Kathleen Dillon (1898-1990) was a British dancer and theatre designer.

Life and work

Kathleen Dillon was born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

in 1898. Her parents were Horace Robert Linn Dillon and Mary Ann Dillon (née House). Kathleen’s parents had wanted her to be a teacher but she rebelled against this decision at an early age and persuaded her mother to answer an advertisement in ''The Stage'' for child dancers. In May 1911 she was chosen by Margaret Morris and

John Galsworthy John Galsworthy (; 14 August 1867 – 31 January 1933) was an English novelist and playwright. He is best known for his trilogy of novels collectively called '' The Forsyte Saga'', and two later trilogies, ''A Modern Comedy'' and ''End of th ...

as one of six children to dance in Galsworthy's play ''The Little Dream'', with dances choreographed by Morris. Morris described the thirteen year-old as "tall and slender, with a very fair skin, and pale golden hair that hung to her shoulders; she was a serious child – devoted to her dancing – she seldom smiled, and had large, thoughtful eyes, but her full curling lips held a promise of sensuality not yet awakened." Dillon was trained in Morris's dance technique, which focused on natural, expressionistic movement with bare feet and loose clothing, in contrast to classical ballet. Dillon inspired Galsworthy to write the ballet ''Spring and the Four Winds'', which was first performed in 1913 with Dillon in the role of Spring. Kathleen continued to perform as one of Morris's 'Dancing Children' at Morris's club, theatre and school in

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an area in West London, England, due south-west of Kilometre zero#Great Britain, Charing Cross by approximately . It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the SW postcode area, south-western p ...

. She moved in with Morris and her mother and began teaching at the school. Dillon also performed with other small theatres in Chelsea, including the Greenleaf Theatre, run by Maxwell Armstrong and Constance Smedley, and the Choric School (or Clarissa Club), which she founded with

Hester Sainsbury Hester Margaret Sainsbury (1890-1967) was a British artist, dancer, poet and illustrator. Life and work Hester Sainsbury's parents were Harrington Sainsbury (1853-1936), court physician to Queen Victoria, and Maria Tuke (1861–1947). They marr ...

and the poet John Rodker. In May 1917 Dillon danced in the first English performance of Stravinsky's ''Pastorale'', choreographed by Morris, at the Margaret Morris Club. Dillon's striking

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, ...

looks inspired artists such as J.D. Fergusson,

Augustus John Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sarg ...

and Maurice Lambert. Fergusson's 1916 work ''Rose Rhythm'' was inspired by a hat Dillon had made which "was not merely a hat, but a continuation of the girl’s character, her mouth, her nostril, the curl of her hair – her whole character – (feeling of her) like Burns’s ‘love is like a red red rose." After leaving the Margaret Morris School, Dillon performed in the West-End revue ''Mayfair and Montmartre'' put on by Charles B. Cochran, but her role was usurped by the French star Delysia in May 1922. However, her involvement with Cochran continued and she danced in the operette ''Phi Phi'' in July 1922. She toured Scotland with the Arts League of Service in September and October 1924 and appeared with them in London in January 1925. Between 1926 and 1927 Dillon danced in a number of performances with the Studio Rhythme et Coleur in Paris, led by Margaret Morris's former pupils, Hélène Vanel and Loïs Hutton. Dillon designed the costumes for

Ninette de Valois Dame Ninette de Valois (born Edris Stannus; 6 June 1898 – 8 March 2001) was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of classical ballet. Most notably, she danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russ ...

' ballets ''Beauty and the Beast'' and ''A Daughter of Eve'', both of which opened in January 1927.

Personal life

Dillon had a relationship with the poet John Rodker before 1916. In June 1919 Dillon married Corris W. Evans, a solicitor, and had a son by him in 1921. In 1929 she had an affair with the artist

Edward Wadsworth Edward Alexander Wadsworth (19 October 1889 – 21 June 1949) was an English artist initially associated with the Vorticism movement. In the First World War he was part of a team involved in the transfer of dazzle camouflage designs to ships fo ...

. In 1931 she married the musician Angus Morrison and they had two daughters. She died in 1990.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillon, Kathleen 1898 births 1990 deaths British theatre designers Women theatre designers 20th-century British dancers