smith08

By the early 1980's academic funding - and funding for arts in general was suffering under Reaganomics and I believe Ruthanna left the school because she became tired of fighting for funds. Her legacy is the large studios built to specifications provided by George Balanchine. Everything from the the special floors to the barres, the 20 foot ceilings, ( at least ) the floor to ceiling windows that provided streams of natural light on those rainy Seattle winter mornings . Ms Boris was extremely proud to provide such wonderful dance space for her students. She was not a name dropper , she just matter of factly revealed one day that there are no accidents- and that she built the studios precisely from Balanchine's plans. She had a very high opinion of him in general but again that was all she revealed. Never a name dropper. But Blanchine's plans - that was impressive. She could be caustic, but she could also be very funny. She was a true intellect, knowledgable on a wide range of subjects. She was very respectful of the courses her students were taking. Relatively few dance majors ; theater, liberal arts, hard sciences, Medical students, - she made it clear that all learning was valuable. JS

Ruthanna never talked about what happened to be an illustrious career. Her memories were hers- in class she was " in the moment " with her students. Fridays she had us do Pilates - again she was ahead of the times. She believed in Ballet as a " process " and took true joy in all of our progress. One day she took me aside and told me I was becoming a " fine dancer , I know how hard you're working , keep it up " I fairly floated out of the building. She didn't fluff her students and she certainly didn't suffer fools gladly. But it was the pounding of that little drum, the chanting the combinations , becoming physically and mentally stronger each class that I remember most. When school was out of session for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and Spring breaks she held class early each day - at 0700 and most of us made it to class during those breaks. Class was too valuable , she was too valuable to miss. I called it the march of the faithful- the scattering of small bodies across Red Square converging in her office to strip down to our black and pink to learn. I really enjoyed my education at the U of W. Great school. My degree is in anthropology- but I would never have been able to afford the ballet education anywhere else. We knew Miss Boris was " famous " but when I read of her passing in Time magazine with a picture of her en pointe I thought " she 's still surprising me after all these years" I have often thought that her life would make a great book - movie. Her time at U of W was just a small part of her life, but she had a tremendous influence. Julia

I was a student at the University of Washington in the late 1970's when I happened to sign up for Miss Boris' Classical Ballet Technique I - 2.5 hours daily five days a week. I looooved it! I stayed the whole year! On to pointe in the Spring. What a fantastic experience. Ruthanna and that drum. She taught me how to dance, and so to think and organize my thoughts. Incredible teacher. I have taken many classes since and I do not know why more teachers don't use a little hand drum like she did. She also insisted we say the combinations out loud, and as the combinations got more complex the louder she expected us to chant, and we did. By the end of the year she had dancers , true believers , students. She was tiny. Her limp was pronounced. And she dispenced psychoanalysis at the barre. It's been 30 years and I think about her alot to this day. JS Seattle