Tetley, Glen

Related Category: Dance: Biographies

(Glenford Andrew Tetley, Jr.), 1926–2006, American dancer and choreographer, b. Cleveland. He studied in New York City with Hanya Holm and trained with Martha Graham, subsequently dancing (1958–59) with her company. Also a member of the American Ballet Theatre, he later had his own modern-dance troupe, which disbanded in 1969; danced (1962–65) with the Netherlands Dance Theater, briefly becoming (1969) its co-director; and directed (1974–76) the Stuttgart Ballet. His influential choreography is marked by a fusion of ballet and modern-dance elements. Tetley made dances for many companies in the United States and in Europe, where he introduced American modern-dance approaches and techniques and where his work was particularly popular. His dances include Voluntaries (1973), his signature piece; Pierrot Lunaire (1962); Greening (1975); and Lux in Tenebris (1999).