George Zoritch, a member of Serge Denham's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and Professor Emeritus at the University of Arizona has passed away. Matt Lewis writes in the Arizona Daily Star:

Arizona Daily Star

I’m so happy we got to meet him at the 2006 IBC in Jackson. He sat in on the first interview we did with Nina Novak, adding his own comments and asides making it very interesting and a kind of crazy patchwork quilt of stories.

He showed us his memoirs which had first been published in Russian and most recently in English, saying that he thought the Russian edition to have been a little better. Proud of his accomplishments, he mentioned he had returned from Moscow where he had been honored, I believe, at the ballet competition there.

He was also working on re-issuing in CD format, an album of piano music for ballet class, of which he generously gave us a copy.

He also showed us several photographs of himself as a dancer, mostly from the ‘50s when he was in his heyday with the Ballet Russe.

Zoritch impressed me in several ways – his fluent and un-accented English [most imports often carry even a slight tinge of something that suggests they are not native speakers], including a command of idioms, a cheerful demeanor, and a hard worker; he was using the machines in the hotel’s workout room on a regular basis.

I never saw him teach nor have seen the results in his students but do know from colleagues that he was a very well respected teacher and artist and one that will be missed.

I was so sorry to hear of his passing. I saw him dance with the Ballet Russe when I was a child. I wish I could remember it! I just remember that I was seeing someone famous! He appeared so warm and charming in the Ballet Russe film. He seemed like he had a great sense of humor, too! The dancers of that famous era are leaving us...But, what a legacy!

An obituary from Anna Kisselgoff in The New York Times:

NY Times