(December 27, 1906 – May 14, 1997)
A dancer, choreographer and dance teacher, Bessie Schonberg was born in Hamburg, Germany. She was the youngest of three girls. Her American mother, Rose Elizabeth McGrew, was an opera singer, who had met her father, Alexander Schonberg, when he was studying engineering and she was taking voice lessons in Germany. The family moved often while Rose pursued her operatic career and Alexander served as her accompanist, at least in rehearsals. Her mother left the family in 1911/12 to return to America, without Bessie and her sisters, and in 1914 her father was drafted during World War I. Bessie lived in Dresden during the war years and immersed herself in the arts. Her father did not approve of her studying dance, and in 1925 she moved to the U.S. to attend college and join her mother in Eugene, Oregon where Bessie found the cultural life somewhat limited. But in 1927 the well-known dancer Martha Hill joined the dance faculty at the University of Oregon and inspired Bessie. She returned to New York with Hill in 1929, before completing her studies and Hill helped promote her career. She introduced Bessie to Martha Graham, and after taking a few classes with Graham, Bessie was invited to join Graham’s company. Bessie performed in Graham’s Primitive Mysteries and Heretic and with the Neighborhood Playhouse.
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