Jacques d'Amboise

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Jacques d'Amboise and the National Dance Institute
(video tape cover)

Jacques d'Amboise (born Joseph Jacques Ahearn on July 28, 1934 in Dedham, Massachusetts) is a well-known American ballet dancer and choreographer.

[edit] Biography

Jacques d'Amboise was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, where ballets were especially created for him by famous choreographer George Balanchine. Jacques d'Amboise has also choreographed ballets for the New York City Ballet.

As well as ballets, Jacques d'Amboise danced in films, including Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, where he played the part of Ephraim, one of the brothers -- and Carousel, where he danced the ballet role of the carousel barker in the "Starlight Carnival" in Louise's Ballet.

Jacques d'Amboise founded the National Dance Institute in 1976, which has been teaching school children how to dance for the past 30 years. A documentary film about Jacques d'Amboise and the National Dance Institute won an Academy Award. The NDI program often combines music and art with studies of other cultures, histories, and literature, offering a unique and comprehensive performing arts experience, while fostering curiosity and a sense of achievement.

Jacques d'Amboise has received many honors and awards, including 1990 MacArthur Fellowship, a Kennedy Center Honors Award, a National Medal of the Arts, a New York Governor's Award and an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Boston College (the last in 1986). He has also received many other awards and honors for his contribution to the Arts and dance education. D'Amboise received a D.F.A. from Bates College in 1978.

Jacques d'Amboise married Carolyn George, a photographer and former ballerina, on New Years Day, 1956 and they have 4 children including ballet dancer/choreographer Christopher d'Amboise and dancer Charlotte d'Amboise. He is the father-in-law of Terrence Mann, who married Charlotte.