This memorial website was created in memory of our beloved mother and friend, Jeanette Tannan Hoffman, who passed away on May 19, 2018. May her joie de vivre live on forever. Please feel free to share memories, tributes, and stories on these pages.
Tributes
Leave a tributehttps://youtu.be/cy46iOwWQiE (Matthew Wilder's "Break My Stride)
And this song as well: https://youtu.be/Zi_XLOBDo_Y
I imagine you're still on the move -- !!
Love,
Madelyn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhN4_vSPyaI
Love,
Me '='
I miss you and think of you daily..the fun, stupidity, and inside jokes are all wonderful memories I cherish. Love you and miss you.
Looking out at my garden and thinking about our wonderful friendship. Glad you don’t have to live thru this difficult time! XO
Who knew and loved Jeanette ♀️
I miss you and think of you daily..the fun, stupidity, and inside jokes are all wonderful memories I cherish. Love you and miss you.
A big thank you to everyone who has shared memories of my mother here and for everyone who is involved in putting together Sunday's Celebration of Life.
I’ll never forget her unbreakable spirit and enthusiasm. Even just a few days before she passed, Mom was trying to go further with the walker, trying to do more with her exercises.
She passed her spirit on. I’ve always had a sort of “built-in optimism” that came from my Mother.
I’m proud of how hard Mom worked and what she accomplished – it’s amazing that she earned a soloist position in the Ballet Russe, and taught ballet so well for almost 50 years, up to the age of 87.
I miss our chats. I miss sharing my accomplishments, and her grandsons’ achievements, in music, gardening, and school. Her grandsons play lots of musical instruments: French horn, trumpet, piano, saxophone, guitar, ukulele, mandolin, banjo -- and have performed many times, though they are 9 and 13.
The 13 year-old plays trumpet and French horn in 2 different Youth Symphonies. The 9 year-old is (fittingly) playing “Arabesque” by Burgmuller on the piano these days–-though he’s never had a piano lesson. Mom dearly loved seeing her musical talents live on in her grandsons.
Mom’s love of gardening lives on, too. One of her legacies is the large greenhouse she gifted to our family. In it, her children and grandchildren grow tomatoes, basil, and squash by the bucketful. She loved that her grandsons already grow their own food.
I have barely begun to describe everything Mom was. She was a fabulous Mother, and Grandmother, and always will be.
As she would say, "Take a bow." Well, this feels like a well deserved, final bow to the greater dance community. A heartfelt "Thank You" to everyone who made it happen.
Her passion to teach was matched only by her compassion for her students. She was a teacher who taught from her heart. She taught us Ballet but she also taught us important lessons that prepared us for life after class and performance. How well I remember her sense of humor.
It was my great joy and pleasure to have her come and teach my classes here in nyc!
All of the students adore her. She had the uncanny talent of teaching every ballet step within an hour. Her musicality and timing were always precise and impeccable. I will truly miss her!
kat@katwildish.com
Artistic Director, Performing in NY Experience
www.katwildishshowcase.com
Adjunct Professor Pace University NYC/Commercial Dance, Classical Ballet
http://performingarts.pace.edu/faculty/kat-wildish
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Wildish
Jeanette Hoffman, 88, of Wyckoff, NJ, passed away on May 19, 2018, at the Oakland Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center.
Jeanette was born in 1930, in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Gertrude and Meyer Tannenbaum. She began dance training at 4, and took piano lessons from the age of 6. When she was 12, she had to choose between piano and ballet. Not long after high school, at age 16, she landed a dance part on Broadway, in “Sweethearts.” Soon after, she auditioned for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and was accepted.
She toured with Ballet Russe for 5 years, all over the U.S. and Canada. She went on to dance at Radio City Music Hall and the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, and to choreograph at Radio City Music Hall. Dance remained one of Jeanette’s greatest loves until the day she died.
At age 23, in 1954, she married Edward S. Hoffman. They moved to Fair Lawn, NJ, and, in 1956, had a daughter, Madelyn. In 1959, they had a son, Steven. Jeanette was an enormously devoted and loving mother and wife. For over 40 years, she was a successful and beloved ballet teacher at the Irine Fokine School in Ridgewood. When that school closed, she taught for 8 years at “In the Spotlight” Studio in Waldwick, until she was 87. She also taught at the Alvin Ailey Extension dance school in Manhattan.
Dance and music always inspired Jeanette, who maintained a youthful, enthusiastic spirit her whole life long. Her caring for family, friends, and students, and her commitment to superior teaching, were extraordinary, and she will always be remembered for this. She was hugely proud of her children: Madelyn is a well-known activist who has run for high elected office in New Jersey several times; Steven is a Fulbright scholar with a Ph.D. in environmental studies.
Jeanette was predeceased by husband Edward in 2011. She is survived by Madelyn, of Flanders, NJ, and Steven, of Bow, WA, as well as her daughter-in-law Maria, and two cherished grandsons, Galen and Forrest Hoffman, of Bow, WA.
A Celebration of Life will be held on June 24th, 1-4 PM, at “In the Spotlight” Dance Studio in Waldwick. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Jeanette Tannan Hoffman Dance Scholarship Fund (or “JTHDSF”), c/o M. Hoffman, P.O. Box 485, Flanders, NJ 07836. The Fund will be used to assist young ballet dancers at the In the Spotlight Dance Studio. For online condolences, please visit www.forevermissed.com/jeanette-tannan-hoffman . Please contact Madelyn or Steven Hoffman if you would like to be added to the Jeanette Tannan Hoffman Memorial Group on Facebook.
It is with a heavy heart and tears in my eyes that I pay tribute to a lady who was not only my mentor but one of my best friends, and saw me through nearly all the ups and downs I have faced thus far in my life. Jeanette Hoffman was… a character. She was a soloist with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, the resident prima ballerina with the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera Company, danced in a Broadway revival of Victor Herbert's "Sweethearts" and was a guest artist and assistant choreographer for the Corps de Ballet at Radio City Music Hall. She did what she loved, teach ballet, until the very end, three times a week in fact. Her passion was contagious and inspirational, and felt strongly by all those who attended her classes. Whenever I took a class she attended or taught at Fokine’s, I found I performed better, I was so determined to show her the best version of myself. When I was crying after dance rehearsals, she was the one I would call and the one who convinced me not to quit. Whenever I performed, she was in the audience. When my Mom died, she comforted me. She told me to get back to class, because “the ballet barre brings order out of chaos”. It was one of the most helpful pieces of advice I received and every time I felt the world was caving in, I returned to the memory of her saying that and by doing barre returned to reality with renewed force and motivation. Whenever I was home, she was the first person I called, and I loved to surprise her with visits as much as she loved surprises. When I got married, she was there, on the dance floor, except for when the ice cream bar opened, because the one thing that dare I say took precedent over dancing was ice cream. I am blessed to have visited Jeanette in rehab in April; during the visit we laughed, we cried, and laughed some more. She asked Calvyn and me to take her on a walk in her wheelchair, so we agreed to push her and she dictated the route. She led us around in circles until we ended straight in front of the entrance/exit doors, and she looked at us and smirked, cheeky as ever. I will miss collecting an extra program for any performance I see to share with her, showing her the photos of my latest adventure, all of the e-mails, all of the phone calls. I will end with one of her e-mails, which I think sums up our relationship pretty well. “Oh Christa… Thank YOU for our time together…And for those delicious chocolates ….yes, ALL GONE ‘=’…..and the Russian book…. I’ve shared it with my ‘coach’ and we agreed to read a few pages together every week…. There IS so much we never got to share/talk about/catch up with…and…so as you say…hopefully in April we WILL be able to do THAT~~!!!!!.... So Calvyn DID master the brain games… I’m Smiling ‘=’ And I’m looking forward to YOUR review of the London performance!!! Enjoy All of it!! Also…I’ll pencil out Tuesday… …reserved for US~!!!! Again…it was So special to be with you…’=’ xoxox…. Jeanette
If you would like a copy of the book (hardcover or softcover), it is available from the bookstore at www.blurb.com (!). The title to look for is "The Early Years of Jeanette Tannan Hoffman."
Your devoted daughter- in- law,
Maria
Leave a Tribute
https://youtu.be/cy46iOwWQiE (Matthew Wilder's "Break My Stride)
And this song as well: https://youtu.be/Zi_XLOBDo_Y
I imagine you're still on the move -- !!
Love,
Madelyn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhN4_vSPyaI
Love,
Me '='
When Mom Met My Wife-To-Be
When my Mother met my wife-to-be, I was of course wanting to find out her impressions. I caught her alone near the garage door of our Harvey Ct. home, and asked, "Mom, what do you think of her?" I'll never forget Mom's reply, "Marry her! She's family!" The rest is history.
Cooking with Jeannette
I remember once in the early years when Steve and I were first together and Ed and Jeanette were still living in the Harvey Ct. house, I was invited to help cook a special meal with Jeanette for the family. I had been around long enough to know that Jeanette wanting to cook a large meal again was a BIG DEAL and that being invited to HELP was an even BIGGER DEAL. I can't remember exactly what we cooked, though I remember it being rather complicated and taking most of the afternoon. The meal was a success, but what I remember was my feeling of really having the IN with the family and that my mother-in-law and I were going to not only get along, but be good friends. I knew that this invitation to work with her in her kitchen was a special one - of trust on her part and respect for me and my new role in the family. It remains one of my special memories of Jeannette, a special moment that just the 2 of us shared together.