Elissa Minet Fuchs

Elissa Minet Fuchs (born Elise Minette Levy; March 10, 1919 – February 17, 2023) was an American ballerina and choreographer. Her career started in 1935 on the vaudeville stage and nightclub circuit, leading to gigs as a chorus girl on Broadway. With the fear of rising antisemitism around the world, she changed her name to appear French and conceal her Jewish identity. In 1937, she joined the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo and danced with the company for one season. From 1938 to 1950, she danced with the resident ballet company at the Metropolitan Opera, retiring as a soloist. Fuchs founded and directed the Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre in Louisiana and worked as the artistic director, ballet mistress, and choreographer at Greensboro Ballet in North Carolina.

Early life Fuchs was born Elise Minette Levy to a Jewish American family on March 10, 1919, in New Orleans. Fuchs' older sister had been an actress before leaving the stage to get married. In September 1935, as she was getting ready to finish high school in New Orleans, she and her mother heard about professional dance opportunities in Chicago.

Radio actress, choreographer, and ballet teacher In the 1940s, Fuchs worked as a radio actress, working on radio soap operas. Fuchs also worked as the ballet mistress and choreographer for the New Orleans Opera and other performing arts companies in Jackson, Mississippi and Mobile, Alabama. Upon stepping down as artistic director, she joined the ballet's board of directors and helped hire Maryhelen Mayfield, a former dancer with Kansas City Ballet, to take over the company.

Personal life and death In 1949, she married the Austrian composer Peter Paul Fuchs. The two had met at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1940. Her husband died in 2007.

Legacy The Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre named a scholarship fund after Fuchs.