Jacques d'Amboise, who grew up on the streets of upper Manhattan to become one of the world's premier classical dancers at New York City Ballet, then spent more than four decades providing free dance classes to countless youngsters through his National Dance Institute, has died at 86.
His death was confirmed by Ellen Weinstein, director of the New York-based institute. She said the dancer and teacher had died on Sunday at his New York City home from complications of a stroke.
He was surrounded by his family. Plucked for stardom at NYCB as a teenager by its legendary director, George Balanchine, d'Amboise performed with the company for about 35 years before retiring just before he turned 50.