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.