Ruth Page was born on March 22, 1899, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to a prominent family that supported her early ballet training.
Ruth Page was born on March 22, 1899, in Indianapolis, Indiana, the daughter of a surgeon, Dr. Lafayette Page, and his wife Marian. Her family was affluent and cultured, which afforded her the opportunity to pursue dance training from an early age at a time when ballet was not considered a respectable profession for a well-bred American woman.
Page began studying dance as a child and later trained with some of the most influential figures in early twentieth-century ballet, including Adolph Bolm and eventually Enrico Cecchetti in Europe. Her Midwestern upbringing combined with international training gave her a distinctive perspective that she would later bring to her work in building American ballet institutions, particularly in Chicago.
Her birth in Indianapolis is historically significant because Page became one of the most important American-born choreographers and dancers of the twentieth century, helping to establish ballet as a serious art form in the United States rather than merely an imported European tradition. She would go on to found and lead major companies in Chicago, becoming known as the city's 'First Lady of Dance.'
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