Dancer Jacques d'Amboise dead at 86

Dancer Jacques d’Amboise, who grew up on the streets of upper Manhattan to become one of the world’s premier dancers at New York City Ballet, has died at 86

Jacques d'Amboise, who grew up on the streets of upper Manhattan to become one of the world's premier classical dancers at New York City Ballet and spent the last four and a half decades providing free dance classes to city youth at his National Dance Institute, has died at 86. His death was confirmed by Ellen Weinstein, director of the institute. She said the dancer and teacher had died on Sunday at his home from complications of a stroke. He was surrounded by his family. Plucked for stardom at NYCB as a teenager by its legendary director, George Balanchine, d'Amboise performed with the company for about 35 years before retiring, just before turning 50, in the early ’80s. In an interview with The Associated Press in 2018, d’Amboise described the moment he decided to end his dance career.