Elisa Ryan; Taught Dancing, Social Graces to Generations
Elisa Ryan, who taught both dancing and social graces to three generations of prominent Los Angeles families, died Jan. 7 at St. John’s Hospital Medical Center in Santa Monica. She was 88.
The cotillion instructor for Shirley Temple and the children of Richard M. Nixon, Rosalind Russell, Ray Milland and other well-known parents had retired in 1971.
In an interview after her retirement, she recalled that she began teaching dance in private homes in Bel-Air and Beverly Hills in the late 1920s. From those sessions, she said, evolved classes and dances at the Beverly Hills Women’s Club and Bel-Air Country Club that attracted thousands of children over 40 years.
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