Mary Day (1910-2006).

During her 60 years at the helm of The Washington Ballet, Mary Day resolutely carried the company forward, gaining for it a national identity.

Unlike most company directors, Day did not begin as a performer. Born into a family of modest means, she studied dance as a child and quickly discovered that teaching would be her career. A recital by the students of Lisa Gardiner, a former Pavlova company member, pointed the way. Gardiner was an elegant woman who inspired her dancers with mottoes like "Talent is the ability to work." She and Day established The Washington School of Ballet in 1944. Their personalities were complementary, with Gardiner providing the artistic vision and Day adding the practical decisions.

By 1956 they had organized a modest non-professional company called The Washington Ballet. The following year they engaged Frederic Franklin as co-artistic director with Day. Gardiner became artistic advisor, but in 1958 she died suddenly and the company entered a turbulent period. By 1961, Franklin had left to form the National Ballet, also in Washington. The Ford Foundation, which had begun to distribute its prestigious grants, bypassed The Washington Ballet in favor of Franklin's company. Undaunted, Day traveled to Russia to observe the Bolshoi Ballet school and upon returning, created a combined academic and dance school. Lack of funds caused the demise of the academic side in 1977. Day had re-established The Washington Ballet as a professional company in 1976 and two years later engaged Choo San Goh as resident choreographer.

It was a propitious time. Goh was an exciting and prolific dancemaker, and during these years, Elvi Moore became the company's dynamic general director. Goh's untimely death in 1987 again set the company adrift. While she remained school director, Day began to groom her gifted former student, Kevin McKenzie, as artistic director, but an invitation to lead American Ballet Theatre took McKenzie out of the running. In 1999 Septime Webre was selected.

Day continued to direct the school until 2004 when Rebecca Wright was named to the post. Wright's also untimely death in January 2006 threatened to make demands on Mary Day's legendary tenacity, but her death in July created a new challenge for the sturdy Washington Ballet.