Then & Before…

THEN: Jeannde was immersed from a very early age, into a remarkably creative world that was teaming with an artistic network of passion driven dancers and storytellers, intent upon co-creating. They were all influential in their early everyday lives.

It is no surprise that she followed in their parents footsteps, devoting themselves to storytelling through dance and other artistic endeavors early on in their careers. Jeannde followed her mothers path of classical ballet. Later, encouraged by her role as a young mother, she developed and implemented children and adult outreach programs that nurtured and inspired creative expression for the Frederick County Parks and Recreation in Maryland. After her children were grown she was afforded the time to devote over a decade of training and teaching to Pilates as a certified instructor in both mat and apparatus. She implemented those skills at her private and surrounding Maryland studio’s.

BEFORE: Jeannde grew up in California during a unique period in the history of dance. Her parent’s were part of a community whose teachers and mentors were deeply linked to the early trailblazers of ‘Modern Dance’ such as Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham and others. For this reason the early careers of Jeannde’s parents were deeply woven into a tapestry of dance of the California Pacific Bay Area’s early Post-modern dance era.

Her Mother, Marguerite Whitney, was a classical ballerina with the San Francisco Opera Ballet and soloist with Pacific Dance Theater and the Russian Opera Ballet Association. Her Father, Dick (Richard) Ford was a featured soloist with the Halprin-Lathrop Dancers and visual artist. As a team they dedicated their passion for telling story through dance via their ongoing professional performances as part of the trio known as ‘The Dance Players of San Fransisco’.

Dick and Marguerite”s combined talents afforded them the ability to eagerly develop and facilitate children’s programs through their studios and the California Public School Systems. One such project was the design and development of the children’s television show ‘Hop Skip and Dance with Dick Ford’ originally airing in the spring 1954. It was only intended to run for 13 episodes but aired on KQED public television for a decade. This acclaimed television show won various awards including the ‘Best Children’s Series’ from  the Northern California Academy of Television in 1955 and the Ohio State Award for the ‘Best Children’s and Youth Show’ in the United States in 1956.

Later Jeannde’s father along with Richard Gibson were the founders of the Peninsula Ballet Theatre in 1967, a non-profit performing vehicle for students in their ballet school, then the ‘Peninsula Ballet School’. Since that time Peninsula Ballet Theatre has become the largest employer of professional artists in San Mateo County, California, and its only professional dance company. Both parents careers later developed into on going creative pursuits in several artistic genres including both Theatre and Design.