Felisa Vanoff

Phyllis Elizabeth (Felisa) Vanoff (June 11, 1925 – May 29, 2014) was an American dancer, choreographer, producer, and philanthropist.

Felisa Vanoff
Born
Phyllis Elizabeth Caputo

June 11, 1925
Ambridge, Pennsylvania, US
DiedMay 29, 2014(2014-05-29) (aged 88)
Beverly Hills, California, US
Resting placeSun Valley, Idaho, US
OccupationDancer, choreographer, producer, philanthropist
Spouse(s)Nick Vanoff
Children2
Parent(s)Eugene Caputo
Velma Lindway

Early life and education

Phyllis Elizabeth Caputo was born on June 11, 1925, in Ambridge, Pennsylvania.[1][2][3] Her father, Eugene Caputo, was a Pennsylvania State Representative, and her mother, Velma Lindway, was an artist.[1][2][4]

Shortly after she graduated from high school, she moved from Pennsylvania to Manhattan. There she lived at a boarding house and studied with Vincenzo Celli of the Ballet Russe.[2][3][5] She then traveled to Mexico City for eighteen months of training with Jose Fernandez, learning flamenco and other Spanish dances.[1][5]

Career

During World War II, Vanoff performed in United Service Organizations Camp Shows in the Pacific, touring the Philippines, Korea, and Japan. By the end of the war she had earned a captaincy in the United States Army.[1][2][3] Returning to New York City, she became the lead dancer in Charles Weidman's Dance Theatre.[1][2] She went on to take part in musical performances with Peter Hamilton.[1][2] Later, she was featured on the Fred Waring and Billy Rose television programs.[1][2]

In 1948, she became the first woman choreographer for the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, a dramatic student society at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[1][5] The following year, she joined the New York City Opera as a lead dancer, appearing in productions like Carmen and Don Giovanni; she was also the company's assistant choreographer.[1][2] In 1953, she joined the John Butler Dance Theatre where she spent two years as lead dancer, often performing alongside Glen Tetley.[1][2] In 1987, she oversaw the Joffrey Ballet's recreation of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring.[1][2] She won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical in 1994 for her co-produced musical City of Angels.[1][2]

Other choreographic roles included the musical Carousel, which starred Bambi Linn and Rod Alexander;[1] Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows;[1][2] and Julie Andrews: The Sound of Christmas in Salzburg.[1][6] With her husband, Nick Vanoff, she also choreographed numerous Kennedy Center Honors shows.[1]

Philanthropy

With her husband, she co-founded the Vanoff Family Foundation, a philanthropic foundation headquartered in Hollywood, California, in 1984.[7] Vanoff later worked with Gordon Davidson to set up an annual charity dinner known as Salon at the Taper,[1][2] the proceeds of which went to Nick's Tix, a philanthropic organization providing access to Los Angeles Music Center concerts for low-income groups like the handicapped, the elderly, and young people.[1][2]

As a member of the Board of Directors of the Joffrey Ballet, Vanoff was credited as a driving force in its move to Los Angeles.[1][2] She also helped organize fundraising events for the Joffrey Ballet, known as "Patron Nights", with interior designer Patti Skouras.[8] Additionally, she served on the Board of Directors of Colleagues,[1] the Heinz Awards,[5] and the Blue Ribbon of the Los Angeles Music Center.[2] She took part in the Great Wagon Days Duck Race, an annual fundraising event organized by the Ketchum/Sun Valley Rotary Club in Rotary Park, a public park in Ketchum, Idaho.[9] She also donated to the St Luke's Wood River Medical Center in Ketchum, Idaho.[10]

Vanoff was a donor to the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, a summer festival in Sun Valley, Idaho.[11] She was also a "Bronze Sponsor" of the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce.[12]

Personal

She met her husband, Nick Vanoff (1929-1991), when both were dancers in the New York City Opera in the 1950s.[2][13] They had two sons, Nicholas Jr. and Flavio.[1][13] They resided in Beverly Hills, California, and also owned an 8,500-square-foot house in Malibu, once rented by Edgar Bronfman Jr., which she sold to Peter O'Malley in 2000.[3][14] The Vanoff Black Box Theater at the Brooks School, a private boarding school in North Andover, Massachusetts from which their son Nicholas Jr. graduated in 1980, is named after her and her husband.[15]

Death

She died of cancer on May 29, 2014, at her private residence in Beverly Hills at the age of eighty-nine.[1] She was buried in Sun Valley, Idaho, her favorite winter skiing resort.[1][2][5]

gollark: You can just fight the gaia guardian.
gollark: Or universal bins, hmm...
gollark: .
gollark: I came up with what seemed like a good way to decide how big a drive a type of item needs, anyway
gollark: I assume I could probably work something out via ComputerCraft and cycling drives out every 15 minutes for moving stuff around.

References
  1. Dagan, Carmel (10 June 2014). "Felisa Vanoff, Dancer, Patron of the Arts, Dies at 89". Variety. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  2. "Felisa Vanoff, Former Dancer and Choreographer, Dies at 89". The Hollywood Reporter. 9 June 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  3. Seitz, John L. (12 June 2014). "Beverly Hills News – Revered Beverly Hills Philanthropist, Patron Of Arts, Felisa Vanoff Dead At 89". The Beverly Hills Courier. Archived from the original on 14 June 2014.
  4. "Velma Lindway Caputo". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 2 June 1979. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  5. Brown, Emma S. (25 June 2014). "Obituary: Felisa Vanoff / Groundbreaking dancer and choreographer, June 11, 1924 – May 29, 2014". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  6. Julie Andrews: The Sound of Christmas (TV), Paley Center for Media
  7. Guide to U.S. Foundations, Their Trustees, Officers, and Donors, New York: Foundation Center, p. 237
  8. Marylouise Oates, The Joffrey Ballet's Parties for Patrons Are Too, Too Divine, The Los Angeles Times, April 22, 1987
  9. Megan Thomas, A quack of a time: Duck race benefits community Archived 2014-07-17 at Archive.today, Idaho Mountain Express
  10. St Luke's River 2010 Donors
  11. Reflecting on the 2011 Season Archived 2014-07-28 at the Wayback Machine, Sun Valley Summer Symphony, p. 10
  12. National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce: Los Angeles Leadership Awards 2008 Archived 2011-03-09 at the Wayback Machine
  13. Blau, Eleanor (22 March 1991). "Nick Vanoff, 61, Former Dancer Who Became Successful Producer". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  14. Danielle Reed, Private Properties: Bat Cave for Less, The Wall Street Journal, October 13, 2000
  15. 'Vanoff Black Box Theater', Brooks Bulletin, Spring 2010, p. 14
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