Hall of Fame
Anatol Joukowsky joined San Francisco State's Dance Department 1953 and taught ballet and ethnic dance for 25 years until his retirement in 1978. Upon his retirement, he was inducted into the San Francisco State University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1979.
Joukowsky was born in Ukraine in 1906, fled with his family to Greece after the Russian revolution in 1920, and studied ballet, opera, drama, and music at the State Theater School in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. He joined the Belgrade Opera Ballet in 1926, rising from the rank of dancer to soloist, choreographer, and director by 1938. Joukowsky and his wife developed an interest in the traditional village dances of the Balkans, traveling in summers to remote areas to observe and collect local folk dances. They then incorporated the dances into original ballets, enabling them to be seen and appreciated by ballet audiences. His work helped preserve these “folk” dances for future generations and created a bridge between classical ballet and traditional village dance forms. His aim was to present ethnic dance on proscenium stages as worthwhile performance art.
Joukowsky fought for Yugoslavia in WWII, was interned in a POW camp, escaped, and made his way to France, where, after the war ended, he performed and choreographed for several European ballet companies, including the Vienna State Opera Ballet and the Ballet Russe de Basil.
After immigrating to San Francisco in 1951, he taught character dance for the San Francisco Ballet under Lew Christensen. He quickly formed and directed a student ethnic dance performance ensemble, which toured locally and gave full length costumed theatrical presentations annually at SF State and other Bay Area venues. Two of Joukowsky’s dances were performed in the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival in 1982.
Joukowsky also became a widely respected teacher in the recreational folk-dance world, teaching Balkan dances from countries such as Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, and Russia. For many years, he directed ethnic dance performance groups in the community as well as at SFSU. In 1965, Joukowsky authored The Teaching of Ethnic Dance, which is still in use today by dance teachers and choreographers. His decades of teaching left a rich legacy, and many of his students went on to professional careers in dance, music, filmmaking, teaching, and related fields after graduation. He was loved by all his students and colleagues and referred to fondly as “Mr. J”. His discipline and artistry were inspiring. Joukowsky passed away at the age of 92 on October 5, 1998 at his home in Menlo Park.
