Jeanette Ordman

Jeannette Ordman (1934-2007)

Dancer, teacher and choreographer. Born in Germiston, South Africa, her family moved to Johannesburg where she studied dance from a young age with Reina Berman and later with Marjorie Sturman and received various commendations and scholarships She was a solo and leading dancer in the Johannesburg Festival Ballet. In 1954, she moved to London and studied in the Royal Ballet. Upon graduating in 1957, she danced with the Sadler’s Wells Opera Ballet and took part in various TV productions, musicals and ballet performances.
In 1964, Ordman moved to Israel and joined Adam Darius’s company in Haifa. When the company closed, she moved to Tel Aviv and opened a dance studio. At the encouragement of Batsheva de Rothschild, she joined Batsheva in 1965 as a teacher and rehearsal manager. Later on, she choreographed two duets in which she also danced herself: Run the Rig (with Igal Berdichevsky) and The Unanswered Question (with Rahamim Ron).
Due to artistic disagreements in the company, Ordman left Batsheva in 1967 and began managing the Bat-Dor Dance School founded for her by Rothschild, and in 1968 she also began managing the Bat-Dor Dance Company. Ordman was Bat-Dor’s artistic director since its founding until its final closure and its principal dancer during most of that period. Privately financed by Rothschild, the company worked with notable choreographers such as Antony Tudor, Paul Taylor, Alvin Ailey, Hans van Manen, John Butler, Lar Lubovitch, Nils Christie, Philip Troua and Luciano Canito.
In the 1970s and ‘80s Bat-Dor attracted large audiences to its performances, but the ‘90s saw growing difficulties and in 1999, following Rothschild’s demise and the end of her financial backing, the company closed. In 2001, Bat-Dor renewed its activity on a partial basis, but was finally closed in 2006, due to the Culture Administration’s refusal to support it given the lack of an appropriate public management. The school was closed as well.

Jeannette Ordman died in 2007 and donated her body to science.