Lawrence Rhodes 1939-2019 | In Memoriam

Rhodes, a "dancer's dancer," was a skilled performer and master teacher whose legacy includes creating Juilliard's New Dances series.

Lawrence Rhodes, who was artistic director of the Dance Division from 2002 until 2017, died suddenly on March 27 of a heart attack. He was 79. Larry and his wife, dancer Lone Isaksen, who predeceased him, had one son, Mark, who survives him as do his brother and granddaughter.

Born November 24, 1939, in Mount Hope, West Virginia, Rhodes grew up in Detroit, where he started tap dancing at age 9 and studying ballet seriously at 14. Chava Lansky, who had been working with Rhodes on his autobiography, noted in a tribute that appeared in Dance Magazine that, after becoming the first man in his family to graduate from high school, Rhodes was determined to get to New York City. (Rhodes told the anecdote himself in a Juilliard Snapshot video, in 2016.) In 1958, a year after he arrived here, he was accepted into the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as a corps dancer and after two years there joined Robert Joffrey’s company. Rhodes’ long career included, among many others, being the principal dancer and artistic director of the Harkness Ballet, and principal dancer with the Pennsylvania and Eliot Feld ballet companies. After retiring from dancing, in 1978, he taught at and became chair of the dance department at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (1981-89) and served as artistic director of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal (1989-99). He spent his summers guest teaching around the world, including at Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballet Frankfurt, and Lyon Opera Ballet, where he returned each year until his death.

At Juilliard, where Rhodes was the artistic director of the Dance Division for 15 years, his legacy includes the creation of New Dances, which includes every dancer in the school (which was a first at Juilliard). It has also served as an incubator for a who’s-who of choreographers. To name just a few: Kyle Abraham, Aszure Barton, Robert Battle (BFA ’94), Camille A. Brown, Ronald K. Brown, Alexander Ekman, John Heginbotham (BFA ’93), Jessica Lang (BFA ’97),

Matthew Neenan, Larry Keigwin, Andrea Miller (BFA ’04), and Pam Tanowitz. During Rhodes’ time here, the school’s dancers received the most Princess Grace Awards for dance scholarship in the United States and made three major European performance tours; it also became the first school to receive the prestigious Capezio Award, which honors significant contributions to dance.

When Rhodes retired last year, the Journal printed testimonials from dance leaders, which can be found here. One of them, from faculty member Jeff Edwards, read:
    Someone once described Larry to me
    as “a dancer’s dancer,” a person
    whose unique movement quality
    and rare expressivity
    as a performer left a vivid impression
    on the artists who had the
    privilege to see him on stage and in the studio.
    Larry’s legacy extends far beyond his skill
    and gift as a performer, for even
    after his career on stage, he continued to
    hone and expand his talents as a
    great master teacher, curator of dance
    programming, and straight-talking
    mentor for a generation of dancers
    and choreographers. Other dance institutions
    worldwide now look to emulate what
    Larry has created at Juilliard. His clear
    aesthetic vision, sage artistic advice, and
    profound influence on a generation of
    educators, choreographers, and
    performers have reshaped the dance world.

Details will be announced in the near future about an event in Larry‘s memory, which is being planned in conjunction with NYU Tisch Dance and other partners who were associated with him over his long career.