Transitions.

STEPHANIE REINHART

Stephanie Reinhart, co-director of the American Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina, and co-artistic director for dance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. (see page 26), died September 23, 2002. According to her husband, Charles Reinhart, the cause was leukemia.

She began her career as an arts administrator in 1969 as program administrator for the National Endowment for the Arts' Dance and Education programs, where she helped develop the Artists-in-the-Schools Program. The Reinharts married in 1977, when Stephanie joined the ADF as director of planning and development; she became co-director with her husband in 1993. The same year she was awarded a Fulbright research grant to study the history of modern dance in Argentina.

Her death came at the peak of a career as an innovator whose passion for dance knew no bounds. The Reinharts traveled the globe in their search for new dance to share with American audiences. On a cold mountaintop in Japan, they saw a performance by the butoh troupe Dai Rakuda Kan and brought the troupe to the ADF in 1982, thus introducing American audiences to this experimental art form. She played an integral role in developing the ADF's vast international programs, including mini-ADFs abroad and the festival's International Choreographers' Commissioning Program, as well as helping to establish the Guangdong Modern Dance Company, China's first modern dance troupe.

Charles and Stephanie Reinhart are credited with expanding dance offerings at the Kennedy Center after being named artistic directors for dance there in 1996, including the Balanchine Celebration and a commissioning program for collaborations by jazz composers and modern dance companies. Shortly before her death, Reinhart received two honors: an Emmy Award as executive producer, with her husband, for PBS's Free to Dance: The African-American Presence in Modern Dance, and a medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters from the French government for her contributions to furthering dance in France and throughout the world.

Reinhart will be remembered as brave and optimistic. She sported a red baseball cap and irrepressible smile at her brief appearance at the festival's twenty-fifth Durham season in July 2002 to attend the three performances of her daughter, Ariane Malia Reinhart. She never professed to be a dancer herself and admitted to stage fright, but she gamely appeared in a few festival programs. She last danced in From the Horse's Mouth, Chapter 11 as one of twenty-eight performers from the 2001 festival's administration and staff. In the dance, ADF ballet teacher Jim Sutton's observation on dance could serve as Reinhart's epitaph. Sutton said: "Dancing is life. It's not a metaphor. It's a real thing. Here and now is all you really have: a gift, and that is why we call it the present."--Susan Broili

YEVGENY PANFILOV

The murder of Yevgeny Panfilov--stabbed to death at age 47 by a robber at his apartment in the city of Perm in the Urals in summer 2002--stunned the dance world of Russia. The charismatic director and choreographer was one of the first devotees of modern dance in Russia, and he had to overcome many challenges before being acclaimed for his unique company and creative repertoire, which fused classical and modern dance techniques.

A graduate of the Institute of Culture in Perm and of GITIS (the state theatrical and dance institute) in Moscow, he formed his first modern group, Impulse, in 1981, following it six years later with Experiment. But it was Yevgeny Panfilov Ballet that won him the greatest acclaim. Established in 1994, it was thought by some to be on the same terpsichorean level as the famous Perm Ballet, even though the two companies, which shared the same theater, were diametrically opposed in their views of dance.

Panfilov's works were eclectic, versatile, and highly original. He blended styles--classical, modern, folkloric, jazz--with a medley of music, anything from Tchaikovsky to the pop group Queen. And he gave his works novel titles: Waltzes for the Dim-Witted, The Parrot's Cage, Duets the Color of Fog.

The choreographer visited the American Dance Festival in the early 1990s, where his Lolita premiered. Panfilov received many awards in his home country, including the coveted Golden Mask, one of Russia's most prestigious prizes.--Margaret Willis

MICKE VAN HOEK

Micke Van Hoek, 56, a Dutch modern dancer and choreographer, died from complications of a stroke November 13, 2002, in Manhattan.

She taught choreography and improvisation in the Netherlands and Europe before moving to the U.S. in 1977. She was Lucas Hoving's teaching assistant at North Carolina's American Dance Festival, and appeared in several works by her companion, Meredith Monk. She is survived by Monk and six siblings.--Heather Wisner

ELDON DAY PARISH

Eldon Day "Ed" Parish, a longtime Illinois dance teacher and professional dancer, died November 23, 2002, from a heart ailment. He was 77.

Parish was born December 30, 1924, near Emmetsburg, Iowa, and studied dance in Iowa, New York, and Hollywood. After World War II, he studied with Bronislava Nijinska and danced professionally until an injury cut short his promising career. Parish settled in Chicago, where he taught Russian technique. His teaching style continually challenged dancers technically and musically, and he encouraged students to work together. His cheerful demeanor made dancers smile and enjoy the moment. The emotional shading of his choreography was remarkable.

He taught in Chicago's North Side neighborhoods for twenty years. Parish continued teaching while living on a farm near Rockford, Illinois, where he set up a dance studio and foster home for teens and pre-teens. He taught steadily until 2001, despite his ill health.

Parish is survived by his sister, Dawn.--Ben Caref