Obituaries

-- Matt Schudel

Helen E. MooreBallet School Founder

Helen E. Moore, 85, the founding director of the National Ballet School and Company in Crofton, died April 21 of liver cancer at her home in Tracys Landing.

Mrs. Moore founded the ballet school in District Heights in 1948. Now located in Crofton, the school had its 60th anniversary gala two days before Mrs. Moore's death.

She taught thousands of students over the years, including at least 40 who became professional dancers with ballet companies throughout the country. Mrs. Moore designed many of the costumes for her company, which has performed at the Kennedy Center, at Lisner Auditorium and at outdoor festivals at the White House.

She continued to teach until two years ago. The school is now led by her daughter, Pamela MacLean.

Mrs. Moore was born in Detroit and began studying ballet as a girl. Her teachers included the celebrated ballet master Leon Fokine. After moving to Washington in the 1940s, she studied theater at George Washington University.

She was schooled in the Cecchetti method, a rigorous system of classical ballet education devised by Enrico Cecchetti, a 19th-century dancer and ballet master. Mrs. Moore was chairwoman of the East Coast committee of the Cecchetti Council of America and president of the Northeast Regional Ballet Association.

In addition to her work in dance, Mrs. Moore was a competitive swimmer and figure skater in her youth. She also enjoyed racing her sailboat on the Chesapeake Bay and was a member of the West River Sailing Club.

She was also known for rescuing animals and restoring them to health on her 36-acre farm. After nursing injured opossums, raccoons and deer, she returned them to the wild. Her home also became a sanctuary to many stray cats and dogs. An animal shelter at Dancing Oaks Farm in Brandywine will be named Helen's Haven in Mrs. Moore's honor.

Her husband of 57 years, NASA official William Moore, died in 2001.

Survivors include her daughter, of Bowie; a son, former ABC News vice president William Moore Jr., of Haymarket; four grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.

-- Matt Schudel