on Your Hit Parade

Your Hit Parade

Your Hit Parade, is an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1955 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During this 24-year run, the show had 19 orchestra leaders and 52 singers or...

, as well as guest appearances on Omnibus

Omnibus (TV series)

Omnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. It ran from 1967 until 2003, usually being transmitted on Sunday evenings....

and various specials.

Later life

By the late 1960s, Weslow had already gained a reputation as a skilled masseuse, working with dancers like his friend Edward Villella

Edward Villella

Edward Villella is an American ballet dancer and choreographer, frequently cited as America's most celebrated male dancer at the time....

. After retiring from dance, Weslow became a successful massage therapist.

Personal life

Weslow was involved at various times with photographer George Platt Lynes

George Platt Lynes

George Platt Lynes was an American fashion and commercial photographer.Born in East Orange, New Jersey to Adelaide and Joseph Russell Lynes he spent his childhood in New Jersey but attended the Berkshire School in Massachusetts. He was sent to Paris in 1925 with the idea of better preparing him...

 and choreographer Jerome Robbins

Jerome Robbins

Jerome Robbins was an American theater producer, director, and choreographer known primarily for Broadway Theater and Ballet/Dance, but who also occasionally directed films and directed/produced for television. His work has included everything from classical ballet to contemporary musical theater...

.

Further reading

• "Weslow, William." In Barbara Naomi Cohen-Stratyner, Biographical Dictionary of Dance. New York: Collier Macmillan, 1982.

External links

• Entry at the Internet Broadway Database