Brunilda Ruiz ( – ) was a Puerto Rican ballet dancer, teacher, and choreographer. She toured internationally as a founding member of the

Joffrey Ballet The Joffrey Ballet is one of the premier dance companies and training institutions in the world today. Located in Chicago, Illinois, the Joffrey regularly performs classical and contemporary ballets during its annual performance season at Lyric O ...

and

Harkness Ballet The Harkness Ballet (1964–1975) was a New York ballet company named after its founder Rebekah Harkness. Harkness inherited her husband's fortune in Standard Oil holdings, and was a dance lover. Harkness funded Joffrey Ballet, but when they re ...

companies.

Biography

Ruiz was born in Rincón, Puerto Rico, and raised in

Spanish Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fif ...

in New York City. She had four sisters and two brothers. Ruiz started dancing at age 12. She attended the High School for the Performing Arts later known as Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts, where

Robert Joffrey Robert Joffrey (December 24, 1930 – March 25, 1988) was an American dancer, teacher, producer, choreographer, and co-founder of the Joffrey Ballet, known for his highly imaginative modern ballets. He was born Anver Bey Abdullah Jaffa Khan in Se ...

taught her ballet. In 1956, Joffrey asked Ruiz to be one of the six original Joffrey Ballet members. Ruiz was the youngest of the group, which also included

Gerald Arpino Gerald Arpino (January 14, 1923 – October 29, 2008) was an American dancer and choreographer. He was co-founder of the Joffrey Ballet and succeeded Robert Joffrey as its artistic director in 1988. Life and career Born on Staten Island, New Yor ...

Glen Tetley Glen Tetley (February 3, 1926 – January 26, 2007) was an American ballet and modern dancer as well as a choreographer who mixed ballet and modern dance to create a new way of looking at dance, and is best known for his piece ''Pierrot Lunaire ...

, Beatrice Tompkins, Dianne Consoer, and John W. Wilson (to whom Ruiz was married from 1956 to 1967 and had a daughter Mhari Theresa Wilson). With the Joffrey Ballet, Ruiz toured the country, with her daughter in tow, performing one-night-only shows and introducing ballet as an art form to audiences across the United States. When

Rebekah Harkness Rebekah West Harkness (née Semple West; April 17, 1915June 17, 1982) also known as Betty Harkness, was an American composer, socialite, sculptor, dance patron, and philanthropist who founded the Harkness Ballet. In 1947, she married William Hale ...

, patron of the Joffrey Ballet, disputed with Joffrey in the 1960s, the company split; Ruiz and Wilson joined the newly formed Harkness Ballet. She returned briefly to the Joffrey Ballet in 1968. As a performer, Ruiz toured internationally, dancing in Europe, the Soviet Union, Middle East, and India. She was the first woman of hispanic heritage to appear in the Who's Who of America and was fondly known as the pride of Puerto Rico, returning to star in The Nutcracker with the Ballets de San Juan After retiring from performance in 1971, Ruiz taught and choreographed as associate director of the Baron Ballet in Waldwick, New Jersey, from 1976 to 1983. She served as ballet mistress with the

Milwaukee Ballet The Milwaukee Ballet is a professional ballet company founded by Roberta Boorse of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It is located in Milwaukee, and is currently run by Michael Pink, the artistic director. History The Milwaukee Ballet was fou ...

from 1983 to 1986, and taught at LaGuardia, her alma mater, from 1986 until her retirement in 2001. She also taught at the Joffrey Ballet School-American Ballet Center in New York. Ruiz married Joffrey principal dancer Paul Sutherland in 1968. She had two daughters, Mhari Theresa Wilson and Alicia Sutherland. In 1995, Ruiz earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of New York Empire State College. Ruiz died peacefully in her home surrounded by loved ones in Waldwick, New Jersey, on August 13, 2019, at the age of 83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruiz, Brunilda 1936 births 2019 deaths American choreographers American ballerinas Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni Joffrey Ballet dancers Harkness Ballet dancers People from Rincón, Puerto Rico People from Waldwick, New Jersey 20th-century American ballet dancers