Ruth Ann Koesun

Ruth Ann Koesun was born in 1928 in Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood. She studied dance with Edna Lucille Baum and at Stone-Camryn School of Ballet. Along with her classmate and frequent partner, John Kriza, she became a principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre. She was most known for her versatility as a ballerina, performing in a wide variety of ballets, such as Billy the Kid, Sleeping Beauty, Les Patineurs. After retiring in 1969, she returned to Chicago and worked as an archivist for the Newberry Library. She died in 2018.