D鈥橝mboise: from NYC Ballet star to a passionate dance educator
Jacques d鈥橝mboise, who combined classical elegance with all-American verve and athleticism to become one of the top male dancers at New York City Ballet, then spent more than four decades providing free dance education to countless youngsters through his National Dance Institute, died last month at 86.
Ellen Weinstein, director of the New York-based institute, said the dancer and teacher died at his New York home from complications of a stroke. He was surrounded by his family.
Plucked for stardom at NYCB as a teenager by its legendary director, George Balanchine, d鈥橝mboise performed with the company for about 35 years before retiring just before he turned 50. His exuberant style and dashing looks drew interest in Hollywood, where he appeared in films like 鈥淪even Brides for Seven Brothers鈥 and 鈥淐arousel.鈥 But his real love was for the ballet stage, where he was known for iconic roles like Balanchine鈥檚 鈥淎pollo鈥 and the Gershwin-scored 鈥淲ho Cares?.鈥
In an interview in 2018, d鈥橝mboise described the moment he decided to end his dance career in 1984.
鈥淚 was almost 50, there were only a few roles left that I could do,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 was waiting to go onstage, and I suddenly thought: 鈥業 don鈥檛 want to go on.鈥 I danced, came off, took off my ballet shoes and quit.鈥
He had already long determined his next calling, founding the National Dance Institute in 1976. The joy he took in providing a dance education to kids who might otherwise never have tried the art form 鈥 in schools, or for some, in classes at the institute 鈥 was on full display in the Oscar-winning 1983 documentary 鈥淗e Makes Me Feel Like Dancin鈥,鈥 a look at his NDI work.
鈥淛acques was a life force,鈥 said Weinstein, who worked for some 40 years with d鈥橝mboise, meeting him as a student at SUNY Purchase. 鈥淛acques knew firsthand the joy and transformative power that the arts can bring to the lives of children and he dedicated the last 45 years to ensuring that every child has access to quality arts education.鈥
The institute, which moved into its Harlem building in 2011, teaches thousands of students every year in schools, and says it has reached more than 2 million children across the globe.
Watching a reunion performance by some of his most enthusiastic young dancers one weekend day in March 2018, d鈥橝mboise could not hide his excitement. 鈥淔antastic!鈥 he called out frequently. 鈥淲ow!鈥 Upstairs in his office, stuffed with career artifacts including shelves full of fading journals lovingly preserved, he described his love for dance. He took his interviewer鈥檚 arm to demonstrate how a very slight difference in movement could express a completely different thought or feeling.
鈥淚 never asked myself this until my late 20s,鈥 he said, 鈥渂ut what is dance? I realized that it鈥檚 an art form our species has developed to express emotion. And it鈥檚 extremely subtle. Wanna see an example?鈥
Born Joseph Jacques Ahearn in Massachusetts in 1934, d鈥橝mboise 鈥 the family later switched to his mother鈥檚 surname because, the story goes, it better suited ballet 鈥 moved as a child to New York and trained at a school in Washington Heights, in upper Manhattan. At age 8, he began his studies at the School of American Ballet. At 12, he performed with Ballet Society, the predecessor to New York City Ballet, and in 1949, at age 15, he joined NYCB.
Balanchine choreographed a slew of roles specifically for d鈥橝mboise, but the dancer is perhaps best-known for his elegant 鈥淎pollo,鈥 a role created in 1928 but which d鈥橝mboise made his own. As a choreographer, d鈥橝mboise made close to 20 works for NYCB.
Dance and stage legend Chita Rivera was one of many paying tribute to a man she first met when she was all of 16, at the School of American Ballet.
鈥淚 shall always remember his infectious smile and dedication to building more wonderful male dancers,鈥 Rivera, 88, said in a statement. 鈥淗e shared his love of dance by creating more. Jacques always had a brilliant light surrounding him.鈥
D鈥橝mboise was a 1995 Kennedy Center honoree and a recipient of a 1990 MacArthur Fellowship, along with numerous awards including the National Medal of Arts and the NYC Mayor鈥檚 Award of Honor for Arts & Culture.
The National Dance Institute said in a statement that d鈥橝mboise鈥檚 work in arts education took him across the globe 鈥 鈥渇rom the extremes of Yakutsk, Siberia, to the Danakil Desert in Ethiopia, from ... the Dead Sea to the mountains of Nepal, and from the dryness of the Atacama Desert in Chile to rainforests on the island of Kauai in the Hawaiian chain.鈥
He is survived by four children 鈥 George, Christopher, Catherine and Charlotte, a Tony-nominated actor and dancer 鈥 as well as six grandchildren.
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