Real Name was Geneva Runo.
Ginger Burke, 82, whose name was synonymous with ballet in Buffalo for nearly 50 years, died Sunday (Dec. 29, 1996) in her Buffalo home after a long illness.
Known nationally for her extraordinary ability as a ballet teacher, Miss Burke was for nearly five decades the director of the Royal Academy of Ballet in North Buffalo, which she founded in 1947. She also was co-founder of the Buffalo Regional Ballet Company, a professional dance troupe that performed in the Buffalo area in the 1980s.
Miss Burke's students included the late Michael Bennett, the renowned Broadway creator of "A Chorus Line," who studied with her for two years, and Maris Battaglia of the American Academy of Ballet.
Other students went on to dance with the New York City Ballet, the American Ballet Theater and the Ballet Corps of Radio City Music Hall.
Miss Burke was invited by the George Balanchine School of American Ballet in New York City to participate for six consecutive years in intensive seminars sponsored by the Ford Foundation. At the conclusion, Balanchine, the acclaimed ballet master, gave her a letter of recommendation for the University at Buffalo, where she later taught for 14 years in the department of theater and dance.
Linda H. Swiniuch, chairwoman of that department, described Miss Burke as "one of the best teachers I've ever seen anywhere" and one of the few who were personally "endorsed by the one and only George Balanchine."
"What set her apart was that, to her, each student was a person, an individual, whether he or she had the talent to succeed as a professional or was studying merely for the love of the art itself and had no possibility of becoming professional," Ms. Swiniuch said. "She was the most humane of teachers, greatly skilled in what she knew and what she was able to teach."
"You must, to be effective, think of every student not just as a dancer, but as a person," Miss Burke said during a 1980 interview. "What happens is that you end up loving your students. And they end up, years later, coming back to you -- bringing their children to you." She married Paul Tarpley, who died in 1951.
She became Ginger Burke as a young woman when she teamed with another young female dancer, Ruth Willis, to form a vaudeville act.
The manager of the duo, which toured for about 12 years, decided that the two women should perform as the Burke Sisters, with Geneva using the name Ginger Burke and her partner, Ruth, becoming Carol Burke. During the 1980 interview, Miss Burke said she fell in love with ballet at age 5, when her mother took her to see the Wisconsin Opera.
"From that moment on," she recalled, "I wanted to dance."
After her father died and her mother remarried, Miss Burke moved to Auburn with her family when she was 8.
At age 10, she bought her first pair of toe shoes with money she earned baby-sitting and began taking lessons when she was 11. She moved to the Buffalo area with her family when she was 20 and found dancing jobs in nightclubs and with the Shea's Ballet Company.
After a few years in vaudeville, Miss Burke returned to Buffalo with Miss Willis and opened her ballet school in North Buffalo, which continues to thrive today.
Miss Burke's partner for many years was Olga Kostritzky, a Russian ballet instructor. Together they co-founded the Buffalo Regional Ballet Company, a professional dance troupe that performed in the Katharine Cornell Theatre on UB's North Campus in Amherst.
Surviving are a granddaughter and a great-grandson.
Ginger Burke, 82, whose name was synonymous with ballet in Buffalo for nearly 50 years, died Sunday (Dec. 29, 1996) in her Buffalo home after a long illness.
Known nationally for her extraordinary ability as a ballet teacher, Miss Burke was for nearly five decades the director of the Royal Academy of Ballet in North Buffalo, which she founded in 1947. She also was co-founder of the Buffalo Regional Ballet Company, a professional dance troupe that performed in the Buffalo area in the 1980s.
Miss Burke's students included the late Michael Bennett, the renowned Broadway creator of "A Chorus Line," who studied with her for two years, and Maris Battaglia of the American Academy of Ballet.
Other students went on to dance with the New York City Ballet, the American Ballet Theater and the Ballet Corps of Radio City Music Hall.
Miss Burke was invited by the George Balanchine School of American Ballet in New York City to participate for six consecutive years in intensive seminars sponsored by the Ford Foundation. At the conclusion, Balanchine, the acclaimed ballet master, gave her a letter of recommendation for the University at Buffalo, where she later taught for 14 years in the department of theater and dance.
Linda H. Swiniuch, chairwoman of that department, described Miss Burke as "one of the best teachers I've ever seen anywhere" and one of the few who were personally "endorsed by the one and only George Balanchine."
"What set her apart was that, to her, each student was a person, an individual, whether he or she had the talent to succeed as a professional or was studying merely for the love of the art itself and had no possibility of becoming professional," Ms. Swiniuch said. "She was the most humane of teachers, greatly skilled in what she knew and what she was able to teach."
"You must, to be effective, think of every student not just as a dancer, but as a person," Miss Burke said during a 1980 interview. "What happens is that you end up loving your students. And they end up, years later, coming back to you -- bringing their children to you." She married Paul Tarpley, who died in 1951.
She became Ginger Burke as a young woman when she teamed with another young female dancer, Ruth Willis, to form a vaudeville act.
The manager of the duo, which toured for about 12 years, decided that the two women should perform as the Burke Sisters, with Geneva using the name Ginger Burke and her partner, Ruth, becoming Carol Burke. During the 1980 interview, Miss Burke said she fell in love with ballet at age 5, when her mother took her to see the Wisconsin Opera.
"From that moment on," she recalled, "I wanted to dance."
After her father died and her mother remarried, Miss Burke moved to Auburn with her family when she was 8.
At age 10, she bought her first pair of toe shoes with money she earned baby-sitting and began taking lessons when she was 11. She moved to the Buffalo area with her family when she was 20 and found dancing jobs in nightclubs and with the Shea's Ballet Company.
After a few years in vaudeville, Miss Burke returned to Buffalo with Miss Willis and opened her ballet school in North Buffalo, which continues to thrive today.
Miss Burke's partner for many years was Olga Kostritzky, a Russian ballet instructor. Together they co-founded the Buffalo Regional Ballet Company, a professional dance troupe that performed in the Katharine Cornell Theatre on UB's North Campus in Amherst.
Surviving are a granddaughter and a great-grandson.
Real Name was Geneva Runo.
Ginger Burke, 82, whose name was synonymous with ballet in Buffalo for nearly 50 years, died Sunday (Dec. 29, 1996) in her Buffalo home after a long illness.
Known nationally for her extraordinary ability as a ballet teacher, Miss Burke was for nearly five decades the director of the Royal Academy of Ballet in North Buffalo, which she founded in 1947. She also was co-founder of the Buffalo Regional Ballet Company, a professional dance troupe that performed in the Buffalo area in the 1980s.
Miss Burke's students included the late Michael Bennett, the renowned Broadway creator of "A Chorus Line," who studied with her for two years, and Maris Battaglia of the American Academy of Ballet.
Other students went on to dance with the New York City Ballet, the American Ballet Theater and the Ballet Corps of Radio City Music Hall.
Miss Burke was invited by the George Balanchine School of American Ballet in New York City to participate for six consecutive years in intensive seminars sponsored by the Ford Foundation. At the conclusion, Balanchine, the acclaimed ballet master, gave her a letter of recommendation for the University at Buffalo, where she later taught for 14 years in the department of theater and dance.
Linda H. Swiniuch, chairwoman of that department, described Miss Burke as "one of the best teachers I've ever seen anywhere" and one of the few who were personally "endorsed by the one and only George Balanchine."
"What set her apart was that, to her, each student was a person, an individual, whether he or she had the talent to succeed as a professional or was studying merely for the love of the art itself and had no possibility of becoming professional," Ms. Swiniuch said. "She was the most humane of teachers, greatly skilled in what she knew and what she was able to teach."
"You must, to be effective, think of every student not just as a dancer, but as a person," Miss Burke said during a 1980 interview. "What happens is that you end up loving your students. And they end up, years later, coming back to you -- bringing their children to you." She married Paul Tarpley, who died in 1951.
She became Ginger Burke as a young woman when she teamed with another young female dancer, Ruth Willis, to form a vaudeville act.
The manager of the duo, which toured for about 12 years, decided that the two women should perform as the Burke Sisters, with Geneva using the name Ginger Burke and her partner, Ruth, becoming Carol Burke. During the 1980 interview, Miss Burke said she fell in love with ballet at age 5, when her mother took her to see the Wisconsin Opera.
"From that moment on," she recalled, "I wanted to dance."
After her father died and her mother remarried, Miss Burke moved to Auburn with her family when she was 8.
At age 10, she bought her first pair of toe shoes with money she earned baby-sitting and began taking lessons when she was 11. She moved to the Buffalo area with her family when she was 20 and found dancing jobs in nightclubs and with the Shea's Ballet Company.
After a few years in vaudeville, Miss Burke returned to Buffalo with Miss Willis and opened her ballet school in North Buffalo, which continues to thrive today.
Miss Burke's partner for many years was Olga Kostritzky, a Russian ballet instructor. Together they co-founded the Buffalo Regional Ballet Company, a professional dance troupe that performed in the Katharine Cornell Theatre on UB's North Campus in Amherst.
Surviving are a granddaughter and a great-grandson.
Ginger Burke, 82, whose name was synonymous with ballet in Buffalo for nearly 50 years, died Sunday (Dec. 29, 1996) in her Buffalo home after a long illness.
Known nationally for her extraordinary ability as a ballet teacher, Miss Burke was for nearly five decades the director of the Royal Academy of Ballet in North Buffalo, which she founded in 1947. She also was co-founder of the Buffalo Regional Ballet Company, a professional dance troupe that performed in the Buffalo area in the 1980s.
Miss Burke's students included the late Michael Bennett, the renowned Broadway creator of "A Chorus Line," who studied with her for two years, and Maris Battaglia of the American Academy of Ballet.
Other students went on to dance with the New York City Ballet, the American Ballet Theater and the Ballet Corps of Radio City Music Hall.
Miss Burke was invited by the George Balanchine School of American Ballet in New York City to participate for six consecutive years in intensive seminars sponsored by the Ford Foundation. At the conclusion, Balanchine, the acclaimed ballet master, gave her a letter of recommendation for the University at Buffalo, where she later taught for 14 years in the department of theater and dance.
Linda H. Swiniuch, chairwoman of that department, described Miss Burke as "one of the best teachers I've ever seen anywhere" and one of the few who were personally "endorsed by the one and only George Balanchine."
"What set her apart was that, to her, each student was a person, an individual, whether he or she had the talent to succeed as a professional or was studying merely for the love of the art itself and had no possibility of becoming professional," Ms. Swiniuch said. "She was the most humane of teachers, greatly skilled in what she knew and what she was able to teach."
"You must, to be effective, think of every student not just as a dancer, but as a person," Miss Burke said during a 1980 interview. "What happens is that you end up loving your students. And they end up, years later, coming back to you -- bringing their children to you." She married Paul Tarpley, who died in 1951.
She became Ginger Burke as a young woman when she teamed with another young female dancer, Ruth Willis, to form a vaudeville act.
The manager of the duo, which toured for about 12 years, decided that the two women should perform as the Burke Sisters, with Geneva using the name Ginger Burke and her partner, Ruth, becoming Carol Burke. During the 1980 interview, Miss Burke said she fell in love with ballet at age 5, when her mother took her to see the Wisconsin Opera.
"From that moment on," she recalled, "I wanted to dance."
After her father died and her mother remarried, Miss Burke moved to Auburn with her family when she was 8.
At age 10, she bought her first pair of toe shoes with money she earned baby-sitting and began taking lessons when she was 11. She moved to the Buffalo area with her family when she was 20 and found dancing jobs in nightclubs and with the Shea's Ballet Company.
After a few years in vaudeville, Miss Burke returned to Buffalo with Miss Willis and opened her ballet school in North Buffalo, which continues to thrive today.
Miss Burke's partner for many years was Olga Kostritzky, a Russian ballet instructor. Together they co-founded the Buffalo Regional Ballet Company, a professional dance troupe that performed in the Katharine Cornell Theatre on UB's North Campus in Amherst.
Surviving are a granddaughter and a great-grandson.
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