Day, Mary, 1910-2006

Mary Day was born 25 Jan. 1910 in Washington, D.C., where she studied with Lisa Gardiner, who had danced with Anna Pavlova's company. After founding the Washington School of Ballet in 1944, both women presented their students in children's ballets, often with the National Symphony Orchestra. Gardiner had called her small performing group the Washington Ballet, a title that was retained when the troupe was reorganized and Gardiner became artistic adviser in 1956. She died in 1958. Mary Day, whose drive to establish ballet in Washington was accompanied by a brisk elegance, then directed the small company with Frederic Franklin, a star of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. When Franklin left in 1961 to form a new company, the National Ballet, in Washington. Day shifted her attention to her school, adding an academic wing. The National Ballet folded in 1974, and Day reorganized the Washington Ballet as a professional company in 1976. She was artistic director from 1976 to 1999, when she was succeeded by Septime Webre. She retired as director of the school in 2003.