“Sometimes I think he was once a kid like us.” – 11-year-old student, P.S. 40.
The news that Jacques d’Amboise passed away was shocking. Jacques was truly larger than life.
I only worked for National Dance Institute for two years, but the effect of his extraordinary organization has stayed with me ever since.
I spent a lot of time babysitting when I was a kid but by the time I began working at NDI I had not been around children for quite some time. The work Jacques, his artistic director Ellen, and their team did with New York City public school children blew me away. Hundreds of them, in classes all over the boroughs, connecting through the joy of dance. The effect was astounding.
Children love to move their bodies. Add in great music, and loving teachers, and you have magic. And NDI stressed access. Children showed up in t-shirts and jeans, with sneakers. No expensive gear for parents to purchase.
Years after I left NDI I found myself in a teaching program at Brooklyn College. When it came time to write my thesis I thought of NDI. There was something about the organic way they exposed children to movement and music. It also occurred to me that Jacques and Ellen had inspired me to teach.
There is no way to measure the loss of Jacques d’Amboise. Thankfully, his mission lives on through the marvelous National Dance Institute.
Gia Kourlas did a wonderful appraisal on Jacques in The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/04/arts/dance/jacques-damboise-city-ballet.html
For more information on NDI, visit: www.nationaldance.org