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Mary Jane Warner
Amy Sternberg (1880 - 1935) trained in Delsarte and physical culture in Montreal before moving to Toronto. In 1891, her older sister, Sarah, established a school of physical culture, and Amy became co-director at age fourteen. The school was popular with society members who sent their children to study fancy dancing and physical culture. In 1910, a landmark year for Sternberg, she became the school's sole owner, and she also attended Anna Pavlova's first Toronto performances, which inspired her to study ballet. She travelled to New York regularly to train with Elizabetta Menzelli, Albertina Rasch, Veronine Vestoff and at the Denishawn school. The first Toronto teacher to offer ballet instruction, Sternberg also provided classes in interpretive, national, folk and social dancing. Her large school attracted children, teenagers, office secretaries, and young women training as dance instructors. Her students were often featured in large-scale charity concerts, with her advanced pupils frequently performing her versions of famous ballets such as Les Sylphides and Firebird. Her students included Olga Fricker, a founder of the Cecchetti Society, Eric Forbes, a Denishawn dancer, Helen Codd and Toronto ballet teachers Irene Bauckham, Louise Burns and Beth Weyms.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Warner, Mary Jane. Toronto Dance Teachers, 1835-1925. Dance Collection Danse Press/es: Toronto, 1994.
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