Carol Bartlett (1945-2012)

Choreographer Carol Bartlett, Peabody Dance artistic director, passed away at her home on Dec. 15 while in hospice care. Born in England, she studied there and in Switzerland before moving to California, where she taught and founded her own company. Since 1988, she was the backbone and inspirational leader of the Peabody Preparatory's Dance Department, planning, teaching, and serving as chief choreographer for its productions. Services are private. A public celebration of her life will take place on Sunday, April 7, at 7:30 pm in Peabody's Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall.

At the request of her two daughters, donations in her memory may be designated for the Peabody Dance general gift fund, a Peabody Dance scholarship, the Estelle Dennis/Peabody Dance Training Program for Boys, or the Peabody Dance Centennial in 2014-2015. To make a gift, please click on the following link:
https://jhweb.dev.jhu.edu/eforms/form.do?formId=17919.

Dear Peabody Dance Family and Friends,

These past few days have been very difficult for children and adults as we are dealing with the news out of Newtown, Connecticut. Sadly, we must bring you the heartbreaking news of the loss of one of our own treasured teachers. Carol Bartlett, head of Peabody Dance for the past 25 years, passed away Saturday evening. This is a shock to many of us because we were not aware of the seriousness of her illness - only that she was being treated for cancer.

Ms. Bartlett had a great impact on dance at Peabody as well as the entire Institute. She was brilliantly creative, and she brought tremendous passion and intensity to everything she did. Under her guidance, Peabody Dance has become one of the premiere programs in this area, focusing on developing young dancers in ballet and contemporary dance. In 2009, Ms. Bartlett secured funding and initiated a program that identified boys for intense dance training at Peabody. Her choreographies were magnificent and Peabody Dance productions have consistently been of the highest quality. We have lost a great teacher, a friend, an artist, and an inspiration to us all. Ms. Bartlett’s legacy will be lasting, and she will be greatly missed.

The nature of Ms. Bartlett’s work means that she was more than just a teacher for our young dancers. She was a mentor and significant adult in their lives. Students will want to share their grief with their parents and also with other adults in Peabody Dance.

Ms. Bartlett’s family will have a private memorial this week. We will celebrate her tremendous achievements during the coming semester at Peabody and honor her through the passion, beauty and intensity of our dance.

If you want to express your condolences to the family, you may send them to the Peabody Dance Office at 21 East Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, MD, 21202.

Sincerely,
Carolee Stewart, Dean of the Preparatory
Jeffrey Sharkey, Director of the Peabody Institute
Melissa Stafford, Chair of the Dance Department
with
Timothy Rinko-Gay
Lisa Green Cudek
Laura Dolid
Holly Mora
Meredith Rainey
Debra Robinson
Barbara Weisberger
Emily Adams

Artistic Director, Dance Department,
Contemporary Dance
Faculty, Opera Department

Carol Bartlett, artistic director of Peabody Dance for the past 25 years, was a diverse and prolific choreographer whose generative work with established and burgeoning composers has resulted in music-dance collaborative projects in theaters and festivals across the United States and Europe. Her rich and broad-based credentials were both choreographic and pedagogical - uniquely in equal measure.

Ms. Bartlett received her early dance training in England and earned a B. Ed. from London University. From 1974-77 she studied with German expressionist dancer, Sigurd Leeder, protégé of Rudolf von Laban and ballet master for the Jooss Ballet Company. Prior to moving to the U.S., Ms. Bartlett was a performer, teacher and choreographer in England and Switzerland and received the first prize for the Concours Internationale de Chorégraphie in Nyon.

Before coming to Baltimore, Ms. Bartlett initiated and chaired the dance department at USC's Community School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles; founded and directed her own company, Pertpetuum Mobile; and was artist-in-residence at California State Universities in Fresno and Long Beach. During her tenure at Peabody, in addition to establishing and teaching an outstanding core-training program in all areas of contemporary dance, Ms. Bartlett conceived, produced and choreographed (at times in collaborations with other Peabody faculty) the school's performances. Among her activities with the Preparatory Music Department and Peabody Conservatory were the co-development of Arts for Talented Youth (ATY), a pre-professional program for gifted high school dancers and musicians, and teaching stage movement in the Conservatory Opera Department.