Anneliese von Oettingen

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Anneliese von Oettingen (22 January 1917 – 9 December 2002) was a German-born ballerina, teacher, and choreographer who spent much of her life in Cincinnati, United States. She began dancing at four and trained in Berlin in the Russian ballet method under Eugenie Edvardova. By sixteen she was directing and teaching at her own Berlin ballet school and was licensed by the German state to train professional dancers. She later trained in London with Nikolai Legat and Nadine Nicolaeva-Legat, performed as a solo ballerina, and choreographed for the Potsdam Opera. She taught ballet in Berlin during World War II and endured air raids while continuing classes.

After the war she left Berlin for the United States. Her husband, Friedrich-Karl Sass, was missing in action, and she spent the rest of her life as a widow. In 1947 she emigrated to Cincinnati with her two children, Cornelia and Tyll, then aged four and six, and opened her first ballet school there in 1948. She taught ballet and modern dance at Our Lady of Cincinnati College (later Edgecliff College) for 14 years and ran Moss Lake Camp for girls for 23 years. In 1962 she helped form the Cincinnati Civic Ballet, now the Cincinnati Ballet Company, and she played a key role in recommending new leadership at the College-Conservatory of Music.

In 1973 she opened an Adirondack ballet camp at Eagle Bay, New York, which operated until 2001. She was featured in Sports Illustrated in 1977 for her work with professional football players who trained at her school; Brad Cousino and Ken Avery attended, and Cousino also trained at the Eagle Bay camp. In 1989 she received the keys to the city of Cincinnati, and her first Cincinnati studio was honored with a Cincinnati First plaque. In 1998 Ohio Governor Bob Taft awarded her the governor’s award. She died in Clearwater, Florida, in 2002 at age 85.