The Joffrey Ballet School at fifty

Dance Magazine, July, 2004 by Kate Mattingly

WHAT DO Charlize Theron, Patrick Swayze, and Ronald Reagan Jr. have in common? They all were students of the Joffrey Ballet School, founded by Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino. Celebrating its fiftieth anniversary last year, the school continues the teaching legacy of its namesake, who died in 1988.

Joffrey was known for his enthusiasm in the classroom, remembers Dermot Burke, the executive and artistic director of Dayton Ballet, who began his career in 1965 as a scholarship student at the Joffrey School. "That was his gift as much as anything else. At a certain point in this effort [of making a career], it's all between your ears. I think Mr. Joffrey intuitively knew that. And at his best, he worked in such a way that you believed you could do anything. Of course, on other days, reality and gravity impinged upon the accomplishment, but he was masterful. It really was that simple, but not a simple thing. It was what made so many of us crave to work with him."

The school originally opened in 1953 in a converted chocolate factory in Greenwich Village and was called American Ballet Center. In 1960, the school moved to 434 Sixth Avenue, where it operates today. Through a non-descript doorway and up a narrow stairwell above the Scratch DJ Academy, you find yourself on the third and fourth floors, where the studios attract a wealth of sun and talented dancers. The walls of the office are covered with Joffrey memorabilia, company posters, pictures of dancers, and the 1968 Time Magazine cover that featured Joffrey's Astarte.

School director Edith D'Addario, or "Mrs. D." as she is affectionately known, joined the staff in 1961 when she visited the studios looking for a new ballet teacher for her daughter.

Author Sasha Anawalt describes D'Addario in the Joffrey Ballet: Robert Joffrey and the Making of an American Dance Company (University of Chicago Press; 1996). "As Joffrey's fierce but benevolent watchdog, she also sometimes made donations to rescue him and the school from financial trouble. Her generosity extended to Joffrey's students: She contributed toward the electricity bills of many teenage scholarship students and often steered them patiently through the terrors of living in New York," she writes.

"We have students from Israel, Russia, Spain, and Italy," says Maurice Brandon Curry, director of educational programs. "Charlize Theron came from South Africa."

THE SCHOOL'S artistic director, Gerald Arpino, also heads the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. When the company moved from New York to Chicago in 1995, the school remained in Manhattan. "There had never been a company moving halfway across the country and making it. Moving the company alone was a big enough undertaking," explains Harriet Ross, artistic manager of the Joffrey Ballet. "At this point we continue to have a good relationship with the school. The ties are really strong."

Mr. Arpino holds a special audition annually for students of the Joffrey School. "Last year two dancers were taken in: Victoria Jaiani and Tmur Sulvashvili," D'Addario says with pride.

In September, the school will introduce a new bachelor of fine arts degree in dance, partnering with Pace University. "The primary emphasis is in ballet, and the students train here with our faculty," Curry says. "There was no dance program at Pace prior to our BFA program."

"I've always been impressed by Pace and their academic standing," says Curry. "Now, I have been able to create a program with a classical base that also has a second concentration in theater dance. We've got tons of graduates on Broadway, like Scott Wise, the Tony Award-winner who trained here."

Can students today expect the same success and fame as the older graduates? "Anyone who goes into the arts expecting fame and success is there for the wrong reasons," Curry replies. "But, if they expect the same level of training, that mandate exists and is still held throughout the school."

AS EVIDENCE, Joffrey School alumni can be found in the ranks of dance companies throughout the world, and the school has attracted such illustrious teachers as Francoise Martinet, Lillian Moore, Scott Douglas, Richard Thomas, Violette Verdy, and Hector Zaraspe. Many of the current faculty, including Trinette Singleton and Francesca Corkle, are former members of the Joffrey Ballet. Eleanor D'Antuono, the celebrated American Ballet Theatre dancer who trained with Mr. Joffrey, says, "We all emulate Robert Joffrey." He taught with "absolute knowledge, enthusiasm, and interest."

Today, there are classes in ballet, pointe, pas de deux, and Pilates, and there is a children's program for ages 3 to 15. Students have the opportunity to audition for the Joffrey Ensemble Dancers, the official school company directed by Elie Lazar (see DM, August 2003, page 70).

Over forty-two years, Mrs. D. has witnessed a great deal of change, including an escalation in rent from $250 to $10,500 a month. But one thing that hasn't changed is the commitment to students.

"In the classroom Joffrey was meticulous, a master of detail--and unrelenting," remembers Dermot Burke. "I think Mr. Joffrey had a certain reverence for the classroom. It was like church. He was specific about what he expected you to do. When I finished a class with him, I was exhausted--just whipped--but I felt I had done so much. I cherish those memories."