Bertram Ross.

Brooklyn-born Bertram Ross, 82, who died of pneumonia on April 20, 2003, was one of the Martha Graham Dance Company's key dancers for two decades. Ross, who had been suffering from Parkinson's disease, was an art student before he began studying with Graham; he joined her company in 1953.

Following Erick Hawkins, he was basically the troupe's principal male dancer, often partnering Graham, first as Oedipus in Night Journey. He created many roles for Graham, notably in Seraphic Dialogue and Clytemnestra. Following Graham's retirement as a dancer and subsequent illness, he was among the Graham stalwarts who kept the school and company together until his resignation in 1974, following the emergence of Ron Protas as Graham's producer.

Tall, rangy, and good looking, Ross was among the most technically powerful and dramatically vivid dancers of his generation, as well as a notable teacher. He danced with the Pearl Lang and Joyce Trisler companies before forming his own troupe in 1978, but choreography was not his forte. After finding--and training--his voice, in 1984 he joined his life partner, songwriter and pianist John Wallowitch, in a highly successful cabaret act.