CATHERINE OPPENHEIMER’S dance program reaches some 5,600 children in New Mexico each year.

Today marks a homecoming for Oppenheimer, who attended the school from ages 7 through 18, when George Balanchine tapped her as one of the last two dancers he personally selected for the New York City Ballet. Yet she did not come simply to reconnect. She plans to apply what she learns on this visit to classes she teaches and oversees across New Mexico through a nonprofit dance school she cofounded with choreographer Jacques d’Amboise.

The National Dance Institute of New Mexico (NDI-NM) is that rare dance program thriving in mission and financial resources–thanks primarily to Oppenheimer’s attention to detail. In a field where many organizations suffer from chronic fiscal missteps–the Dance Notation Bureau, a dance preservation organization, is among the latest to cut staff–NDI-NM boasts robust resources. It serves approximately 5,600 children each year with an annual budget of roughly $3 million.

Oppenheimer makes fundraising a family effort with her husband, Garrett Thornburg, chairman and CEO of Santa Fe-based Thornburg Companies; he brings his financial expert’s eye to the act. Together, Thornburg’s companies–Thornburg Mortgage, which provides jumbo loans, and Thornburg Investment Management–comprise one of Santa Fe’s largest employers. Fittingly, NDI-NM brought together Thornburg and Oppenheimer in the first place. Eleven years ago, a mutual friend encouraged Thornburg to donate to NDI-NM, which he did so solely on the recommendation, without having met Oppenheimer or seeing any of the group’s materials. They finally met a few years later thanks to their friend’s prompting. "I was instantly smitten," he says. They married in 1999.

In a field where many organizations suffer from chronic fiscal missteps, the National Dance Institute of New Mexico boasts growing resources.

Thornburg fell equally hard for Oppenheimer’s program. NDI-NM helps children throughout New Mexico develop self-esteem. When donors get a chance to see that for themselves, fundraising poses less of a challenge, he says. "Go to Mrs. Gonzales’ first-grade class at the elementary school and see what happens in that hour," Thornburg says. "It’s no longer just ‘I want you to see this kid’s dance program,’ it’s kids developing amazing work habits and stuff for life."

Teachers and pianists serve as dance ambassadors of sorts, fanning out across the state from Santa Fe schools to Native American pueblos to lead 50-minute classes. The training culminates in performances, including an annual show that has garnered national attention. Three years ago, first lady Laura Bush spoke at the annual gala; this year, actress Shirley MacLaine narrated a performance of Peter and the Wolf.

Most of the operating budget funds staff and teachers. Oppenheimer also raised $7.3 million for NDI-NM’s endowment and a 33,000-square-foot headquarters in Santa Fe, known as The Dance Barns, with studios and a 500-seat theater that opened in 2003. More recently, she turned her attention to expanding NDI-NM’s $6 million endowment. She hopes to raise five times that amount in the coming years so the endowment can sustain a larger share of the operating budget. "She’s done miracles," d’Amboise says.

Oppenheimer says the success is based on simple principles: hard work and organization being primary. NDI-NM sticks to its budget–borne out of Oppenheimer’s aversion to debt and a mandate to spend judiciously. Early in her philanthropy, she received a valuable tip from a local fundraiser: Seek support only from people you like; you will be more productive. The counsel rings true: Oppenheimer pursued one couple for several years with whom she had no natural draw. They never contributed. She now focuses on those with whom she feels a personal connection.

Also, manners count. Many donors receive personal thank-you letters from Oppenheimer, and youngsters write to the group’s 1,000 donors. "They go from heartrending because of how much the program means to them, and even, ‘It gives me a reason for living,’ to really funny, like, ‘Thanks for the big pile of money, we really appreciate it,’" she says.

NDI-NM represents a radical departure from Oppenheimer’s life as a professional dancer, both with the New York City Ballet and then with Twyla Tharp. But by age 30, Oppenheimer, who is now 42, knew that she had to move on. Dancing is an art for youth, "like being a professional athlete," she notes. She tried choreography, teaching and even a bout with acting. Then she turned to work she had begun with fellow New York City Ballet alum d’Amboise years earlier. While still with the ballet, d’Amboise began NDI in New York City schools. Oppenheimer worked with him there for three years, and later in a residency program he began in Santa Fe after winning a MacArthur Genius Award. She considered joining d’Amboise full time, but he advised her to finish her performing career and consider NDI later. In 1995, they collaborated by cofounding NDI of New Mexico.

Built By Balanchine
Back at the School of American Ballet, Oppenheimer pauses at a wall of framed photographs of famous dancers and alums. She points out a shot of Balanchine, or "Mr. B." and muses, "He inspired people to go beyond what they thought they could do." Oppenheimer recalls rehearsing a diagonal set of jumps for Les Sylphides that required leaping across the stage, exiting, running upstage, then crossing the other diagonal. After her first attempt, Balanchine stopped the music and said, "No, go higher." She tried three more times. "I’d go back, and he’d say, ‘Go higher,’ and I was just jumping, trying harder," she says. "So then the fifth time I stopped to go back, and he hadn’t made me stop."

Through NDI-NM, Oppenheimer shares these lessons of persistence. Dance relies on nothing more than the body. "That’s such a powerful lesson if you learn that you can control your body," Oppenheimer says, "and that you have some kind of power over what you do and how you do it."

Such benefits resist quantification, but Oppenheimer is trying nevertheless. She has begun planning a five-year academic study analyzing the physical, academic, social and behavioral changes NDI-NM students display, in part to help with fundraising efforts. She also intends to use the results in evaluating programs and approaches. This will inform how NDI-NM expands, she says.

Growth is already taking place. Oppenheimer launched a new satellite program in Albuquerque and plans to continue adding classes throughout the state. Some students now require advanced training, and Oppenheimer is developing a more rigorous after-school ballet program at NDI-NM’s studios; 300 children are enrolled. "These kids never give up. They’re just making such incredible progress," she muses. "They totally embody what we say we do."

Elizabeth Harris is a staff writer for Worth.

Photography by Eric Swanson/Obscura Inc.