Jeanne Robinson was an American-born Canadian dancer, choreographer, teacher and co-author of three award-winning science fiction novels, The Stardance Saga. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she married fellow author Spider Robinson in 1975.Robinson studied dance at the Boston Conservatory, and at the Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey, and Erick Hawkins schools. She performed with the Beverly Brown Dance Ensemble in New York and served as the artistic director of Halifax's Nova Dance Theatre, where she choreographed more than thirty original works. She was diagnosed with biliary tract cancer in February 2009 and began undergoing numerous treatments. She died on May 30, 2010.