Although the new Festival Ballet of New York was met with mounting success, in April 1973, a fire in the company's studio destroyed sets, costumes, and musical scores, and ultimately led to the disbanding of the company. Cofton left Buffalo to teach at the San Francisco Ballet, and then to serve as the artistic director of the Maryland Ballet Company, but returned to Rochester, NY in 1978 to establish a classical company, Ballet Concordia. Before the company could get off the ground, however, Cofton suffered a heart attack at her desk in Rochester, and died on 30 November 1979.
