H eadlines
Ballet Founder Barbara Weisberger Dies at 94
OB ITUARY
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
BARBARA WEISBERGER,
the founder of Pennsylvania
Ballet and the first American
student of internationally
renowned choreographer
George Balanchine, died at her
home in Kingston, Pennsylvania,
on Dec. 23. She was 94.

Weisberger fou nded
Pennsylvania Ballet in 1963. Since
then, the company has become a
cultural institution, embedded in
the artistic life of Philadelphia
and nationally respected. With
a Ford Foundation grant and
a desire to transmit what she
learned from Balanchine to
American students, Weisberger
led the organization until her
resignation in 1982.

Following her time with the
company, Weisberger spent
decades nurturing dancers and
choreographers, founding the
Carlisle Project, a mentorship
program for choreographers
in Carlisle, and serving as an
artistic advisor at Peabody
Dance, the dance program of
the celebrated Peabody Institute.

Weisberger was repeatedly
honored by the commonwealth
for her efforts, and received
many honorary doctorates.

“Mrs. Weisberger was a true
visionary, a natural leader and a
perpetually creative artist,” read
a statement from Pennsylvania
Ballet, posted to its website.

“A pioneer of every important
movement in American ballet,
Mrs. Weisberger was a remark-
able force and we are forever
grateful for the indelible impact
she made on our art form.”
Weisberger was born
in Brooklyn, New York, to
Herman and Sally Linshes
in 1926, and began her ballet
training at 5. She was accepted
into Balanchine’s program at
the School of American Ballet,
as his first American student,
when she was 8. In 1940, the
family moved to Wilmington,
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM She really taught me the importance of, among many things, creating
a company that really, truly had a spirit about it.”
ROY KAISER
When Weisberger hired Roy for the company in 1973, saw
fiend, and skilled at Sudoku
Kaiser as a dancer in 1979, early on that Weisberger was
and poker.

In 1961, her path crossed Kaiser wasn’t sure he had the model of a visionary, effec-
with Balanchine again, as she the skill to be what he was tive leader in the arts.

was among a select group of expected to be. But over the
“We have practically a
ballet teachers invited to a ballet course of a long association 60-year-old ballet company in
summit in New York. According with Pennsylvania Ballet, first a major city,” Koenemen said.

to The Philadelphia Inquirer, as a dancer, and then as artistic “That’s quite an astounding
Weisberger told Balanchine director, Kaiser learned invalu- accomplishment.”
that Philadelphia was ripe for able lessons from Weisberger.

Weisberger was predeceased
Barbara Weisberger, founder of
a serious company; Balanchine
“She really taught me the by her husband, Ernest, and is
Pennsylvania Ballet, died at 94.

Courtesy of the Weisberger family told her that she should be the importance of, among many survived by her children, Wendy
one to bring it there. She’d things, creating a company and Steve, three grandchildren,
spend the next 20-plus years that really, truly had a spirit and four great-grandchildren. l
and Weisberger continued commuting between Wilkes- about it,” Kaiser said.

Martha Koenemen, hired jbernstein@jewishexponent.com;
her studies, commuting to Barre and Philadelphia, doing
by Weisberger to be a pianist 215-832-0740
Philadelphia for training with just that.

the Littlefield sisters, giants
of American ballet. With her
Name: Silver Lining Home Health Care*
early graduation from high
Width: 5.5 in
school and the start of World
Depth: 5.5 in
War II, her career as a dancer
Color: Black plus one
was interrupted.

Comment: JE
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But with her marriage to
Ernest Weisberger in 1949 and
subsequent move to Wilkes-
Barre, where the Wilkes-Barre
Ballet Theatre was soon estab-
Flexible schedule
lished, her life in dance was far
Care for anyone
from over.

recovering from
She was “Miss Barbara” to
surgery or illness
her many ballet students in the
’50s and ’60s and, according to
Short- or long-term
her daughter, Wendy Kranson,
Hourly, daily, or
even until her death.

live-in schedule
“She was never Mrs.

Weisberger,” said her son,
Steve Weisberger. “It was
always ‘Miss Barbara’ to the
ballet people, just like George
PA State Licensed
Balanchine was Mr. B.”
Caregivers are bonded and insured
Both Steven Weisberger and
Kranson emphasized that their
mother, for all of her successes
and busy schedule, was a
normal, loving mother at home,
even if work frequently took
215-885-7701 her away. They kept kosher, and
www.slhomecare.com attended synagogue with some
regularity; Weisberger was a
New York Times crossword
Helping to care for the
people you love!
JEWISH EXPONENT
JANUARY 7, 2021
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