Jeanette Ordman (1935-2007).

Dancer, choreographer, and the creator of Bat-Dor Dance Company, Jeannette Ordman died in February at 73. Born in South Africa, she studied ballet in Johannesburg, and at the Royal Academy of Dance in London.

In 1965, Ordman joined a small ballet company in Haifa, Israel. She quickly moved to Tel-Aviv and began teaching ballet. Ordman was the first teacher to bring the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) to Israel, and drew students from all over the country.

Batsheva de Rothschild invited Ordman to teach but Ordman's classical ballet discipline raised tension with the company's modern dancers. Yet a growing bond between de Rothschild and Ordman resulted in the creation of the Bat-Dor Company in 1967. The company's signature was a fusion between classical ballet and modern dance.

During the 1970s and '80s Bat-Dor was considered one of the most important dance companies in Israel. "Until she opened her school and dance company there was very little professional dance in Israel," says Igal Perry, the former Bat-Dor dancer who founded Peridance in NYC. "People believed that professional skills only existed abroad."

Among the choreographers Ordman invited to work with Bat-Dor were Paul Taylor, Antony Tudor, and Alvin Ailey. "It was very difficult working with her," says Perry, "but that was only because she never gave up on her values."