Jean Allenby-Weidner
 
FOUNDER

Born in Africa, Jean Weidner has been a Principal Ballerina, a choreographer, the founder of ballet companies and ballet schools in Indiana and Florida, and a major supporter of the arts, and she has earned applause, appreciation and honors for each of her roles. In 1987, she founded the Sarasota Ballet as a presenting organization and only three years later her dream of a resident ballet company was realized with the appointment of the first Artistic Director, Eddie Toussaint.

Sarasota’s Designing Women Boutique is the most recent of her endeavors and the one to which she presently devotes most of her considerable talents and energies. Weidner co-founded it with Diane Roskamp and Margaret Wise in 2001. The business has been so successful that in early 2005, the shop acquired its own, expanded space in the Roskamp Center for the Arts and Humanity at 1226 North Tamiami Trail.

Weidner’s honors range from “Artist of the Year” (Noverre Choreographic Society, Germany) to “Women in Power” (National Council of Jewish Women, Sarasota, Florida.) She was elected to the Sarasota Community Video Archive Hall of Fame for her contributions to the community in 1997. In Sarasota, she has served on the board of the Sarasota Opera, The Asolo Theatre Company and the Sarasota County Arts Council.