Stephanie Reinhart, the celebrated co-director of the Durham-based American Dance Festival and a pillar of American modern dance, died early Monday morning after a long battle with leukemia.
Friends of Reinhart remembered her as a committed, energetic leader of the annual festival, which she co-directed since 1993 with her husband, Charles. Together, they brought new successes to the six-week modern dance event--now one of the premiere dance festivals in the nation--and helped established Duke and Durham as centers of dance every summer.
"Everything she did is irreplaceable. She's had an enormous impact on the dance world," said Erin Rehberg, ADF communications director. "The dance world is so small that when a prominent figure like that leaves us, everyone feels it."
The Reinharts have also served as the co-artistic directors for dance at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and Stephanie served as a long-time administrator at the National Endowment for the Arts.
Her most intense interest remained the festival, however, causing Atlantic Monthly to proclaim in 1996 that, "If modern dance has a Mom and Pop, they are Charlie and Stephanie Reinhart."
Carlton Midyette, a member of the ADF board of directors, described Reinhart as a tireless promoter and educator of modern dance. Since she started working with the festival in 1977, Reinhart changed attitudes about what dance was and could be, he said.
"She went all over the world, promoting dance, looking for dance, bringing in choreographers to show American dance and teach them modern dance. And then they would go back and teach others and start their own companies," Midyette said. "It's almost a Johnny Appleseed story of dance."
Reinhart was awarded several fellowships to travel over the years, bringing her knowledge to others and learning herself. In the early 1980s, she traveled to France, Korea and a number of other nations, and in 1993, she was awarded a Fulbright grant to study Argentinean modern dance.
She earned a bachelor's degree with honors from the University of Wisconsin in 1966 and later studied at George Washington University and Harvard University.
Rehberg stressed the devotion Reinhart felt for ADF, even down to the smallest details. While Rehberg worked as an intern at the festival's store last summer, she said, Reinhart took a vested interest in every that was going on. The focus was always on inspiring those around her and encouraging young dancers.
"Both her and Charles were always looking for new talent, people on the rise, whether to get them some experience on the stage or just to see some extra performances," Rehberg said.
In addition to her husband, Charles, Stephanie Reinhart is survived by a daughter, Ariane.
Funeral services for Reinhart will be private, but Rehberg said that friends and family are considering a public celebration of Reinhart's life, most likely to be held in New York City in a few months. Next year's dance festival will continue on schedule, Rehberg added.
"She will be missed, but the ADF will go on this summer just as it always has," she said. "She wouldn't have it any other way."
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