Have Tutu, Will Travel: The Dancing Years

Rochelle Zide-Booth joined the fabled Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo on her 16^th birthday and quickly rose to the rank of Soloist. A New York season with Jerome Robbins’ Ballets: USA and four years as Principal Dancer of The Joffrey Ballet followed, where she danced ballerina roles in most of the repertoire, including Balanchine ballets and roles created on her. A new company was being formed for her as Ballerina when an accident cut short her performing career at age 27. The next phase began immediately: Ballet Mistress of the Joffrey and Boston Ballets, Artistic Director of Netherlands Dance Theatre, Professor at Adelphi and Butler Universities, Director of the New Zealand School of Dance, Artist-in-Residence to the City of Dayton OH, and faculty of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. As a Fulbright lecturer, Zide-Booth was the first American ballet teacher invited to be Artist in Residence in the Czech Republic. She is listed in 2000 Notable American Women, Who’s Who of American Women, The International Who’s Who of Professional and Business Women, Personalities of America. In 2014 she was honored to receive the CORPS de Ballet International Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in teaching Ballet in higher education and she is Professor Emerita of both Adelphi and Butler Universities.