Local History: Who Were the Chalifs?

Many of today's Millburn residents remember the Chalif dancing classes, but not all of those residents know the story behind the Chalifs.

The latest acquisitions in the collection of the Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society are a few auction catalogs from the estates of former Millburn-Short Hills residents. The 1969 catalog seen here was from a Parke-Bernet Galleries auction of "Rare Bird Books; Natural History—The Dance; From the Distinguished Collection of Edward L. Chalif." In 1930 Edward Chalif, his wife Margaret Montgomery Chalif and their daughters Sonia and Margaret lived on Barnsdale Road in Short Hills. At that time Edward's occupation was "Teacher—Dancing."

A 2002 letter to the editor of Dance Magazine, written by Edward's brother Amos, notes his father Louis H. Chalif "was one of the first Russian teachers of dancing in America, arriving in 1904." Edward's father, Louis Harvey Chalif, was a renowned Russian ballet dancer with the Imperial Moscow Ballet and after he immigrated to the U.S. he danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet.

The Phantom Ranch Web site has a brief biography of Louis, wherein it is noted, "After 1910, Louis stopped performing and focused entirely on teaching dance" and "'Dance Magazine' in 1945 credited him with popularizing 'bar work, toe work, [and] classical music in the dancing school' and placed him 'at the forefront of the movement that introduced ballet instruction to the average American child.'"

Amos further wrote in his 2002 letter that at the then age of 83 he was teaching Chalif dance programs in his Bernardsville studio called The Barn Studio that was established in 1931 by his brother Edward L. Chalif. The dance school was taken over by Amos when Edward retired in 1968 and we can see it was the time that Parke-Bernet auctioned the book collection of Edward L. Chalif and that it included a great many books on dance.

The auctioned collection also included a great many bird books that reflect the other passion and career of Edward, who retired to Arizona where he was president of the Tuscon Audubon Society. His retirement gave Chalif the time to co-author a book with renowned bird authority Roger Tory Peterson. The two ornithology experts saw the publication of their Peterson field guide "A Field Guide to Mexican Birds: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador."

Finally, among Edward Chalif's many contributions to the community were Captain Edward L. Chalif's WWII service, his dedication to local Boy Scouts for whom he was a scout leader and for the dance instruction provided by his wife Margaret, who was also an instructor at the Chalif Dancing School and who "encouraged her husband to put his knowledge of Mexican birds on record and who accompanied him on his Mexican forays" as the Peterson book dedication tells us.

Edward Chalif died in Arizona in 1980 and Margaret M Chalif died in 1991.