Babs W. Lebowsky; Dancer, Choreographer

Babs Warden Lebowsky, an active and involved resident of Santa Monica Canyon for 35 years, passed away peacefully on July 31. She had been recovering from a stroke, suffered soon after she returned in May from Chicago, where she had celebrated her birthday with family and friends.   She was born in Winnepeg, Manitoba, Canada, to Virginia Watts Burris and Ryland Hutton Warden and grew up in Calgary, where she worked in a bank. She later moved to Vancouver and danced with the Vancouver Ballet Company, Theater Under the Stars and many other groups.   Babs came to the United States with Jimmy Durante to continue her love of dancing. She performed on Broadway, in England, and in national tours in numerous shows such as ‘The Music Man,’ ‘Pal Joey,’ ‘The Pajama Game’ and ‘Can Can.’ She also choreographed many productions in New York, Las Vegas and England, and at many colleges and local theaters.   In 1984, Babs danced in the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games, and in 2000 she choreographed a memorable dance number between a mother and son in the movie ‘The Woman Chaser.’   She married the late musical director and composer Stanley Lebowsky, whom she met while performing in ‘Can-Can,’ and had two children, Beth and Bruce. The couple divorced years later.   Babs moved to Santa Monica Canyon in 1974 with her two children and three cats. She had fallen in love with the neighborhood the summer before and wanted to relocate her children from New York City to a safer environment by the beach, which she loved.   She quickly became involved in the community. At Canyon School, she became room mom and PTA treasurer. She organized the yearly school talent show and continued to work on the talent show long after her children had graduated, and also went on to choreograph shows at Paul Revere Junior High, remaining involved in all of her children’s activities.   Her schedule was very busy, including choreographing routines for dancers, singers, ice skaters, and for various shows in Hollywood, local colleges, and the Morgan Wixson Theater in Santa Monica. She taught private exercise sessions, exercise classes, drama and dance at her backyard studio and various other venues in the Palisades. She especially enjoyed the senior exercise class she taught at the Palisades Recreation Center, where she made many dear friends. ‘We had a good group’two men and about 10 women’and it was fun because of Babs,’ said her friend, Mary Cole. ‘She made it a social gathering as well as an exercise class.’ Having grown up near the water in Canada, Babs loved swimming, and taught private swim lessons throughout her life. Her two children were probably the only kids living in the middle of New York City who knew how to swim before the age of four.   As a key member of the Pacific Palisades community, Babs worked on the Youth Pageant and thoroughly enjoyed choreographing the annual musical roast for the Palisadian-Post’s Citizen of the Year dinner. She was involved with many organizations, including the Temescal Canyon Association, The Lang Foundation and Theatre Palisades. She also served on the board of the Santa Monica Civic Association (for more than 30 years), the Palisades AARP chapter (as treasurer) and the Professional Dancers Society, and was involved with the Methodist Chuch and Palisades Presbyterian Church. She even did the bookkeeping for her friend’s restaurant, Dante’s, on Swarthmore.   Babs loved the Fourth of July Parade, and the sound of bagpipes. She loved animals, the beach, collecting sea glass, swimming, going to the movies and the theater, and was quite a garage sale expert. She loved traveling to Chicago to see her granddaughters and enjoy a good Chicago hotdog; and traveling to Vancouver every summer to visit some of her dear friends. She was energetic, enthusiastic and full of life, a full embodiment of the accolade she once received: ‘The Goddess of Movement.’   She is survived by her daughter Beth Rosch (husband Frank) of Glen Ellyn, Illinois; her son Bruce (wife Kimberly Dove) of North Hollywood; her grandaughters Katie, Stacy and Amanda (who called her Baba); her cats, her dog Bitsy, and the various wild animals she cared for.   She will be missed by her family, friends, neighbors, and students whose lives she touched in many ways. Later this month there will be a gathering on the beach to celebrate her life.   We can only hope to be blessed with half the energy Babs possessed throughout her life; if there was music, she was moving to it and kept moving long after everyone else was done.