Francis Patrelle, Choreographer and Founder of Dances Patrelle, Dies at 78

Dances Patrelle has announced the passing of its founder, Francis Patrelle. He passed at Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, FL, in the afternoon on December 27, 2025.

Francis was born on May 10, 1947 to Elvira and Joseph Patrelle. He grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and moved to New York City to attend Juilliard, where he studied under Sir Antony Tudor. Francis began his ballet teaching career in the 1970’s, and taught for forty years. He was the dance director at USDAN for more than a decade and briefly taught ballet at Barnard. But the two places he loved most were Manhattan School of Music, where for decades he taught Opera Students how to move and dance, and Ballet Academy East. As a teacher, Francis was a legend. His class was musical and challenging, and if any teacher truly loved his students, Francis did. At no point did he look down on them. They were his people. They were his family.

Dances Patrelle began in 1987 as a showplace for Francis' gifts. He had already created many ballets for the Albany Berkshire Ballet and was the choreographer for Hal Prince’s Turandot at the Vienna State Opera. But Francis wanted to create things that would be his. Francis' ballets are about people. The characters in a Patrelle work have inner lives, hopes, and dreams. They are sometimes wicked, often cruel, underhanded or devious. They strive for love, more than anything. They wrestle with real problems, the issues of our shared humanity.

A list of Francis works must include MacBeth, What Do We Do About Mother?, Black Forest Carousel, Glad to Be Unhappy, Romeo and Juliet, Rhapsody in Blue, American Overture, Madame X, Gilbert and Sullivan, The Ballet!, and of course The Yorkville Nutcracker. Cynthia Gregory, Jenifer Ringer, James Fayette, Lourdes Lopez, Jock Soto, Abi Stafford, Marcelo Gomes, Donald Williams, Tyler Angle, Miriam Miller, Jared Angle, Ask La Cour, and so many other great names of ballet returned to work with Francis on numerous projects.

Francis was a great collaborator. He worked for years with costume designer Rita Watson, lighting designer David Grill, and set designer Gillian Bradshaw-Smith, the people he credited with the look of his work. He collaborated on four ballets with composer Patrick Soluri, including what he thought was his masterwork, Madame X. He collaborated with author Justin Allen on three ballets, including Gilbert and Sullivan, The Ballet!, which he considered his greatest crowd-pleasing success.

Francis leaves behind no children, no husband. His ballets, his dancers, his students, his audience – these were his great loves and his family.

Donations may be made in his honor to Dances Patrelle here.