Ruthanna Boris (1918-2007).

Born in Brooklyn at the end of World War I, Ruthanna Boris was one of the lesser-celebrated but nonetheless vital pioneers of 20th-century American dance. As a dancer, she was known for her attack, technique, and a dramatic style that embraced the comic.

There is a marvelous photograph by Philippe Halsman in the foyer of the New York State Theater of Boris, in full ballerina tutu-regalia, on a stool. One pointe shoe is lovingly caressed by a romantically reclining Balanchine, with Tudor diffident in the background, Robbins cross-legged, smiling shyly to their right, and Todd Bolender jumping in a jaunty soubresaut to their left. It celebrated the choreographers of New York City Ballet's 1951 season when Boris created Cakewalk to Gottschalk music. Certainly Cakewalk was her finest ballet and it deserves to survive as her choreographic heritage.

Boris trained at the Metropolitan Opera School of Ballet under Leon Fokine, then in 1934 was among the first pupils of Balanchine's School of American Ballet, dancing in that historic first Serenade. She later danced with Lincoln Kirstein's Ballet Caravan, and in 1935 made her professional debut with the Met Opera as the solo dancer in Carmen. She joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1942, was the first American to dance the major ballerina roles, and made her choreographic debut in that company in 1947 with Cirque de Deux, dancing with Leon Danielian. She left the Ballet Russe in 1950 and devoted herself to choreography and teaching, founding the dance department at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her husband, former dancer Frank Hobi, died in 1967.