Eve Gentry

Eve Gentry’s early training was in ballet and Spanish dance. In 1929 she left her parents’ home in Southern California to pursue her dance passion.  Her first exposure to modern dance was in San Francisco with Ann Munstock. Later, in New York City, she studied with Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Helen Tamiris, and at Ballet Arts and the Joffrey Ballet. She was also a member of the Hanya Holm Company from 1936 to 1942.

In 1940 Gentry and three other dancers founded the Dance Notation Bureau. She was, in fact, the first American dancer to teach Laban notation in this country.

While continuing her own solo career, Gentry directed her own Dance Company from 1944 to 1968. Eve was also a charter faculty member of the High School for Performing Arts, NYC and the New York University School of the Arts. Most significant in this context, she served as teacher and associate with Joseph Pilates himself in New York from 1942 to 1968.









Relocating to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1968, Gentry established a Dancer’s Studio and a Pilates Studio. Both studios flourished in the following decades. She was also the Movement Technique Instructor for the Apprentice Program at the Santa Fe Opera for five seasons.In addition, Gentry choreographed and danced in Stravinsky’s La Rossignol in 1969 and 1970, and at the age of 63 danced in the world premiere of VillaLobos’Yerma (choreographed by José Limon).














During her more than fifty year career, Ms. Gentry was a dancer, teacher (Pilates and dance), coach, and choreographer for countless stage, film and television projects. In 1979 Bennington College honored her with the Pioneer of Modern Dance award and in 1989 was chosen as a “Santa Fe Living Treasure”.

Over the years Eve’s students continued to come from all parts of the country to work with her. As only one among many testaments to her influence, Evelyn Lear (celebrated soprano at the Metropolitan Opera and La Scala) offered this:  “Eve Gentry was a revelation in my life. . . . Under her loving and knowing guidance, I now lead a life free of pain and filled with total energy.”