Jessie Pocock’s life was filled with dance. She began teaching dancing in Evanston in 1921 as the principal dance instructor for children with the Bournique Dance Academy. She was a member of a ballroom dance team and joined the American Society of Teachers of Dancing in 1924. She taught ballroom dancing to debutantes and fathers, among other dance classes, all over suburban Chicago for many years. The ballet and ballroom dancing classes at the Evanston Country Club and Woman’s Club of Evanston, beginning in 1926 and continuing through the 1960s, were taught by Pocock as well. After WWII these classes became known as Fortnightly, where she was the director and founder. She continued to coordinate events like the annual Infant Welfare Ball and the Passavant Hospital Debutante Christmas Ball even after retirement.
Significance
“[H]er primary goal in working with Evanston youngsters has been two-fold: (1) to develop in them a sense of respect for anyone in authority and for each other; and (2) to make her students aware of – and to help them observe – the “small niceties” of social behavior” (Lowndes III, Mrs. Richard). “Miss Pocock is convinced that her greatest satisfaction has come from the accomplishments of these handicapped children.” She taught dance to blind, deaf, dumb, and crippled children” (Lowndes III, Mrs. Richard T.).