{{Short description|American dancer, teacher, choreographer (1948–2023)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}} {{infobox dancer |birth_date={{birth date|1948|12|12}} |birth_place=New York City, U.S. |death_date={{death date and age|2023|12|02|1948|12|12}} |death_place= New York City, U.S. |spouse={{marriage|Jeffery Roth|1975}} |children=1 }}
'''Janet Elizabeth Panetta''' (December 12, 1948 – December 2, 2023) was an American dancer, teacher, choreographer, and performer who made significant contributions to both classical ballet and contemporary dance forms.
== Early life == Panetta was born on December 12, 1948, in Brooklyn, New York.<ref name="Bauer_2023" /> Her ballet studies were initiated in 1954 at the age of six as a physical therapy in response to contracting polio in early childhood,<ref name="Deegan_1980">{{Cite news |last=Deegan |first=Carol |date=April 4, 1980 |title=Ballerina Faces New Role |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XpwcAAAAIBAJ&dq=janet+panetta&pg=PA31&article_id=3513,1660465 |work=Sarasota Herald-Tribune |pages=12 |language=en |publication-date= |access-date=September 8, 2024 |archive-date=September 8, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240908150555/https://books.google.com/books?id=XpwcAAAAIBAJ&dq=janet+panetta&pg=PA31&article_id=3513,1660465#v=onepage&q=janet%20panetta&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> which was so severe she had to use an iron lung.<ref name="Bauer_2023" /> Her first teacher was a former showgirl who told Panetta's parents that the seven-year-old Panetta was too talented to be in her class.<ref name="La Rocco_2010">{{Cite news |last=La Rocco |first=Claudia |date=December 10, 2010 |title=Closing Up, but Not Sitting Down |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/arts/dance/12studio.html |access-date= |newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231224224741/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/arts/dance/12studio.html |url-status=live }}</ref> She moved to study with Celine Keller<ref name="La Rocco_2010" /> and then studied at the Metropolitan Opera Ballet School where one of her teachers was her eventual mentor Margaret Craske, a student of the Italian dance master Enrico Cecchetti. Her other teachers at the Metropolitan Opera Ballet School included Antony Tudor and Alfredo Corvino. Panetta started working as Craske's teaching assistant when she was 14 years old.<ref name="Bauer_2023">{{cite news |last1=Bauer |first1=Claudia |date=December 8, 2023 |title=Janet Panetta, 74, Dies; Admired Dancer, Choreographer and Teacher |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/08/arts/dance/janet-panetta-dead.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=January 3, 2024 |archive-date=December 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217173308/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/08/arts/dance/janet-panetta-dead.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Alfaro_2006">{{Cite magazine |last=Alfaro |first=Nancy |date=March 1, 2006 |title=Moonlighting with Pina Bausch: Janet Panetta translates Cecchetti for contemporary dancers |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Moonlighting+with+Pina+Bausch:+Janet+Panetta+translates+Cecchetti+for...-a0142921918 |magazine=Dance Magazine |website= |access-date=January 7, 2024 |archive-date=December 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217173314/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Moonlighting%20with%20Pina%20Bausch%3A%20Janet%20Panetta%20translates%20Cecchetti%20for...-a0142921918 |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Career == As a dancer, Panetta was a member of Paul Sanasardo's company<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kisselgoff |first=Anna |date=May 20, 1982 |title=DANCE: PAUL SANASARO |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/20/arts/dance-paul-sanasaro.html?searchResultPosition=8 |access-date=August 18, 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 19, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240819000534/https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/20/arts/dance-paul-sanasaro.html?searchResultPosition=8 |url-status=live }}</ref> after joining the American Ballet Theatre in the late 1960s<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dunning |first=Jennifer |date=April 11, 1986 |title=SIX EXEMPLARY DANCERS DEFINE THEIR STYLE ON NEW YORK STAGES |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/11/arts/six-exemplary-dancers-define-their-style-on-new-york-stages.html?searchResultPosition=6 |access-date=August 18, 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="Caldwell_2017">{{Cite web |last=Caldwell |first=Rachel |date=January 1, 2017 |title=Janet Panetta: How I Teach Ballet for Contemporary Dancers |url=https://dance-teacher.com/janet-panetta-teach-ballet-contemporary-dancers/#gsc.tab=0 |access-date=August 19, 2024 |website=Dance Teacher |language=en-US |archive-date=August 19, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240819004318/https://dance-teacher.com/janet-panetta-teach-ballet-contemporary-dancers/#gsc.tab=0 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Panetta started the Panetta Movement Center in the 1970s<ref name="Deegan_1980" /> and ran the company until 2010.<ref name="Caldwell_2017" />
Panetta's work as a choreographer included performances within Danspace Project.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Anderson |first=Jack |date=February 19, 1989 |title=Review/Dance; Tics, Aches And Other Behaviors |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/19/arts/review-dance-tics-aches-and-other-behaviors.html?searchResultPosition=4 |access-date=August 18, 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 19, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240819000533/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/19/arts/review-dance-tics-aches-and-other-behaviors.html?searchResultPosition=4 |url-status=live }}</ref> She performed her own choreographic work<ref name="Dunning_1989">{{Cite news |last=Dunning |first=Jennifer |date=September 3, 1989 |title=DANCE VIEW; Why Certain Performers Are a Breed Apart |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/03/arts/dance-view-why-certain-performers-are-a-breed-apart.html |access-date= |newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217173308/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/03/arts/dance-view-why-certain-performers-are-a-breed-apart.html |url-status=live }}</ref> as well as the choreography of Neil Greenberg,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Anderson |first=Jack |date=December 8, 1986 |title=THE DANCE: 'MORPHINE,' BY NEIL GREENBERG |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/08/arts/the-dance-morphine-by-neil-greenberg.html?searchResultPosition=2 |access-date=August 18, 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 19, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240819000533/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/08/arts/the-dance-morphine-by-neil-greenberg.html?searchResultPosition=2 |url-status=live }}</ref> Peter Healey,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dunning |first=Jennifer |date=December 26, 1981 |title=DANCE: HEALEY'S 'ACCOMMODATIONS' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/26/arts/dance-healey-s-accommodations.html?searchResultPosition=2 |access-date=August 18, 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 19, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240819000535/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/26/arts/dance-healey-s-accommodations.html?searchResultPosition=2 |url-status=live }}</ref> and others.<ref name="Bauer_2023" />
In the early 1980s, Panetta was the founding ballet teacher at the National Center of Contemporary Dance in France. One of her students there was the French choreographer Jérôme Bel, who later said of her: "If a dancer would be a rocket, she would be a launchpad...Not telling you where to go, just giving you confidence in the universe."<ref name="Bauer_2023" /> She later was engaged to teach by the Tanztheater Wupperthal, founded in Germany by the groundbreaking choreographer Pina Bausch.<ref name="Alfaro_2006" /> Her work in Europe included teaching at P.A.R.T.S. (Performing Arts Research and Training Studio), a school for contemporary dance in Brussels.<ref>{{Cite web |title=R.I.P Janet Panetta (1948-2023) |url=https://www.parts.be/news/r-i-p-janet-panetta-1948-2023 |website=P.A.R.T.S. - Performing Arts Research and Training Studios |access-date=January 3, 2024 |archive-date=January 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240118071400/https://www.parts.be/news/r-i-p-janet-panetta-1948-2023 |url-status=live }}</ref> She also taught at the ImPulsTanz festival in Vienna every summer from 1997{{endash}}2021.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |title=ImPulsTanz Performances 2024 - In Memoriam Janet Panetta |url=https://www.impulstanz.com/en/performances/id3235/ |access-date=August 19, 2024 |website=ImPulsTanz |language=en |archive-date=September 5, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905213229/https://www.impulstanz.com//en/performances/id3235/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
In 2003, Panetta opened the Panetta Movement Center in Chelsea which centered on her signature method called "Ballet for Contemporary Dancers". The method focussed on natural bodily alignment rather than the extremes of formal ballet. She taught traditional as well as contemporary dancers, inviting all to look at dance foremost as an expression of individuality.<ref name="Bauer_2023" />
== Personal life == Panetta married businessman Jeffery Roth in 1975. Together they had a son.<ref name="Bauer_2023" />
Panetta died of brain cancer in Brooklyn on December 2, 2023.<ref name="Bauer_2023" />
== Honors and awards == In 2008, Panetta was awarded the Mid-Career Award from the Martha Hill Dance Fund.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Martha Hill Awards | Martha Hill Dance Fund, Ltd. |url=https://www.marthahilldance.org/martha-hill-awards |website=Martha Hill Dance |access-date=January 3, 2024 |archive-date=February 24, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240224223341/https://www.marthahilldance.org/martha-hill-awards |url-status=live }}</ref> == References == {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.nypl.org/research/research-catalog/bib/b19541152 New York Public Library] programs of work presented by Panetta * [https://web.archive.org/web/20231217173304/https://the29.art/the29-home/janet-panetta Janet Panetta on the29.art]
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Category:1948 births Category:2023 deaths Category:American women choreographers Category:American choreographers Category:American female dancers Category:American Ballet Theatre dancers