Lila York

York, Lila (b Syracuse, NY, 29 Nov. 1948). US dancer and choreographer. She studied ballet with Gertrude Hallenbeck and Finis Jhung, and modern dance with Paul Sanasardo and at the Graham school. She was a member of Paul Taylor's company from 1973 to 1985, performing in more than 60 works. She created roles in many Taylor works, including Cloven Kingdom, Esplanade, Mercuric Tidings, Sunset, Byzantium, and Lost, Found and Lost. After leaving Taylor's company she collaborated with Martha Clarke on Vienna: Lusthaus and appeared in Clarke's The Garden of Earthly Delights. From the mid-1980s she worked as a freelance choreographer; she also staged Taylor's works for companies around the world. She has choreographed for the Boston Ballet (Celts, 1996, Ode to Joy, 1998), the San Francisco Ballet (El Grito, 1997), Pacific Northwest Ballet (Psalms, 1992, Windhover, 1995), Birmingham Royal Ballet (Sanctum, 1997), Houston Ballet (Rules of the Game, 1999), and Atlanta Ballet (Gloria, 1998). Her Rapture (1995), made for the Juilliard Dance Ensemble, has been taken into the repertoire of several ballet companies, including Pacific Northwest Ballet, Houston Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, and Scottish Ballet. From 1989 to 1994 she was director of Pacific Northwest Ballet Offstage, a showcase for new choreography in Seattle.