NORA SMITH
Staff Writer
In 2017, longtime School of Dance Director Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux was transitioning out of his directorship at Charlotte Ballet while steering Chautauqua Institution’s School of Dance. He asked then-faculty member and current Bonnefoux McBride Artistic Director of Chautauqua School of Dance Sasha Janes to consider curating what began as a pas de deux evening at the Institution.
“I came back with this idea of, ‘Well, why don’t we make it more interesting?’” Janes said. “Because we’ve got all these former students doing great things all over the world. Why don’t we invite these people back to put on a gala/pas de deux evening?”
Bonnefoux was instantly on board with Janes’ twist on the evening event. Now, the All-Star Dance Gala welcomes back alumni every year and will take place at 8 p.m. tonight in the Amphitheater. Ahead of the performance, Chautauqua Dance Circle will host a preview at 6:45 p.m. tonight in Smith Wilkes Hall.
Following Bonnefoux’s death in 2025, the All-Star Dance Gala has become an occasion to celebrate his legacy by experiencing his impact on some of the most renowned and accomplished dancers of this generation.
From the moment Bonnefoux came to Chautauqua and for the nearly four decades he was here, he aimed to provide dancers with an experience unlike anything else.
Reflecting on the first All-Star Dance Gala, Janes said it was an emotional moment for Bonnefoux, who got to see his students — now principal dancers of major companies in the country — come back to Chautauqua.
“I think it was special for Jean-Pierre because something that he built … was tangible,” Janes said. “He could see his whole past sort of reflected.” To this day, Chautauqua School of Dance remains the only program in the country where dancers go beyond practicing in the studio and perform on stage accompanied by a live orchestra.
“He created a super wonderful, safe place where it’s safe not just to succeed, but also to fail and to create, and this really nurturing place where dancers would come and learn,” Janes said.
Tonight’s performance will include some more known ballets and then some of Janes’ own choreography, which mainly consist of contemporary and en pointe pieces.
“Half the program will be my own work, which I think Jean-Pierre would be very happy about,” Janes said.
Not only is the event a memorable experience for faculty and staff, but for alumni as well.
“So many of them have reached where they are because of Jean-Pierre and [Patricia McBride],” Janice Wells, managing director of Chautauqua School of Dance, said. “Having [the dancers] come back, and seeing your work and especially [Janes’] organization of the whole event taking place — you just can’t stop smiling because you’re so happy.”
Some dancers returning for the All-Star Dance Gala aren’t alumni of the program, but have participated in the event as guest artists.
SeHyun Jin, a principal dancer with New Jersey Ballet, had been to Chautauqua for an All-Star Dance Gala in 2018 and 2021 to accompany 2001 alumna and International Principal Guest Artist Brooklyn Mack. During her visits, Jin met Janes, Bonnefoux, McBride and countless dancers, all of whom she now refers to as her “summer family.”
“I wish I knew about this [Chautauqua School of Dance] and then I could be able to attend, but I’m too old for that right now,” Jin said. “I’m really happy to return there every year.”
Jin will return for tonight’s All-Star Dance Gala with Mack to perform “Don Quixote Pas de Deux” and “After the Rain” by Chrisopher Wheeldon.
“I have a wonderful experience with such amazing people every summer there, and the event All-Star Dance Gala, it’s always the highlight of the year,” Jin said.
For Isabella LaFreniere, a current principal dancer with New York City Ballet, this will be her 20th year since having first visited Chautauqua. As an alumna from programs in 2006 and 2011-2012, LaFreniere first attended Chautauqua’s School of Dance when she was around 11 years old and then returned for another program a few summers later.
“I remember it felt like a company experience,” LaFreniere said. “It really gave me an opportunity to see if this is what I really wanted to do, and, sure enough, it was.”
LaFreniere cited Bonnefoux as a mentor throughout her professional career and said he drove her to reach new goals within the discipline.
“Jean-Pierre, especially, has been a really supportive, nurturing figure in my career,” LaFreniere said. “I think he, at a young age, saw my talent and nurtured that and pushed me past a point that I didn’t even know I could be pushed.”
When she was 15 years old and already partaking in her second summer enrolled in Chautauqua’s School of Dance, Bonnefoux let Janes choreograph a ballet with LaFreniere.
Now, the ballet, titled “Rhapsodic Dances,” has been performed several times and was just the start of LaFreniere and Janes’ collaboration.
“From there, Sasha and I have just had so much fun working on different ballets together,” LaFreniere said. “We’ve had a long friendship over the past 15 years where we love learning and growing from each other, both artistically and professionally, with the students.”
As LaFreniere comes back to Chautauqua to perform at the Amphitheater, she will debut a piece with her partner James Gilmer, a 2008 and 2010 alumnus and current principal dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. In addition to the new piece recently choreographed by LaFreniere and Janes, they will perform an older piece also by Janes.
“It’s honestly one of my favorite stages,” LaFreniere said. “I’ve developed such a special bond with the audience on the stage over the past 20 years that it always just feels like I’m coming home for the summer.”
