Barbara Fallis

Barbara Fallis (1924 – September 5th, 1980)was a ballet dancer and educator of the 20th century. She danced for many prominent companies, including the American Ballet Theater and New York City Ballet, and later started her own school, the New York School of Ballet, with husband Richard Thomas (dancer)|Richard Thomas.
==Early Life==
Barbara Fallis was born in 1924 in Denver, Colorado. Shortly after, her family moved from the United States to London, England for her father’s work. The Fallis family remained in London for 12 years until WWII. Her love and pursuit of dance began during this time. She and her mother attended many performances by notable dance companies of the time, including Ballet Russe, which spurred Barbara’s interest in dance at a young age.
Fallis began her more serious study of dance at the age of 12 with Joan Lawson. Shortly after, she auditioned to train under Ninette de Valois|Ninette De Valois for the Vic-Wells Ballet School|Vic-Wells Ballet. Barbara Fallis studied at the Sadler’s Wells Ballet School, directly tied to the Vic-Wells Ballet, which would later become the Royal Ballet. Ninette De Valois only allowed dancers into the school that she believed were worthy of also being in the company, which gave Barbara many opportunities to begin performing in the corps de ballet. However, her time at the Vic-Wells was short lived, as the Fallis family was forced to move back to the United States because of the war.
==Life and career==
Upon relocation to America, the Fallis family settled in New York City. Here Barbara was able to audition for Ballet Theater with Lucia Chase. She began dancing with Ballet Theater, later know as American Ballet Theatre|American Ballet Theater, in 1941 at the age of 16. Her first performance with the company was in La Sulfide in Mexico. During her 8 years with Ballet Theater, Fallis worked with many prominent choreographers, including Michel Fokine, Antony Tudor|Anthony Tudor, Bronislava Nijinska, and George Balanchine in many original works for the company. For example, she was in the corps de ballet of Anthony Tudor’s Pillar of Fire, which premiered for the first time in 1942. Fallis preferred roles in the company, over soloist parts, as it enabled her to perform as much as possible.
In 1948, Barbara Fallis left Ballet Theater to join Company Alicia Alonso in Cuba. It was in Cuba, that she met fellow dancer and husband Richard Thomas. The couple married in Cuba in 1950 and had their first child, Richard Thomas, in 1951 before returning to New York in 1953.
Upon their return to New York City, both Barbara and Richard secured positions in the New York City Ballet dancing with Balanchine. Fallis remained with New York City Ballet until 1958. During that time, she danced in such performances as Western Symphony and Balanchine’s first Nutcracker. In 1958, she left New York City Ballet and began a short period of performances at Jacob's Pillow Dance|Jacob’s Pillow.
In 1963, Barbara and Richard founded The New York School of Ballet where they began to train young dancers. During the early days of the school’s founding, the couple also alternated teaching at the Pennsylvania Ballet in Philadelphia which helped fund their school. In 1969, the school relocated to the former studios of the School of American Ballet after being offered the space by George Balanchine and Lincoln Kerstein. Here, they trained noteworthy students of the school such as Eliot Feld, Twyla Tharp, Sean Lavery (dancer)|Sean Lavery, Debbie Allen, Cynthia Gregory, and Christine Sarry.
Later in 1975, subsequent to Feld’s departure from the school, Barbara and Richard founded the company U.S. Terpsichore to provide their students with performance opportunities. The couple’s second child, Bronwyn Thomas, as well as their son Richard Thomas (actor)|Richard Thomas were among the performing members of the company. Her son, Richard, was also a well-known child actor, who performed on the television series The Waltons|The Walton’s. The company toured a wide variety of repertory including over 30 ballets in both contemporary and classical styles. U.S. Terpsichore was very successful, and the funds raised from the touring performances continually funded the New York School of Ballet.
Barbara Fallis taught at the school alongside her husband until her death on September 5th, 1980. She died of cancer at age 56.
==References==
==External links==
* New York School of Ballet/U.S. Terpsichore records Manuscripts and Archives, New York Public Library.
* Digital Collections, New York Public Library. 
Category:1924 births
Category:1980 deaths
Category:Ballet teachers
Category:American female ballet dancers
Category:People from Denver,Colorado