Maria Francisca Bia

Maria Francisca Bia called Mimi, (1809-1889) was a Dutch ballet dancer, opera singer and dramatic stage actress.

She was born to the ballet dancers Jean Lambert Bia (1767-1829) and Catherine Rebecca Grave (1782-1846) and married in 1828 to Reinier Engelman (1795-1845), actor and theatre director, and in 1865 to Jan Eduard de Vries (1808-1875) actor and theatre director.

She debuted as a ballet dancer in her childhood, as an actor in 1819 and as an opera singer in 1823. She was in 1827-1859 active at the theatre in Amsterdam and in 1859-1865 at the theatre in Rotterdam. Her influence within the theatre was great: she either took the leading roles herself, or could influence who was given them. She was active at the Théâtre Français in Paris in 1842-44.

Bia was regarded as one of the greatest actors of her time in the Netherlands.

References

Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis (Dutch)

Bibliography

Algemeen Handelsblad, 23-2-1846; 30-11-1868.
Amsterdamsche Courant, 29-11-1868 [recensie]; 16-7-1889.
N. Beets, Het dagboek van de student Nicolaas Beets 1833-1836 (Den Haag 1883) 123.
M.B. Mendes da Costa, Tooneel-herinneringen, 1 (Leiden 1900) 44, 45, 179-181.
Noord- en Zuid-Nederlandsche Tooneel-Almanak (Amsterdam 1877).
W.G.F.A. van Sorgen, De tooneelspeelkunst te Utrecht en de Utrechtsche schouwburg (Den Haag 1885).
Utrechtsch Dagblad, 10-7-1880.
J.A. Worp, Geschiedenis van den Amsterdamschen Schouwburg (Amsterdam 1920).
N. van Vulpen, Ondernemers van publieke vermakelijkheden en de opkomst van het burgerinitiatief: vermaak in Utrecht 1850-1880 (Utrecht 1994).

Ballet

General information	Ballets Companies Glossary History Music Timeline Portal

Ballet by genre	Character dance Classical Contemporary Neoclassical

Ballet by region	British French Italian Russian

Dancers	American British French Russian

Technique	Balanchine Bournonville Cecchetti Royal Academy Vaganova

Apparel	Ballet slippers Pointe shoes Tutu

Schools	National Ballet of Canada John Cranko Cuban National Elmhurst English National Moscow State Academy Royal Ballet SAB La Scala Vaganova Academy Royal Winnipeg

Companies	ABT Atlanta Australian Bavarian State Berlin State Ballet Manila Birmingham Royal Bolshoi Boston Bulgarian National Canadian National Cape Town Carolina Chinese National Cuban National Royal Danish Dayton Dutch National English National Finnish National Georgian National Les Grands Ballets Canadiens Hamburg Houston Iranian National Joffrey K-ballet Korea National Royal Ballet, London Los Angeles Mariinsky New Jersey NYCB Royal New Zealand Moldova National Norwegian National Oklahoma City Paris Opera Philippine Ballet Theatre Puerto Rico Queensland San Francisco La Scala Scottish Shanghai Stuttgart Royal Swedish Tulsa Universal West Australian Royal Winnipeg

Persondata
Name	Bia, Maria Francisca
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1809
Place of birth
Date of death	1889
Place of death