Edna McRae; Dance Teacher Worked for Joffrey Ballet

Edna McRae, 88, a dance teacher who earned national recognition for her work for the Joffrey Ballet Company and with child dancers. A native of Chicago, she studied in London and Paris before opening a ballet school in Chicago in 1925. It became one of the places where traveling dance companies would take lessons when in the area. After retiring in 1964, she directed the Joffrey Ballet Company’s West Coast scholarship courses. She was also associate director in charge of children for the annual “Nutcracker” production at Chicago’s Arie Crown Theatre for seven years until 1973. In Evanston, Ill., on Thursday.