Mary Joyce

1928 - 2025

Mary Joyce
02/12/1928 - 02/24/2025
World renowned and celebrated dance educator and author Mary Joyce passed away February 24, 2025, peacefully at home. She was 97. The daughter of Walter E. and Mary Joyce, Mary and her brothers were raised throughout the U.S. due to her father's work as a pioneering civil engineer, primarily on both coasts.
Mary first discovered dance serendipitously while majoring in English and Humanities at Stanford University. Post graduation, at age 20, she attended NYU and earned her masters in dance education. Her career grew as she taught at Ohio University , U.C. Davis, U.C. Berkeley, Indianapolis, and the Oakland Recreation Department, then finally for the city of San Mateo, ending at the Bersford Center.
Mary was instrumental in the development of teaching of dance to children. Her books, First Steps in Teaching Creative Dance, and Dance Technique for Children, have become a gold standard for teachers. Additionally. she recorded African Heritage Dances in 1969. She was awarded the President's Medal for Physical Fitness and, in 1991, the Heritage Award by the California Dance Educators Association.
Her world knew no boundaries, neither philosophical nor geographical, as she traveled globally to participate/lead dance conferences as well as local dance camps... "dance simultaneously involves the inner being and the physical body."
Mary was predeceased by her brothers, Walter (2014) and Dick (2005); sister-in-law, Joan (2016). Survivors include sister-in-law, Marjorie, of CT; niece, Mary, Fritz Stambaugh (Patrick, Kyle) of Leonia, NJ; nephew, Richard Joyce of Reading, PA; niece, Alberta Joyce-Bell, Michael Bell (Alarice Joyce, Pierson, Ariella, Nicholas) of Saint Clair, PA., Columbia, MO., and White Stone, VA.; nephew, Walter Joyce of Bristol, TN (Caroline, Kathleen); nephew, Timothy, Stella Park-Joyce (Nicholas) of NY; nephew, Matthew Joyce of NY; niece, Cecily Joyce of Lebanon, PA; and niece, Megan, Alex Gesing of NY.