Finis Jhung

Finis Jhung (born May 27, 1937) is an American ballet dancer, dance company founder and dance teacher.

Jhung was born on May 27, 1937, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

His multiracial heritage includes Korean, Scottish and English ancestors.

The youngest of three sons, born to Caroline and Walter Jhung, Finis' parents ran a tailor shop on Oahu's Hickam Air Force Base.

The building was damaged, but not destroyed, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

At the end of World War II, as soldiers left the base, the Jhungs' business suffered.

Finis' disconsolate father packed up and left Hawaii for the mainland.

His mother filed for divorce which was granted in 1945 when Finis was nine years old.

As a child he studied tap, ballet, acrobatics and hula.

As a teen, Jhung auditioned for Anton Dolin and Alicia Markova, then on tour in Hawaii.

Dolin suggested that Jhung come see him when he "grew up."

Finis began studying ballet in earnest at the University of Utah, where he trained with Willam Christensen.

While in college, he performed in musicals, The King and I, Carousel and Damn Yankees, as well as ballets, Coppelia and The Nutcracker.

He graduated in 1959 with high honors.

In 1960, he spent six months in the National Guard.

While stationed at Ft. Leonard Wood, Jhung received a telegram from Rodgers and Hammerstein telling him they needed an Asian dancer who could perform double tours en l'air for Flower Drum Song on Broadway.

Jhung successfully passed the audition, completed his military service and joined the troupe in New York.

Already in its second year, "Flower Drum Song" ran for a few more months on Broadway and then went on the road.

When the show played San Francisco, Jhung reconnected with Michael Smuin and Kent Stowell, University of Utah classmates, who were dancing with the San Francisco Ballet (SFB).

Finis auditioned and was hired for the company; he stayed with the troupe for a year and a half.

At the same time, Flower Drum Song was being made into a movie and he was invited to join the cast.

By 1962, Jhung was ready to move on from SFB.

He auditioned for and was accepted into the New York-based Joffrey Ballet, then known as the Robert Joffrey Theatre Ballet.

He was immediately cast in Alvin Ailey's "Feast of Ashes" and Brian McDonald's "Time Out of Mind."

The Joffrey group was heavily dependent on funding from heiress and arts patron Rebekah Harkness.

As her investment increased, she reportedly demanded a greater say in the company's operation.

In 1964, this culminated in a split that led Harkness to establish her own ballet troupe.

Eleven Joffrey dancers, including Jhung, joined the Harkness Ballet.

He stayed with the Harkness company from 1964 to 1969.

In his memoir, Jhung says he initially served as the troupe's "exotic," while he longed to dance the principal roles in "white tights" (classical) ballets.

In 1966, during a European tour, Jhung was introduced to Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism by the company's shiatsu masseuse.

Shortly after beginning his new religious practice, he was profiled in Dance Magazine and chosen for a white tights role in Dolin's "Variations for Four."

Jhung also found the courage to ask Rebekah Harkness for a promotion to Principal Dancer, which he was given.

Jhung danced lead roles in Norman Walker's "Night Song," Brian Macdonald's "Zealous Variations," John Butler's "Sebastian," and George Balanchine's "Minkus Pas de Trois."

In his review of "Variations for Four", Saturday Review critic Walter Terry wrote, "Jhung combines the brio of the Western world with the clean clear linear delicacies and elegances of his part-Oriental heritage. He is the lad whose every movement is photographic-you don't see preparations, only results."

In March 1969, following the New York season, Jhung decided to give up dancing to devote himself to Buddhism and world peace.

To mark a break between his old and new lives, he burned his ballet memorabilia, books, photos, and films he had made of favorite dancers such as Erik Bruhn.

Jhung found a nine to five job as office manager for an investment firm.

He spent his evenings leading Buddhist group meetings, conducting lessons for new converts and providing one-on-one guidance.

In January 1972, the office closed leaving Jhung unemployed.