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carol hirsh

Since she first saw Patricia McBride and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux glide across the Amphitheater stage in 1973, Carol Hirsh has been mesmerized by the magic of the dance program at Chautauqua.

Over the years, she has witnessed the School of Dance, under the leadership of Bonnefoux, develop a national reputation for excellence and creativity based on the talented faculty and diverse performance opportunities that exist at Chautauqua.

This summer, as Chautauqua honors the 25th anniversary of Bonnefoux as artistic director, Carol and her family are doing everything they can to ensure the Bonnefoux legacy lives on for years to come.

One Tuesday night this summer at the Amphitheater, prior to a performance by the Chautauqua Ballet Company, Chautauqua Institution formally announced a significant gift by Carol on behalf of her family to construct a new facility for the School of Dance as part of the Idea Campaign. The new facility will be named Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux and Patricia McBride Hall.

Carol recognized that improvements to the facility were necessary to continue to attract the best faculty and staff, and, in turn, the best students to the School of Dance.

She hopes that the gift will inspire additional contributions from the Chautauqua community, allowing for a dance facility that is commensurate with the quality of the dance program, including its world-renowned faculty and staff.

Carol was introduced to Chautauqua in 1973. She remembers sitting in the Amphitheater with her mother to see McBride and Bonnefoux perform on stage accompanied by the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. The two dancers were making a premiere performance as a newly married couple.

"That was my first time in the Amphitheater, my first time that close to a prima ballerina," said Carol. "I remember my mother commenting on how graceful and beautiful McBride was."

"There was something in the air that night," she said. "It was magic."

Carol, who describes herself as a very visual person, was immediately drawn to what the dance performances offered the audience, from the costuming and music to the "grace and professionalism of the young people."

Over the many summers spent at Chautauqua, Carol has been amazed by the caliber of young dancers, and the "continuum of quality and dedication" from Bonnefoux and the School of Dance.

"The excellence is obvious," she said. "It speaks volumes just watching his productions."

"The best people choose Chautauqua because of the program that Jean-Pierre has set up," said Hirsh. "His reputation is international. We’re very fortunate to have had him to inspire the quality of the students here."

The Hirsh gift honors that international reputation of Bonnefoux and the school’s master teachers, with the intention of making the program even more attractive to faculty and students through renovated facilities.

The current Carnahan- Jackson Dance Studios are divided among three separate structures joined together by a large, continuous porch. The project funded by the Hirsh donation will allow for the construction of a new building to be located adjacent to and southeast of the central structure, which will house a new costume shop on the second floor.

Future plans call for the construction of ten units of faculty and staff housing on the first floor.

Moving the costume shop into the new facility constructed with the Hirsh gift will allow for the renovation of the central structure, enlarging and modernizing the men’s and women’s dressing rooms and the administrative office.

Gifts from other Chautauquans will allow for this work to proceed.

Renovation work already completed on the School of Dance includes a newly sprung dance floor and air conditioning for the administrative offices and two studios that previously were without air conditioning.

While the inspiration for her gift was the Amphitheater performance in 1973, the support, said Hirsh, "is distinctly my family’s."

"We’ve all had our moments here," she said, reflecting on the four generations of her family that have spent summers at Chautauqua. She and her brother Sandy return to the grounds each summer with the same "bug" their mother had. "It’s contagious in my family," she joked. "Chautauqua is something that will be with us forever."

Helen Gartner Nobel, Carol and Sandy’s mother, grew up in a family of immigrant parents, in which there was great value placed on learning, "especially learning in America, coming of age as she did in the period Chautauqua was young," said Carol.

That adoration for culture has stuck with the family through the generations.

By the time her mother first visited Chautauqua she was in her 60s, and Carol and her husband Mike were young parents living in Rochester. Her mother would find a place to stay on the Chautauqua grounds, Carol and Mike would bring the children down and she would take care of them.

"When she was older she was thrilled she could be a grandmother at Chautauqua," said Carol. "She could sit on the porch and oversee the Amphitheater."

Carol and Sandy’s father Max worked many years in the coal business in southwestern Pennsylvania to support the family. "Without him and his generosity, none of us would be here," said Carol. "He was our benefactor. We were the arrows in his bow."

Though his work prevented him from visiting Chautauqua for many years, Max eventually came to the grounds as an old man, "enjoying the benefits of sitting on the porch and listening to the music."

Now, Carol and Sandy have made sure that future generations of the family will call Chautauqua home every summer. "We feel like we’re coming home to some degree, to a place where all of our family can come together," said Carol, "where we can spend time as an extended family."

"It has been nice to make it an intergenerational thing," said Sandy. "Each of our families get together. All look forward to seeing each other. It’s a special time in a special place, for all of us."

Carol said her motivation for making the gift to the School of Dance was to commemorate her brother’s 70th birthday.

"He is a very strong Chautauquan," said Carol. "He really loves this place." "We all look upon Sandy as the head of the family," she said. "We lean on him for advice and counsel. It just seems natural that we should celebrate him.

My mother would be so thrilled that there would be a building to honor Sandy and our family forever."

Carol and Sandy trace their Chautauqua history together back 16 years. Following the 1991 Season, friends of the family had asked Carol and Sandy to look at a unit off the grounds to share among five couples. Sandy’s wife, Marge, suggested they look at what was available on the grounds as well.

"During a pass-through visit on our way to Pittsburgh we saw two units that were available at Barb and Frank O’Connor’s place, the Ithaca," on the corner of Waugh and the brick walk, said Sandy. "We went on to Pittsburgh, excited about those units, but it was a question of which unit we were interested in."

On the way back home, Sandy and Carol decided to look at the Ithaca once again. Carol had arrived on the grounds first. "We pulled in an hour later, and I saw Carol walking out the back door," said Sandy. "She came up and told me, ‘We’ll take the upper unit, you take the lower unit.’" "The rest," joked Sandy, "is history."

Carol and Sandy are drawn to different aspects of programming at Chautauqua. In addition to dance and music, Carol has been impressed with the growth of the Abrahamic Program at Chautauqua.

For Sandy, it is the diversity of programming, from the arts, religion, education and recreation. "Basically, I’ve found all aspects of Chautauqua to be important and fulfilling," he said. "That’s the beauty of Chautauqua. There’s great depth in a broad area. It has been nice to share it. And we’re all very grateful that it’s here."

But while their interests in programming may differ, it is the opportunity to bring the family together that always brings them back.

Sandy and Marge have three children: Andrew, a professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and wife Johanna have two children; Gary, an engineer with Hewlett Packard in California, and wife Vanita have two children; and Philip, who is involved with development work in Buffalo, and wife Nicole, who are expecting a child within the next two weeks.

Carol and Mike have two children: a son David (and wife Allison) who lives in Boston with three boys; and a daughter, Sue, who also lives in Boston. David, a physician, also teaches at Harvard Medical School. Sue is a teacher in the Wellesley school system.

Mike, a retired pediatrician who continues to teach, is quick to point out the role of education at Chautauqua. "When I come to Chautauqua and I see the young people expressing themselves in dance and the arts, it’s very important for me to see that continue," he said.

With so many schools in financial trouble having to cut back on music and arts programs, Chautauqua is "a little gem of education and hope for the future."

"That’s why we’re doing this," he said. "Giving back both to Chautauqua and the world at large is a lovely way to live."

Carol and Sandy both express great enthusiasm for the new project and the future of the School of Dance at Chautauqua.

During this season of honoring Bonnefoux, the gift recognizes the program’s rich history and bright future.

"The project that Carol has chosen to support is exciting in so many ways," said Sandy, citing the faculty and staff lounge and housing as particularly important for the program to continue to attract top talent to Chautauqua. "It is an area that appeared to have an unmet need," he said.

Carol added that the process of working with Karen Blozie with the Development office to identify the need "was almost as much fun as the end result."

"Carol Hirsh, on behalf of her family and in honor of her brother and husband’s birthday, has made a glorious gift to Chautauqua’s dance program," said Geof Follansbee, vice president of Development and CEO of the Chautauqua Foundation.

"It will make dance at Chautauqua better. I have been around few gifts that better represent the joy of philanthropy and the compelling impact it can have upon donors, the artists and the community. Chautauqua is deeply grateful to Carol and her family for recognizing the value of Chautauqua’s role in developing artists and an appreciation for the performing arts and for their decision to invest so significantly in the future of dance here at Chautauqua."

"We are very proud of the leadership that Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux has provided for the dance program at Chautauqua, and this very generous gift recognizes his dedication, vision and hard work," said Marty Merkley, vice president and director of programming.

"The enhancement of our dance program with the addition of this new facility will be a gift of transformative power. Every dancer, professional and student, along with the entire faculty and staff, will benefit." "The future of the Bonnefoux legacy looks bright and exciting," he added.