Lone Isaksen | Danish ballerina, 68

Lone Isaksen, 68, a Danish-born ballerina who brought a distinctive mix of traditional classical training and fierce projection to contemporary works in American companies such as the Harkness Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet, died Nov. 2 at her home in Manhattan.

Ms. Isaksen died after a long battle with cancer, the Juilliard School said in an announcement on behalf of its dance division. Isaksen's husband of 40 years, the American ballet star and former ballet director Lawrence Rhodes, is the division's director.

At the Harkness Ballet, where she and Rhodes were founding members from 1964 to 1970, Ms. Isaksen could seemingly do no wrong and was acclaimed by critics and the public alike.

Ms. Isaksen studied ballet at the Royal Danish Ballet School and with the respected private teacher Edite Feifer Frandsen. From 1958 to 1960, she danced in the Scandinavian Ballet.

On the advice of Erik Bruhn, the Danish star of American Ballet Theater, she came to New York and was invited into the Joffrey Ballet.

In 1964, after Robert Joffrey and his financial patron, Rebekah Harkness, waged a battle for artistic control of his company, Harkness formed the Harkness Ballet and Joffrey reorganized his troupe. Eleven of his dancers, including Isaksen, remained with the Harkness.

Ms. Isaksen and Rhodes spent the 1970-71 season with the Dutch National Ballet. Returning to New York, she retired from performing and became a Pilates bodywork teacher.

- N.Y. Times News Service