History of the Loyola Ballet
Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1912, Loyola University New Orleans
is a Catholic institution that emphasizes the Jesuit tradition of contributing
to the liberal education of the whole person. Loyola has consistently
ranked among the top regional colleges and universities in the South,
and is named among the top 6 regional universities by U.S. News and
World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges”.
Ballet was introduced to the program of study at Loyola University New
Orleans in 1964. The first director of Loyola Ballet was New Orleans born,
internationally acclaimed dancer and teacher Lelia Haller. The institutionalization
of a dance program within Loyola University fulfilled Ms. Haller’s
dream of college credit and academic recognition for the study of ballet.
Gayle Parmelee became artistic director of Loyola Ballet in 1977, after
a successful professional dance career in classical ballet, theatre, and
television in New York and abroad. After pedagogical studies in New York,
Chicago, and Russia, Ms. Parmelee introduced ballet technique classes
based on the Russian method of training named for Agrippina Vaganova to
Loyola University. Following the retirement of Ms. Parmelee from the University
Program in 1999, Loyola University alumna Laura Zambrano was named artistic
director of Loyola Ballet. A former ballet mistress of Ballet Iowa, Ms.
Zambrano was the first exchange student of Loyola to complete a two-year
pedagogy program of the Vaganova syllabus in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia,
formerly part of the Soviet Union.
