Teacher and choreographer leaves legacy behind

Doris W. Jones, 92, a native of Malden, Mass., was a lover of tap and ballet and originally taught ballet in Boston, died of pneumonia March 21 at Washington Hospital Center. Her most noteworthy protégé was Elma Lewis, who went on to become a choreographer and well known dancer.

As a child, Jones was denied the opportunity to study dance at studios because of the predominately white world of ballet. Jones later moved to Washington D.C. to be a dance teacher and choreographer. She offered black youth the opportunity to take classical ballet classes and in addition she trained some of the country’s top dancers.

She eventually founded the Jones-Haywood School of Ballet in 1941 with another dance teacher, Claire Haywood. Jones and Haywood later formed the Capitol Ballet Company in 1961 and she served as the artistic director until 1982. “I never want that door shut again in the face of any black youngster,” Jones said to the Washington Post after teaching dance to thousands of students, co-founding the Capitol Ballet Company and forming the Jones-Haywood Youth Dancers in 1980.

“She was a remarkable figure, quite a visionary, who contributed greatly to the dance landscape in Washington D.C., and nationally,” Septime Webre, artistic director of the Washington Ballet, told the Washington Post. “She was like Johnny Appleseed, and developed a wonderful school which trained generations of wonderfully talented dancers.”

Jones was honored with many awards including the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Medal for Outstanding Service in Human Rights and the Metroplitan Theatrical Society’s Mainline to Stardom Award. There is also a documentary and oral history on file at the Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History.

“Thank God she was my teacher,” Broadway star, Chita Rivera told the Washington Post. “She was really my foundation. I could not be whatever I am today without Miss Jones.” Rivera trained with Jones when she was a child and remembered Jones as “quiet, diplomatic, elegant, but she was powerful. Technique was what it was all about. She always wanted you to be technically correct, then she would want you to be yourself.”