An anonymous donor has given the Colburn School, in Los Angeles, $9-million to support its Dance Institute, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The donation will be added to the Dance Institute’s $1-million endowment, bringing the total to $10-million.

School officials plan to rename the institute the Trudl Zipper Dance Institute after Viennese dancer Trudl Dubsky Zipper, who was the wife of the school’s co-founder, the conductor Herbert Zipper. It is not clear whether the anonymous donor is connected to the Zippers, both of whom are dead.

“The next year or two will be really just solidifying our department and building on what we’ve already done over the past couple of years,” said Leslie Carothers-Aromaa, a former principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet and the new director of the institute.

The institute has 406 students and a program for high-school dancers training for professional dance careers. The training program was established in 2005 by Ms. Carothers-Aromaa and another former Joffrey dancer, Glen Edgerton.

Read this Chronicle article about the growing trend toward large, anonymous gifts.

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