Robert Alexander Lindgren

A noted performer, teacher, choreographer, administrator and innovator, Lindgren led the UNCSA School of Dance for 22 years and has left an indelible legacy in the dance world through the creation and nurturing of dance institutions and most especially through the students he trained who carry his passion for dance and the arts into the future. Born on December 9, 1923 in Victoria, B.C., Canada, Robert Alexander Lindgren began studying ballet there with Dorothy Wilson and then in Vancouver with June Roper. He joined American Ballet Theatre in 1940 and then served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. When he returned to dancing in 1945 he joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo where he met his future wife Sonja Tyven. During his years with the Ballet Russe he rose to the rank of leading dancer, working with choreographers such as Fokine, Massine, Balanchine and De Mille. His teachers in New York included Maria Yurieva, Anatole Vilzak, Pierre Vladimiroff, and Igor Schwezoff, and with Olga Preobrajenska in Paris. Robert Lindgren and Sonja Tyven were married in 1952, the year he became a US citizen. During his long career as a dancer, Lindgren appeared on Broadway in Plain and Fancy, Up in Central Park, Me and Juliet, and on national television shows including NBC Television Spectaculars and as a regular performer on Your Show of Shows. He performed on an international tour of Oklahoma! sponsored by the U.S. State Department. He toured the world in the Great Moments in Ballet concert tour with Alexandra Danilova, Frederic Franklin, and his wife. In 1957, Lindgren joined the New York City Ballet where he was a soloist. In 1959, he moved to Phoenix, AZ where he and his wife opened the Lindgren-Tyven School of Ballet. After the birth of his two daughters, Lindgren moved to Winston-Salem, NC to serve as the first Dean of the School of Dance at the newly-established North Carolina School of the Arts. During his tenure at the School of the Arts, Lindgren and Tyven choreographed the school's first production of The Nutcracker which became a Winston-Salem holiday tradition. He founded the North Carolina Dance Theatre, a professional affiliate of the School of the Arts. From 1969 to 1987 he led summer programs in Italy for dance students to study and perform. He established the Preparatory Dance Program along with his wife to train young dancers from the local community. He left in 1987 to become general director (later, president) of the School of American Ballet in New York City, where he served until 1991 when he and his wife returned to Winston-Salem. Lindgren served on the Council for Lincoln Center; the dance and choreographer panels of the National Endowment for the Arts; the boards of the arts councils of North Carolina, New York State and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County, and the Board of Visitors of the School of American Ballet. He was an adjudicator for the Regional Ballet Festivals for many years. He received honorary doctorates from Wake Forest University (1976) and UNCSA (2006.) He was a visiting guest artist at Wake Forest University and director of the South Carolina Governor's School dance program and was instrumental in the founding of the Carolina Ballet in Raleigh. He received the North Carolina Governor's Award in 1980 for outstanding contribution to the arts. In 2006 he served on a Founders Forum panel alongside John Ehle, Phillip Hanes, Tom Lambeth, Mary Semans and Robert Ward, as UNCSA celebrated its 40th anniversary. He was preceded in death by his parents Stanley Lindgren and Irene Betteridge, and his sisters Mary Hicks, Marjorie Hemmingsen and Elizabeth Wade. Robert Lindgren is survived by his wife of 61 years, Sonja Tyven, and two daughters, Ann (James) LaRosee and Lisu (Walter) Mullen, four grandchildren, Morgan and Meredith Mullen, and Eric and Christopher LaRosee, and several nieces and nephews in the US and Canada. A funeral service will be held at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem, NC on Thursday, May 16 at 2:00 pm. Donations to honor the memory of Robert Lindgren may be made to St. Paul's Episcopal Church or the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) Foundation, Inc., 1533 S. Main Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27127, or online at https://uncsa.thankyou4caring.org/pages/donate. Please be sure to indicate ""Robert and Sonja Lindgren Scholarship"" on the check or online giving form. Online condolences may be made at www.hayworth-miller.com.

Previous Events