Sad News: Jeanne Periolat Czula

March 10, 2025

Dear all,

I am writing in sadness to tell you of the passing of Jeanne Periolat Czula on March 3rd in Roman’s and Jeanne’s home in California after a long illness. Jeanne had a profound and transformative influence on the dance program and was a tough and inspiring teacher of generations of ballet students, many of whom remained close to her after their graduation and after her retirement in 2013.

Jeanne came to Vassar in 1975, when dance was taught as an extracurricular activity in the Department of Physical Education. She was the driving force in transforming both the way dance was taught and its place in the curriculum of the college. In 1977 she and her students lobbied successfully to allow students to take ballet classes for credit, and in 1980 she and Ray Cook together established what would become the enormously successful Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre. She believed that performance was a necessary part of a student's understanding of ballet, which had been viewed prior to her arrival as a form of physical exercise and the mastery of a technique. By teaching the history of ballet and creating an opportunity for dancers to perform for an audience—performances of the VRDT filled the Bardavon in the years it served as the venue for its performances—Jeanne gave her students the experience of ballet as an art form as well as a physically and intellectually demanding practice. 

Finally in 2005 Jeanne achieved her long-held ambition to create a Department of Dance, independent of the Department of Athletics and Physical Education, with its home in Kenyon Hall, renovated in 2007 to include a dance theatre.

We extend our sympathy to all Jeanne’s devoted students and especially to Roman, her partner for 49 years.

Elizabeth H. Bradley, President
Vassar College
Poughkeepsie, NY 12604
@EHBVassar