Onna White: Master Choreographer

Onna White was one of the most significant Broadway dancers and choreographers of the late twentieth century. Born in Inverness, a town in Nova Scotia in March of 1922, Onna White described herself as "a sickly child," ordered to exercise by her doctor. (Onna White, 173) To comply with the doctor's orders, White began taking dance lessons with Frieda Marie Shaw at twelve years of age. White took to ballet quickly and progressed to dancing en pointe after only two years of instruction.

Shaw, White's first dance teacher, recognized the child's natural talent and recommended she study ballet in San Francisco with her friends, Harold, Lew and William Christensen, the directors of the San Francisco ballet school. And so, in 1939, Onna White and her mother moved from Nova Scotia to San Francisco, where she studied for a under the Christensen brothers and became a corps member of the San Francisco Ballet Company at the age of sixteen. (White, 173) Her early entry into the company mostly owed to her ability to execute double aire tours, complicated jumps typically given to male dancers. As such, Onna White was initially cast in roles typically given to young boys. (White, 174) She eventually graduated to dancing as a principle, but complained that she "was always the Swan Queen or something" and would have preferred performing the "sexy parts." (Billman, 524)

Following a seven year career with the San Francisco Ballet Company, Onna White traveled to New York at the insistence of one of her ballet friends. Upon her arrival in New York, White auditioned to dance in Finian's Rainbow, and was hired as a chorus member, "replacing the girl who was the captain of the group." (White, 175) Her work as a chorus captain caught the attention of Michael Kidd, who later hired her to assist with the choreography in Guys and Dolls (1950) and Arms and the Girl (1950). (Billman, 524) Michael Kidd found hiring a female assistant helpful in broadening his perspective as a male choreographer. While the two worked together on the choreography for Guys and Dolls, Michael Kidd "would do a step and then say, ""Now Onna, do it like a girl would do it."" (White, 175). White's female perspective on choreography was especially utilized in the numbers "Take Back Your Mink" and "Bushel and a Peck." (White, 175)

Onna White attributed her success in choreography to Kidd's mentorship. She served as an apprentice of sorts, helping Michael Kidd with his choreography in exchange for the best choreography training a young dancer could possibly obtain. Michael Kidd passed down not only his choreography style, but his belief that the role of dance in theater is to support the story. He taught Onna White that "you must always choreograph to the book. You must read that script and base your choreography on...the story or script." (White, 176)

In 1955, Michael Kidd delegated Onna White to develop choreography for newer stagings of Finian's Rainbow and Guys and Dolls which were performed at the New York City Center and in Las Vegas. (Billman, 524) White felt that her restaging of Kidd's choreography was her first real choreography, since she was forced to redo most of it on her own: "Sometimes I couldn't remember what Mike [Kidd] had done, so I had to make up things myself... I suppose this was my first choreography." (Billman, 524) Her timing with these early choreography endeavors was perfect-it allowed her to stay in the Broadway world she so loved after an injury to her foot ended her dance career. (Billman, 524)

The New York City Center, pleased with White's restaging of Finian's Rainbow and Guys and Dolls, asked Onna White to return to choreograph Carmen Jones. (Billman, 524). This was the first production Onna White choreographed without help from Kidd. The choreography was perhaps most appreciated by Joshua Logan, an American director who, according to White, "...saw it [Carmen Jones] and flipped...before I knew it, I was off to London to stage the dances for Fanny. And after that came Music Man." (Billman, 524)

During this early work in choreography, Onna White discovered that as with dance, her choreography ability came naturally. While other choreographers struggled for hours to develop a routine, White's choreography flowed almost effortlessly. She attributed this to her upbringing in a musical family in which her father played the violin, her mother played the piano, and her family had "dances in the living room. Friends would come and we would square dance." (White, 173) Onna White felt that growing up in such a musically rich environment formed an inner musicality that allowed her to choreograph with little difficulty.

Onna White also found that her work would flop if she failed to find the act of choreographing dreary, or if the actors she choreographed for failed to have fun with the dances. Fun was a key element of her choreography: as she explained: "What's the sense in doing it [choreography] if you're not having fun? You can tell by looking at my numbers that everyone is having fun." (White, 177) She believed that a relaxed environment contributed to the cast's ability to enjoy the choreography, which is why she worked hard to foster a nurturing environment. To do this, she told jokes and spoke "very kind to them [the actors] and thoughtful too." (White, 178) White also tried to help actors with little dance background feel comfortable by developing simpler routines. Many choreographers found it difficult to choreograph for those with limited dance training, but White was adept in this area. (Cohen-Stratyner, 941)

Together, White's innate musicality and ability to cooperate with cast members and directors led to great success with her choreography. She choreographed over fifteen stage productions, eight of which were nominated for Tony Awards. Her Tony nominated productions include The Music Man(1958), Whoop-Up(1959), Take Me Along (1960), Irma La Douce (1961), Half a Sixpence (1965), Mame (1966), Ilya Darling (1968),and I Love My Wife (1977). (Cohen-Stratyner, 941) None of these nominees won the Tony-White believed she was beat out each time by "Michael Kidd, Jerry Robbins, Bob Fosse. They're all wonderful, you know, but they outdid me" (White, 180)

Additionally, Onna White choreographed for several films, including The Music Man (1962), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Oliver! (1968), The Great Waltz (1972), 1776 (1972), Mame (1974) and Pete's Dragon (1977). She was awarded an Oscar for her work in the film version of Oliver! Which she felt made up for her failure to win a Tony Award. (Cohen-Stratyner, 941)

White's fun-filled choreography won her several additional awards, including the "Drama-Logue Award for A Little Night Music and the Gypsy Lifetime Achievement Award from the Professional Dancer's Society in 1991." (Billman, 524)

Onna White passed away in 2005, but her stunning and original choreography lives on. She certainly will be remembered for her talent, her dedication to the art of dance, and her great kindness towards others.

Works Cited

Billman, Larry. Film Choreographers and Dance Directors: an Illustrated Biographical Encyclopedia, with a History and Filmographies, 1893 through 1995. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland &, 1997. Print.

Cohen-Stratyner, Barbara Naomi. "Onna White." Biographical Dictionary of Dance. New York: Schirmer, 1982. 940-41. Print.

White, Onna. "Interview With Onna White." Interview by Kerry L. Graves. Http://etd.lib.ttu.edu. 31 May 1997. Web.