Marion Cuyjet

Marion Durham Cuyjet (; July 29, 1920 – October 22, 1996) was a pioneer in dance education in Black Philadelphia.

Early life and education Marion Durham Cuyjet was born in Cheswold, Delaware, on July 29, 1920.

Her formal dance training began in the 1930s with Essie Marie Dorsey, While at the Dorsey school Cuyjet became close with another student, Sydney Gibson King, who shared the desire to sustain and develop the groundwork laid by Dorsey.

Career Cuyjet, with King, opened the Sydney-Marion School of Dance in 1946, which led to the forming of their own schools shortly after. The Judimar School of Dance opened in 1948, named after Marion and her daughter Judy (born 1940), in Philadelphia's city center. Some of Judimar's former students include Judith Jamison (later artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater), Arthur Hall, Joan Myers Brown, John Jones, Elmer Ball, Donna Lowe Warren, Delores Browne, Tamara Guillebeaux, and China White.

Many of Cuyjet's students also studied under the English choreographer Antony Tudor, who mentored dancers of color and offered weekly classes at the Philadelphia Ballet Guild, which was established by Tudor in the mid-1950s.

From 1958 through to the 1970s, Cuyjet taught at Maryland State College (now University of Maryland-Eastern Shore), at Delaware State College in Dover, and at Cheyney State University in Cheyney.

Personal life She was married to Stephen (died 1980), and they had sons called Stephen Jr. and Mark, and a daughter, Judith Coldvin.