Mavis Ray

Mavis Ray had a significant impact on students and faculty alike as teacher, choreographer, and dancer at East Carolina University. One of the founding members of its School of Theatre and Dance, Ray joined ECU's faculty as teacher and choreographer for the drama department in 1964, after having been assistant to famed dancer and choreographer Agnes de Mille in New York City, New York. During her twenty-five years at the School, Mavis choreographed more than seventy-five musicals, several operas, and numerous dance performances. She was named professor emeritus upon her retirement in 1989. Her training included but is not limited to the Royal Academy of Dance in London, the School of American Ballet under George Balanchine, the Imperial School, and the Robert Joffrey Ballet. She founded the New Jersey School of Ballet, taught at Carnegie Hall, the Joffrey Ballet, "The Lost Colony," where she also played Queen Elizabeth, and was ballet mistress at Ballet De Caracas in Venezuela. Mavis was also a stage performer on Broadway and toured the United States in a number of musicals, operas, and ballets. In the early 1980s, Ray took hiatus from ECU to appear in the film version of Annie as Mrs. Greer. Ray also acted in several television shows. She was a member of the Actors' Equity Association, Screen Actors' Guild, American Federation of TV and Radio Artists, and the North Carolina Dance Alliance. She received ECU's Outstanding Teacher Award and was recognized as a Tarheel of the Week by the News and Observer for her outstanding service to eastern North Carolina as a choreographer and performer. Mavis passed away in 2009 at age eighty-seven.