Aileen Passloff and dancers at the 92nd Street Y, 2019. Photo: Arthur Avilés.
I MET AILEEN PASSLOFF IN 1981, when I took her barefoot ballet class at Bard College. As a freshman, I wanted to major in theater, but the Drama/Dance department required students to also study dance. I thought since I had an athletic background, it couldn’t hurt. When I stepped into her studio, I didn’t know I was being taught by a legendary member of Judson Dance Theater.
Aileen had come through the School of American Ballet, but that wasn’t how she brought her students into the world of dance. She’d say things like,