Burch Mann(1908-1996)
- Additional Crew
Texas-born Burch Mann was the descendant of early Texas pioneers. Her
family moved to Oklahoma when she was 12, as her father was in the oil
business. She and her brother Michael began taking dance lessons in
Tulsa around that time. After graduating high school she set out for
New York, and studied ballet for two years under
Mikhail Mordkin. She returned to Tulsa
in 1930, married and began to raise a family. She was a dance teacher
in Tulsa, but soon rejoined Mordkin's dance troupe, which was on a US
tour. She eventually retired from dancing and the family moved to Los
Angeles, and she opened a dance studio in nearby Alhambra. She had
become acquainted with Bill Walsh, a
producer at Walt Disney Studios, and when he was looking for children
to cast for what would become
The Mickey Mouse Club (1955),
he called her. She wound up being hired as choreographer for the show,
a position she held for nine months. She created such familiar routines
as the "Talent Round-Up Day" opening, the "Mouseketap" and the "Fun
with Music Day". She left the show after the first season to resume
teaching at her dance studio.
In addition to running the studio, she also choreographed and provided dancers for the shows at the Knotts Berry Farm amusement park and formed what would become the American Folk Ballet troupe. After the death of her husband in 1971, she moved to Utah and took the troupe with her, but they continued to tour nationally and internationally.
She died in Cedar City, UT, on June 25, 1996.
In addition to running the studio, she also choreographed and provided dancers for the shows at the Knotts Berry Farm amusement park and formed what would become the American Folk Ballet troupe. After the death of her husband in 1971, she moved to Utah and took the troupe with her, but they continued to tour nationally and internationally.
She died in Cedar City, UT, on June 25, 1996.