\n<\/p>\n
In a 2008 interview with Dance Enthusiast, Ms. Panetta recalled that when students made mistakes, the strict Ms. Craske would throw them out of the classroom, a punishment Ms. Panetta received \u201call the time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Those brief expulsions fueled her determination to improve, and she spent her timeouts diligently practicing in a dressing room<\/a>. By age 14, she was such a strong technician that Ms. Craske hired her as a teaching assistant, planting the seed of her future career. \u201cI realized,\u201d Ms. Panetta said, \u201cthat teaching was an opportunity to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n She immediately aspired to be a leading ballerina, however, and joined the corps of American Ballet Theater in 1968. But she soon found herself at odds with the company\u2019s cofounding director, Lucia Chase<\/a>, who placed Ms. Panetta on leave a year and a half into her contract, on the eve of a company tour.<\/p>\n \u201cShe just told me I was not pretty enough to be the representative of the United States in Russia,\u201d Ms. Panetta recalled to the Times. \u201cShe reneged three weeks later, but I found some kind of inner pride and told her, \u2018Nothing has changed with my face, so I\u2019m not going to come back.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n After a few years performing freelance with small ballet companies, she found a home in modern dance. \u201cWhat was so nice about coming downtown,\u201d she said, \u201cwas that they liked you for your personality, not in spite of it.\u201d<\/p>\n She married Mr. Roth, a businessman, in 1975. In addition to him, her survivors include their son, Niles, and a grandson.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n