Ann Marie Williams (born Annie Marie Ferrell; October 21, 1937), is an American dancer, choreographer and the founder of the Dallas Black Dance Theatre, the oldest continually operating dance company in Dallas, TX.
It was at Lincoln High School that she was first introduced to dance and the local art community.
Williams attended Prairie View A&M University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in Dance before becoming the first African American woman to graduate with an MFA from Texas Woman's University.
[2] Williams studied in New York City under Arthur Mitchell, before receiving additional instruction from Edith James, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman and Alvin Ailey.
In 1968, after receiving a $1 million Ford Foundation grant, she began the first dance department at Bishop College, in Dallas, TX.