Miss Elaine: The Ballet Teacher of Steel

BALLET – Roger Atkinson of Upper Black Eddy, Pa., a ballet heavyweight (figuratively speaking), established a ballet school in Frenchtown in the big, second-story hall on the eastern corner of Bridge Street and Trenton Avenue in 1970. He had performed with Ballet Russe De Monte Carlo and the Forsythe Ballet Company, and had danced on Broadway and on television.

After his death a few years later, the Roger Atkinson Ballet Center was carried on by Elaine Monn (Sutula). She was educated at Juilliard and with the Joffrey Ballet, and had been a dancer and teacher for the New Jersey Ballet Company.

During the 25 years of her ownership, the ballet school moved around town, but its fourth and penultimate location was on the ground floor of the former Barn Theatre. For the final two years, Sutula taught her ballerinas in the basement fitness center at the Riegel Ridge Community Center in Holland Township.

Many of her annual year-end shows were held in the auditorium of Voorhees High School in June. The performers, all gorgeously costumed, ranged from little beginners who staggered around like drunks, to seasoned teenagers who moved like Broadway professionals.

My daughter Molly, who was one of her students in 1993-2005, said, “Miss Elaine was tough but fair. She had high expectations. She valued discipline and order, even in the youngest students. There were rules you had to follow, like being on time and wearing what you were supposed to wear.” She was not maternal and “her personality was not for everyone, but she cared about her students.”

Sutula had high expectations of parents, too.

A week before her annual show, Miss Elaine would issue a formidable body of rules for parents to obey. Here’s an excerpt: “...New regulation: Because we have hired a professional videotaping firm to film the show this year, there will be no video cameras permitted at the performance...” and she noted that there had been “complaints at previous performances that video photographers have been disturbing other viewers. Please do not force us to confiscate your cameras at the door!” Hey, wait a minute! Could she do that? Physically I reckon she could; she was strong. But legally?

Other rules covered the dress rehearsal: If you want to watch, sit way in the back and keep quiet. “We need their complete attention,” she wrote.

As for the performance: “ABSOLUTELY NO ONE WILL BE DISMISSED AT INTERMISSION! ... There will be NO EXCEPTIONS.” (Luckily this applied only to ballet students and not to members of the audience. One year my in-laws were getting restless after they'd seen Molly dance and they walked out at intermission. Miss Elaine’s volunteers saw them go, but made no move to stop them.)

Miss Elaine's manifesto closed with: “Please do not attempt to change the rules or to put any of our adult volunteers in a compromising situation. Any conflicts will result in dismissal from the Ballet Center.”

I was glad that Molly wanted a place in Miss Elaine's rugged little enclave of achievement. As Miss Elaine would invariably say in her annual speech before the curtain opened: “Discipline can be a good friend.” Although Discipline and I had never really been close friends, I know what she means.

After she closed her school in 2010, Sutula taught for the Ballet Guild of the Lehigh Valley.

From "Rick's Frenchtown Encyclopedia"