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{{short description|American actress}}

{{More footnotes needed|date=November 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Lucia Chase
| image = Chase47.jpg
| imagesize = 200px
| caption =
| birth_name = Lucia Hosmer Chase<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cwhf.org/inductees/lucia-chase|title=Lucia Chase}}</ref>
| birth_date = {{birth date|1897|3|24|mf=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Waterbury]], [[Connecticut]], United States
| death_date = {{death date and age|1986|1|9|1897|3|24|mf=yes}}<ref name="nyt">{{cite web|last=Anderson |first=Jack |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50710FA3C590C738DDDA80894DE484D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fOrganizations%2fA%2fAmerican%20Ballet%20Theater |title=Lucia Chase Of Ballet Theater Is Dead |website=Select.nytimes.com |date=1986-01-10 |accessdate=2016-11-29}}</ref>
|death_place=New York City, New York, U.S.
| awards = [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]]
}}

'''Lucia Hosmer Chase''' (March 24, 1897<ref>{{cite web |author=Dale Grimm |url=http://www.heywoods.info/c/IChase01.php |title=The Descendants of John Heywood - Irving Hall Chase |website=Heywoods.info |accessdate=2016-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304024414/http://www.heywoods.info/c/IChase01.php |archive-date=2016-03-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref> – January 9, 1986) was an American dancer, actress, ballet director and also the co-founder of the [[American Ballet Theatre]].<ref name="nyt" />

==Life and career==
{{Moresources|section|date=March 2023}}
Chase was born in [[Waterbury, Connecticut]], the daughter of Elizabeth Hosmer (Kellogg) and Irving Hall Chase.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-1800206|isbn=978-0-19-860669-7|doi=10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1800206|year=2000|last1=Hastings|first1=Baird|title=Chase, Lucia (1897-1986), ballet dancer and dance company director}}</ref> She attended St. Margaret's School and later Bryn Mawr College.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.danceheritage.org/treasures/chase_essay_lille.pdf|title=Lucia Chase (1907-1986)|last=Lille|first=Dawn|work=Dance Heritage Coalition|access-date=14 February 2019}}</ref>

After deciding to focus on theater, she studied [[drama]] at New York's Theater Guild School where she also took [[ballet]] lessons. Though her first love was the [[theatre]], after she decided that dance was to be her life, she studied seriously with, among others, [[Mikhail Mordkin]], [[Michel Fokine]], [[Antony Tudor]], and [[Bronislava Nijinska]]. She performed with the Mordkin Ballet from 1937 to 1939, where she danced the title roles in ''[[The Sleeping Beauty (ballet)|The Sleeping Beauty]]'' and ''[[Giselle]]''.

In 1940, she and Richard Pleasant founded [[American Ballet Theatre|Ballet Theatre]] (later [[American Ballet Theatre]]), with Lucia Chase as principal dancer (and prime financial backer), although she concentrated on the more dramatic and comedic roles.

She created the Eldest Sister in Tudor's ''[[Pillar of Fire (ballet)|Pillar of Fire]]'' (1942) and the Greedy One in [[Agnes de Mille]]'s ''Three Virgins and a Devil'' (1941). In 1945 she and [[Oliver Smith (designer)|Oliver Smith]] jointly took over direction of [[American Ballet Theatre]].

She retired from the stage in 1960, and retired as company director in 1980, when she was succeeded by [[Mikhail Baryshnikov]].

She devoted her energy and a large part of her personal fortune over four decades to ensure the company's survival. She brought Tudor and Baryshnikov to [[American Ballet Theatre]] and encouraged US [[choreographers]] such as [[Jerome Robbins]], [[Glen Tetley]] and [[Twyla Tharp]]. She was awarded the US [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] in 1980.

Chase was married to Thomas Ewing, with whom she had two sons. She died in [[New York City]].

Chase was inducted into the [[National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame|National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame]] in 1988.

In 2009, the book, ''Bravura!: Lucia Chase and the American Ballet Theatre'', written by her son Alex C. Ewing, was released.

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable"
|- "
! Year !! Film !! Role !! Notes
|-
| [[1976 in film|1976]] || [[Live from Lincoln Center]] (''Swan Lake'')|| Queen Mother || 1 episode
|-
| [[1957 in film|1957]] || [[Omnibus (US TV series)|Omnibus]] (''Lizzie Borden'')|| Stepmother || 1 episode
|-
| [[1973 in film|1973]] || American Ballet Theatre: A Close-Up in Time || Herself
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|nm2109312}}
*[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE3DD1E3BF93AA25752C0A960948260&n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FOrganizations%2FA%2FAmerican%20Ballet%20Theater News]
*[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE7DB163AF935A15757C0A960948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print Memorial]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071011093648/http://jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/jec/medal.phtml Medal of Freedom Awards by President Carter 1977-1981]
*[http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/ent/A0803665.html American Ballet Theatre]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110722032142/http://delteatro.it/dizionario_dello_spettacolo_del_900/c/chase.php Italian short biography]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=WSaMu4F06AQC&dq=lucia+chase+obituary&pg=PA115 Google Books]
{{Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chase, Lucia}}
[[Category:1897 births]]
[[Category:1986 deaths]]
[[Category:American ballerinas]]
[[Category:American Ballet Theatre dancers]]
[[Category:American theatre directors]]
[[Category:American women theatre directors]]
[[Category:American musical theatre directors]]
[[Category:Actresses from Waterbury, Connecticut]]
[[Category:American film actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century American actresses]]
[[Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients]]
[[Category:20th-century American ballet dancers]]

Lucia Chase - Revision history

imported>Ernsanchez00: Changed the category