[Adta] Ruthanna Boris

[miriam berger]

My computer has been down or I would have responded sooner after hearing
the sad news of Ruthanna's death. I think I met her first at our joint
conference with AATA in NYC in 1974...and was close to her since that time,
speaking often to her on the telephone (she frequently called at 6am NY
time, meaning she was still up and energized at 3am California time!) She
was in charge of book reviews for the AJDT either when I was co-editor with
Marcia Leventhal or during my time as President...and I remember her
rigorous attitude about her responsibilities. She was a consumate
perfectionist about everything she did. This was exemplified when I went to
the first performance of a re-revival of "Cakewalk" for the Joffrey Ballet
in the very early eighties. I was giving a party for her afterwards, and
remembering waiting with friends for a long time after the performance in
City Center watching her up the stage telling (and showing!) the dancers
and the revival director every thing they had done that was not up to her
standards. A sight to behold! There was, for some reason, a large
delegation of Chinese diplomats in the theatre who, without understanding
her English, watched in awe as she fiercely dissected the Joffrey's version
of her "Cakewalk"!

I also remember a few years later when she was on a panel at Lincoln Center
in celebration of a Balanchine anniversary...she was absolutely brilliant,
eloquent, and charming in her articulation of her memories of working with
Mr. B. After that, I would see her once in awhile in San Francisco for
dinner and then the frequent phone conversations. She had a terrific sense
of humor and shared many laughs about the world of dance...and dance therapy.

Ruthanna was certainly a unique and marvelous human being...and her extreme
sense of what was right and wrong expressed her fiery passion for life.
Passivity or neutrality had no place in her repertoire. I only wish she
could have read all that has been written about her in our dance therapy
listserve...I think it would have meant a great deal to her to know how
deeply she affected her friends and colleagues in our field...our field of
dance therapy was very important to her life.

Mimi Berger
___________________________________________________
Dr. Miriam Roskin Berger, ADTR, LCAT
Dance Education Program 
Steinhardt School of Education, New York University
Tel: 201-224-9146