Jacques
d’Amboise Shares Passion for Dance with City Students
By
Tom Kertes
“Most
of them will not become dancers,” National Dance Institute (NDI)
founder Jacques d’Amboise smiles warmly while looking out at the
group of four-to-sixth graders practicing an unmistakably Russian-flavored
routine at the LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts. “But
I’m quite sure that all of them will become better students and
better-rounded people through this.”
“This”
is the NDI program, founded 26 years ago by d’Amboise. NDI is
not-for-profit—“Boy, is it ever!” he groans— because d’Amboise
strongly believes that “the arts have a unique power to engage
children and motivate them to excellence.” A high school dropout
from the seedy Washington Heights streets at age 15, d’Amboise
became a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet by the age
of 17 and remained one of America’s top ballet stars until his
retirement in 1984. In 1976, he founded NDI “to give others the
gift and enrichment that I enjoyed all my life through the arts.”
As envisioned by its founder, NDI is unique. “In other programs,
an artist will go to a school to perform to the kids,” says d’Amboise,
a boyish 68 in beat-up sneakers, sky blue work shirt to match
his lively eyes, and jeans. “But what we do is send professional
artists—dancers, musicians, choreographers—to the schools to get
the children to perform.” Over 2000 of them do annually, from
all kinds of schools—“rich, poor, and everything in-between” says
d’Amboise—all over the United States, many of them sacrificing
their after-school leisure hours and weekends. Looking at their
faces—flushed, smiling, thrilled from the accomplishment—it’s
safe to say that not one of them would change a minute of their
schedule.
In addition to giving of his time and talent, d’Amboise brings
the world to these kids. Today’s guest teacher is Shamil Yagudin,
Ballet Master of the world-renown Bolshoi Ballet who also choreographed
the piece the kids are practicing. “I first saw Shamil dance in
1958,” says d’Amboise. “He was wonderful. He could fly.”
“I
come to America every year to bring new dances, judge competitions,
teach all over the country, and help Jacques,” says the 70-year
young Yagudin in his thick accent. “I’m not Russian, you know.
I’m Tartar. This is Tartar music, yes? Anyway, it’s much nicer
to come to USA now. Before 1989, every time I looked behind me
on street, I saw KGB.” Today, no matter where he looks, all he
sees is kids hungry for his every word, drinking in each movement
he shows them.
“Jacques
is good friend for very long time,” says Yagudin. “He ask, I come.”
The forty-plus kids at this practice are members of NDI’s Celebration
Team, comprised of the “most talented, most enthusiastic, and
most willing of all our participants,” says d’Amboise. NDI, however,
is far more than “just” the best of its best: it is in 20 elementary
schools in all kinds of neighborhoods throughout the City every
single day, its program part of the regular curriculum. Each year
the practice sessions lead up to a big “Event of the Year” —200
kids traveling to different schools to perform—as well as more
than twenty smaller school events where students perform for their
peers. Do the students mind the hours? “I am having so much fun
with Jacques and Shamil that I can’t even tell you how much fun
I’m having,” one pigtailed fourth-grade girl says while taking
a rare “five” during the exhaustive workshop.
“We’ve
worked with over one million kids so far,” d’Amboise, who went
from active NDI leader to “something like a roving ambassador”
a couple of years ago, says. These days, he travels all over the
country—all over the world, in fact —training teachers and checking
on the progress of NDI-related programs. “We’ve touched so many
lives. This is not just about dance, you know. This is about changing
lives. It’s about music, poetry, acting, and scenery making. It’s
about creating a real theater experience. It’s about opening up
a wonderful new world to some kids who otherwise may not ever
have the chance to see that world. And this is about how these
children grow up to be more confident, and better-disciplined,
adults who will perhaps become more successful in whatever they
choose to do with their lives due to this experience.”#
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