Adelaide (c. 1884–1959)

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Adelaide (c. 1884–1959)

American vaudeville and ballet dancer. Name variations: Mary Adelaide Dickey; La Petite Adelaide. Born Mary Adelaide Dickey, 1884, in New York, NY; died 1959 (some sources cite 1960).

As a child, performed as La Petite Adelaide in acrobatic dances; danced ballet specialty act starting at 7; performed variations of signature dance, the Doll Dance (c. 1887–1910), including an act on point on horseback; known for her uses of toe techniques in theatrical dance, danced in musicals, including Lady Slavey (1900), The Orchid (1907), Up and Down Broadway (1910); formed dancing team with J.J. Hughes (1911), with whom she performed in Europe, later in New York on Broadway and on Keith circuit in vaudeville as Adelaide and Hughes; on Broadway, appeared with Hughes in Passing Show of 1912, Monte Christo Jr. (1914) and Town Topics (1915); co-choreographed dances with Hughes for vaudeville, including Chantecleer (1911), Pierrot and Pierrette (1914), The Dancing Divinities (1917), Classics of an Age (1917) and The Garden of the World (1917).

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