Peggy Willis-Aarnio

Peggy Willis-Aarnio (January 12, 1948 – January 9, 2016) was an American choreographer, historian, author and teacher of classical ballet. She was a professional dancer in the early 1970s with the Fort Worth Ballet in Fort Worth, Texas.

Career

Willis-Aarnio was a Professor Emerita and former head of the Dance Program in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. She retired from active teaching after thirty-one years, but remained on the Graduate Faculty. She received her B.F.A. and her M.F.A. Degrees from Texas Christian University in 1970 and 1972.

She studied with John Barker of New York, and Valentina Roumiantseva of the Vaganova Ballet Academy of St. Petersburg, Russia. In 1992, she received an invitation to complete her advanced level pedagogical studies in Teaching Method at the Vaganova Ballet Academy in Saint Petersburg, Russia. She created the Diamond Ballet in 1999 for the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre of Konstantin Tatchkine. Other works by Peggy Willis-Aarnio include Beethoven: A Classical Inspiration (2000) The Bluegrass Fantasy (2005) and The Seven Last Words of Christ (2007) (based on the production by Iris Hensley) choreographed for the Saint-Petersburg Classic Ballet Theatre of Marina Medvetskaya.

Willis-Aarnio's publications include Agrippina Vaganova (1879–1951): her place in the history of ballet and her impact on the future of classical dance, published in 2002, and the How to Teach Classical Ballet series. She also produced numerous educational materials throughout her 32 years as a professor at Texas Tech University.

Early life

Peggy Willis-Aarnio was born in Tampa, Florida. Her mother was Margaret Spangler Maria Dozier, who was business manager in a hospital. Her step-father, Walter H. Dozier, was a naval officer. The family moved to Naples, Italy, where her mother enrolled her at the age of 8 and her sister Sheila, at age 6, in ballet lessons with Peggy Burns, who had been trained at Sadler's Wells in London. She attended Texas Christian University, where she was invited to perform in the American Festival in the UK. During her last summer there, at age 21, she was hired as director and choreographer. Willis-Aarnio's sister Sheila went on to a career in dance, after receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Texas Christian University, performing professionally with Iris Hensley in Marietta, Georgia (now the Georgia Ballet), and also with the Pittsburgh Dance Alloy. Sheila studied and prepared for a second career in design while she was living in Pittsburgh, and earned an Associates Degree in Interior Design from the Art Institute in Pittsburgh.

Personal life Willis-Aarnio was married to Paul Aarnio, son of the internationally renowned architect Reino Aarnio and Sylvia (née Bachman) Aarnio, lyric soprano and graduate of the Juilliard School of Music.

Paul Aarnio holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree (with honors) from Cornell University, and is a retired Air force pilot.

Peggy Willis-Aarnio and her sister Sheila Willis-Kleiman had a lifelong collaboration of teaching, performing, choreographing their entire lives together. They began their beginning ballet classes at the same time, attended Texas Christian University together, shared an apartment and taught ballet together to earn their way through college.

Death Peggy Willis-Aarnio died on January 9, 2016, three days before her 68th birthday from undisclosed causes.

Sheila Willis Kleiman formed the Performing Arts Cultural Exchange a 501(c)3 Foundation in 2018 to continue Peggy Willis-Aarnio's teaching legacy which provides scholarships in her name called The Peggy Willis Classical Ballet Scholarship Award Program.

Awards and honors

Willis-Aarnio received Texas Christian University's Alfie Special Achievement Award for her choreography in Gilbert and Sullivan's ballad operetta, Patience.

Willis-Aarnio held the honor of being the first American to choreograph a new classical ballet work for several top Russian Companies in Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

Willis-Aarnio was certified to teach the Vaganova classical ballet training program outside of Russia. Peggy Willis-Aarnio and Sheila Willis Kleiman produced The Willis Ballet Educational DVD Library, which includes classical ballet music and serves as a companion to the How to Teach Classical Ballet books. These materials feature Galina Mezentseva’s training during her tenure as a Kirov ballerina. Olga Rozanova, a dance critic and faculty dean in St. Petersburg, described the videos as educational resources.

TCU Mary Couts Burnett Library Collection Peggy Willis-Aarnio

https://archives.tcu.edu/repositories/2/top_containers/7442