Jodie-Anne White-Bivona (13 May 1967 – 21 January 2012) was an Australian dancer,

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

and

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

of the Ballet Theatre of Queensland.

Training

White was born in

Dandenong, Victoria Dandenong is a list of Melbourne suburbs#Southeastern municipalities and their suburbs, southeastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, about from the Melbourne CBD. It is the municipal council, council county seat, seat of the City ...

and was raised in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, where she studied classical and contemporary dance, as well as acting and mime, at the Kathleen Gorham National Theatre, the

Victorian College of the Arts The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus of the ...

and the

Australian Ballet School The Australian Ballet School is the premier ballet training facility in Australia, located in Melbourne. History The Australian Ballet School was founded in 1964 as the primary training facility for The Australian Ballet by Dame Margaret Scot ...

Dancing career

White danced with the

Australian Ballet The Australian Ballet is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J. C. Williamson's, J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1962, with the English-born dancer, teache ...

under the artistic direction of

Maina Gielgud Maina Gielgud (born 14 January 1945) is a British former ballet dancer and a veteran ballet administrator. She was artistic director of The Australian Ballet from 1983 to 1996. She had a twenty-year career as a dancer in Europe and the United Ki ...

AO. White toured with the company to Asia, Russia, Greece, England and America. Her repertoire included the major classics as well as works from such choreographers as

Jiri Kylian Jiri ( ne, जिरी) is a municipality in Dolakha District in the Bagmati Province of central Nepal. At the time of the 2011 Nepal census it had a population of 13,638 people.. Jiri, which lies about 190 kilometers from Kathmandu, is the ma ...

Maurice Béjart Maurice Béjart (; 1 January 1927 – 22 November 2007) was a French-born dancer, choreographer and opera director who ran the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in Switzerland. He developed a popular expressionistic form of modern ballet, talking vast th ...

and Sir

Kenneth MacMillan Sir Kenneth MacMillan (11 December 192929 October 1992) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer who was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977, and its principal choreographer from 1977 until his death. Ea ...

. As a soloist her career continued overseas with her acceptance into the Wiener Ballet Theatre. Shortly after arriving in Europe, she was promoted to Principal Artist. Principal Seasons began with the Brno National Ballet in

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, in

Greifswald Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (german: Universitäts- und Hansestadt Greifswald, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostoc ...

, Germany and several other English and Italian companies. During this time she performed in works such as ''Giselle'', ''Swan Lake'', ''Sleeping Beauty'', ''Carmen'', ''Cinderella'', ''Peer Gynt'' and several contemporary pieces with choreographers creating works for White. She was principal dancer 1999–2001 with Italian companies Balletto del Sud,

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...

and

Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi The Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi is an opera house located in Trieste, Italy and named after the composer Giuseppe Verdi. Privately constructed, it was inaugurated as the Teatro Nuovo to replace the smaller 800-seat "Cesareo Regio Teatro di San Pie ...

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

where she returned regularly as a guest performer.

Teacher

White taught and choreographed with her husband, Boris Bivona. They honed their skills through work both individually and together in the U.S., Europe and Australia. From 2002 to 2012 they were the Artistic Directors of Ballet Theatre of Queensland. They also worked in co-operation with

Expressions Dance Company Expression may refer to: Linguistics * Expression (linguistics), a word, phrase, or sentence * Fixed expression, a form of words with a specific meaning * Idiom, a type of fixed expression * Metaphorical expression, a particular word, phrase, ...

and with ongoing education programs with the Queensland Arts Council in collaboration with

Queensland Ballet The Queensland Ballet, founded in 1960 by Charles Lisner OBE, is the premier ballet company of Queensland, Australia and is based in Brisbane. Queensland Ballet is one of only three full-time, professional classical ballet companies in Australi ...

. White and Bivona had a teaching studio, Redland Dance, in

Cleveland, Queensland Cleveland is a coastal and central locality in the City of Redland, Queensland, Australia. In the , Cleveland had a population of 14,801 people. Its location makes it a transport hub for islands in Moreton Bay. Geography Cleveland is locat ...

Death and legacy

Jodie White-Bivona died at home in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

on 21 January 2012 from cancer, aged 44. She was survived by her husband Boris, a Palermo-born ballet dancer, director and choreographer. The Jodie White-Bivona Memorial Scholarship is awarded each year to a dancer who has been with Ballet Theatre of Queensland for two consecutive years and "shows outstanding ability, dedication and a love of ballet – the true essence of what Ms Jodie stood for." The first recipient was Amy Radford in 2013.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Jodieanne Australian ballerinas Australian choreographers Australian women choreographers Choreographers from Melbourne Deaths from cancer in Queensland 1967 births 2012 deaths Australian Ballet School alumni Victorian College of the Arts alumni People from Dandenong, Victoria