Obituary of Arlene Victoria Erb

September 30, 2026

Arlene Erb, dancer, choreographer and teacher, passed away in her sleep on September
30, 2026, at the age of 86. Over a career spanning several decades and continents, she
devoted much of her life to dance - performing, choreographing and, above all, teaching
generations of dancers.
Raised in Paterson and Fair Lawn, New Jersey, Arlene was drawn to New York City from an
early age and moved there as soon as she could. It was in New York that she built her life and
established herself in the dance world during an extraordinary period in the city's performing arts history.
In 1962, she married Bruce Charles Erb, the great love of her life, with whom she shared
her passions for jazz, food and wine until his untimely death in 1969.
That same year, Arlene became the first female assistant to legendary jazz dance teacher
Luigi at Luigi’s Jazz Centre near Lincoln Center. She also taught modern jazz at the
Harkness Ballet School. In 1972, she opened The New Arlene Erb Dance Center, where
she developed and taught The Erb Technique, her own method of dance training, and
created The Arlene Erb Dance Company, which she took on tour. “Dance is not a static
art,” she told The Paterson News in 1974, expressing her belief that dance should respond to
contemporary life and the world around it.
Her reputation as a teacher and choreographer soon carried her far beyond New York. She
gave master classes throughout the United States, including at the Boston Ballet School and
California Institute of the Arts.
In 1983, Arlene’s international teaching career entered a new phase when she joined the
Vienna State Ballet, where she taught for two years, through 1985. From there, her
reputation as a teacher carried her to leading dance institutions around the world, including
the Académie de Danse Princesses Grace in Monaco, Royal Academy of Dance, English
National Ballet and Ballet Rambert. Her teaching took her across Europe and as far as
Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.
Arlene’s work also crossed into popular music. In 1981, she choreographed and danced in Al
Jarreau’s music video for “Roof Garden.” Her choreography included the exuberant jazz
piece “Birdland,” set to the music of Quincy Jones and performed by Ballet Central. A 1993
review in The Herald described the work as a “sassy jazzy piece” in which its eight dancers
could “shimmy and kick up their heels.”
By 1993, Arlene had returned to her New York roots, teaching sought-after classes at Steps
on Broadway. In 1997 came another highlight of her choreographic career, “Buffalo Bill’s
Saloon,” created for the Colorado Ballet and presented at Denver’s Auditorium Theatre on a
repertory program alongside George Balanchine’s “Western Symphony.”
Dance, however, was only one of Arlene’s great passions. Food, wine and jazz were
constants throughout her life.
She loved to cook, but most of all she loved cooking for other people. Arlene was notorious
for making far more food than her guests could possibly eat, and few people left her home
without being sent away with leftovers. She always credited her Hungarian Jewish
grandmother with teaching her to cook, although Arlene’s own kitchen tended decidedly
toward Italy, with seemingly endless variations on pasta and its sauces.
Wine was woven into her life as well. Bruce was a wine importer and salesman, and Arlene
accompanied him to France when he went to Château Lascombes to study with renowned
wine authority Alexis Lichine. Her second husband, Basil Jay Winston, whom she married
in 1969, was a wine author. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1979.
And then there was jazz. Arlene and Bruce were regulars at the jazz clubs of Greenwich
Village, often going out several nights a week, and built an extensive jazz record collection at
home. Jazz became part of the soundtrack of family life - quite literally. When Arlene was
pregnant with her first child, her contractions began during a Gerry Mulligan concert at the
Village Gate. She left the club in search of a taxi and ultimately made it to the hospital
courtesy of a limousine driver. (Jazzman magazine - juin 1997)
Arlene later married Malcolm Hart in 1984. They separated in 1992 but remained married
until his death in 2022.
Throughout her career, teaching remained at the heart of Arlene’s work. Dance was not
simply something she performed or choreographed; it was something she passed on. Her
legacy lives in the dancers she taught, the teachers who learned from her, and the many
people around the world whose lives intersected with hers through dance.
Arlene was predeceased by Bruce Charles Erb and Malcolm Hart. She is survived by her
son, Derek Erb, and daughter, Jill Ancrile; her brothers, Billy Hartman, Elliott Weiss and
Jerry Hartman; her grandchildren, Jessica Erb, Alexandra Paredes, Keely Ancrile and
Dair Ancrile, Jr.; and her great-grandson, Gabriel Paredes. Her family will forever
remember her boundless warmth, her brilliant creative spirit, and the joy she brought into
their lives.

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