Wilhelmina Maria (Penney) de Jager (born

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

, 2 January 1948) is a Dutch dancer and choreographer. De Jager received her training with Rotterdam's Scapino Ballet, and was then hired by the

Dutch National Ballet The Dutch National Ballet (Dutch: Het Nationale Ballet) is the official and largest ballet company in the Netherlands. History The Dutch National Ballet was formed in 1961 when the Amsterdam Ballet and the Nederlands Ballet merged. The company h ...

. She achieved national fame when she began dancing and doing choreography for the jazz ballet of the popular television show ''

TopPop ''TopPop'' is the first regular dedicated pop music television series in the Dutch language area. The Netherlands broadcaster AVRO aired the programme weekly, from 22 September 1970, to 27 June 1988. Presenter Ad Visser hosted for its first fift ...

'' (1970–1985). ''TopPop'' was a very popular music show in which artists mimed their hits in the television studio; if the artists were unavailable, one of the options was to have de Jager and her ballet perform while the hit was played. A reporter described her choreography 40 years later as striking, though somewhat monotonous, characterized by fluttering costumes and hair. She founded the Penney de Jager Ballet (later called "Holland Show Ballet", with production assistance from Frank Wentink) and ran a dance school in Utrecht. In 1971 she got married (for a short period) to

Rick van der Linden Rick van der Linden (5 August 1946, Badhoevedorp, North Holland - 22 January 2006, Groningen) was a Dutch composer and keyboardist. Van der Linden first gained fame as a member of Ekseption, but he played in several other bands including most no ...

, keyboard player for

Ekseption Ekseption was a Dutch rock band active from 1967 to 1989, playing mostly-instrumental progressive rock and classical rock. The central character in the changing roster, and the only band member present on every album, was conservatory-trained tru ...

, with whom she had a son, Rick Jr. De Jager had another son, David, who was adopted by a couple from the United States; later she followed him there. In the US she did choreography for TV ads and music videos. Having returned home for a vacation, she was not allowed to reenter the US and stayed in the Netherlands. In 2008 she moved to

Stichtse Vecht Stichtse Vecht is a municipality of the Netherlands and lies in the northwestern part of the province of Utrecht. The municipality has about 63,000 inhabitants and covers an area of about 107 km² (41 sq mi). Stichtse Vecht has been newly ...

, where she continued teaching dance, now also for senior citizens. For these efforts she was invested as a Knight of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

in 2014. De Jager appeared in ''Playboy'' magazine in 1985.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jager, Penney de 1948 births Living people Dutch women choreographers Dutch female dancers Dutch ballerinas Knights of the Order of Orange-Nassau Entertainers from Utrecht (city) People from Stichtse Vecht 20th-century Dutch ballet dancers 21st-century ballet dancers