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NATIONAL  ENDOWMENT  FOR  THE  ARTS 

by  Dance/USA 

Robert  Yesselman,  editor 


Partnerships  at  Work  in  Dance  On  Tour 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

LYRASIS  Members  and  Sloan  Foundation 


http://archive.org/details/movingaroundpartOObroo 


IVIOVIISTG  AROUND 

PARTNERSHIPS  AT  WORK: 
IN  DANCE  ON  TOUR 


Published  for  the 

NATIONAL  ENDOWMENT  FOR  THE  ARTS 

by  Dance/USA 


Editor 

Robert  Yesselman 

Contributing  Editors 

Bonnie  Brooks 
Ed  Dickey 
Sali  Ann  Kriegsman 
David  Low 
Lenwood  Sloan 
Andrea  Snyder 

Contributing  Writers 

David  Gere 
Elizabeth  Zimmer 

Sally  Brayley  Bliss 
Bonnie  Brooks 
Arthur  Mitchell 

Cover  Design 

Hasten  Design  Studio,  Inc. 

F*roduction  Coordinator 

Kellie  Harris 


©  1993  by  Dance/USA.    All  rights  reserved. 
Printed  on  recycled  paper. 


Published  for  the  National  Endowment  for  the 
Arts  by  Dance/USA,  the  national  service  organi- 
zation for  nonprofit,  professional  dance. 

The  National  Endowment  for  the  Arts  is  an  inde- 
pendent agency  of  the  Federal  government  created 
by  Congress  to  encourage  and  support  American 
art  and  artists.  The  Arts  Endowment  supports 
arts  activities  of  merit,  promotes  the  overall  finan- 
cial stability  of  American  arts  organizations  and 
makes  the  arts  available  to  wider,  more  informed 
audiences.  It  fulfills  its  mission  by  awarding 
grants  and  through  its  leadership  and  advocacy 
activities. 

For  more  information  about  this  publication  or 
Dance  On  Tour,  contact  the  Presenting  and  Com- 
missioning Program  of  the  National  Endowment 
for  the  Arts,  Nancy  Hanks  Center,  Room  726,  1100 
Pennsylvania  Avenue,  NW,  Washington,  DC 
20506,  telephone:  202/682-5444;  FAX:  202/682- 
5612;  voice/TTD:  202/682-5496. 

Cover:  Illustration  from  a  photograph  by  Bruce 
Laurance  of  Ballet  Hispanico  of  New  York. 

Top  Photo:  Lynn  Aaron  and  leffrey  Neeck  of  Feld 
Ballets/NY  in  Shadozv's  Breath,  choreography  by 
Eliot  Feld.  Photo  copyright  1989  by  Lois 
Greenfield. 

Bottom  Photo:  Topeka  Center  for  the  Arts,  Topeka, 
KS.  Photo:  Gary  Becker. 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS 


Introduction  : 

Dancing  and  Touring 

by  Sally  Braylei/  Bliss  and  Arthur  Mitchell  7 

Dance  On  Tour  9 

Profiles  z 

At  the  center  of  this — the  love  oe  beauty. 

Feld  Ballets/NY  in  Wisconsin  13 

IS  THERE  ANY  WAY  WE  CAN  GET  THEM  TO  STAY  LONGER? 

Eugene  Ballet  Company  in  New  Mexico  15 

People  walked  out  with  tears  in  their  eyes. 

David  Rousseve/Reality  in  Chicago,  Illinois  18 

We  were  zealots.     We  were  est  a  hurry  because 

we  were  so  terrified  of  losing  people. 

A  Tribute  to  Tap  in  Boulder,  Colorado  20 

The  project  was  a  catalyst  for  collaborations  . 

Cleo  Parker  Robinson  Dance  Ensemble,  Mark  Dendy  and  Dendy  Dance  in  North  Carolina  22 

Every  kid  needs  someone  to  look:  up  to. 

Urban  Bush  Women  in  Austin,  Texas  24 

We've  come  to  take  seriously  our  responsibility 
to  give  something  back  to  artists. 

Trisha  Brown  Company  in  Burlington,  Vermont  26 


Just  luce  there  are  200,000  "Nutcrackers" 

nsr  the  world,  there  should  be  200,000  "Rainbows." 

Dayton  Contemporary  Dance  Company  in  North  Carolina  29 

We  over-scheduled  the  lady.  She  could  not 

have  given  more  of  herself. 

Lewitzky  Dance  Company  in  Arizona  31 

They  don't  know  the  names  of  the  companies, 
butt  now  they  ask  for  modern  dance. 

Garth  Fagan  Dance  in  Kansas  34 

There's  a  discipline  that  carries  over  to 
other  things. 

Ballet  Hispanico  of  New  York  in  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania  36 

I   REALLY   THINK,    IN   MY    HEART   OF   HEARTS,    THAT 
PARTICIPATION   IS   WHERE  PEOPLE  LEARN   MOST. 

Liz  Lerman/Dance  Exchange  in  Farmington,  Maine  38 

Afterword 

by  Bonnie  Brooks  40 

The  INTuivibers:  Distribution  of  I>ance 

On  Tour  Projects 

The  impact  of  Dance  On  Tour  activities  nationwide  42 

Contact  List:    State  and  Regional 

Arts  Organizations  44 

acknowledgeivients  46 


MOVING 


DANCING  AND  TOURING 


by  Sally  Brayley  Bliss  and  Arthur  Mitchell, 
Members,  National  Council  on  the  Arts 

Performing  and  touring  are  the  lifeblood  of  dance.  For  the  public  to  expe- 
rience the  range  and  vitality  of  the  art  form,  live  dance  performance  is  es- 
sential. We  can't  turn  on  the  radio  or  television  to  a  dance  station  or  borrow 
a  shelf  of  dance  classics  from  most  local  libraries.  Even  the  best  dance  films 
and  television  programs  are  no  substitute  for  the  live  experience.  Dance  On 
Tour  is  a  living  lending  library  of  dance. 

The  universality  of  dance  and  the  brilliance  of  our  dance  artists  and  forms 
have  given  American  dance  unmatched  prominence.  No  other  country  sur- 
passes us  in  the  excellence,  vitality  and  range  of  our  dance — we  produce  nothing 
better.  Dance  is  among  this  country's  most  successful  exports;  indeed,  the  work 
of  our  dance  artists  is  often  better  known  abroad  than  at  home.  This  is  ironic, 
since  dance  in  this  country  has  been  an  extraordinarily  fertile  art:  the  devel- 
opment of  the  art  form,  the  creation  of  new  works,  and  the  variety  of  forms, 
styles  and  traditions  that  make  up  the  American  dance  landscape  have  no 
parallel.  Touring  dance  is  a  moving  canvas,  a  record  and  history  of  our  time 
enlivened  by  the  engagement  of  artists  with  audiences  and  communities. 

While  touring  in  the  United  States  has  been  the  economic  lifeblood  of  most 
dance  companies,  it  is  fraught  with  risk.  Some  things  have  improved  in  the 
decades  since  pioneer  dancers — Anna  Pavlova,  Isadora  Duncan,  Ruth  St.  Denis, 
Ted  Shawn  and  Katherine  Dunham — crisscrossed  this  land  on  America's  rail- 
roads to  bring  an  appreciation  for  dance  to  millions.  In  those  days  dancers 
encountered  ignorance  and  prejudice  and  were  exhausted  from  grueling  tour 
schedules  and  uncertain  pay  days.  By  and  large,  theaters  were  filthy  and  floors 
unsuitable  for  dancing,  leading  to  frequent  and  serious  injuries  that  had  no 
time  to  heal.  The  most  pleasurable  stops  were  those  hosted  by  enlightened 
and  excited  presenters.  If  there  was  time,  the  dancers  taught,  lectured  and 
educated. 

Though  conditions  have  improved  dramatically  in  many  ways,  dance  tour- 
ing today  has  similarities  to  that  of  touring  in  the  days  of  the  pioneers.  Al- 
though many  companies  must  tour  to  exist,  they  cannot  generate  sufficient 
income  to  support  the  essential  rehearsal  and  creative  periods  necessary  to 
mount  a  tour.  Due  to  rising  costs,  many  companies  now  lose  money  tour- 
ing. And  today,  they  are  expected  to  do  much  more  than  perform  and  move 
on  to  the  next  stop. 

The  touring  marketplace  itself  is  shrinking  as  the  effects  of  the  difficult 
economic  climate  take  their  toll  on  presenters'  abilities  to  sell  the  tickets  and 
raise  the  additional  funds  necessary  to  support  dance  presentation.    Selling 


tickets  has  become  more  difficult  as  competition  for  diminishing  leisure  time 
activities  increases.  And  the  erosion  of  arts  education  in  our  schools  has  not 
prepared  the  upcoming  generation  to  appreciate  the  glories  of  live  dance  per- 
formance. All  these  factors  leave  presenters  as  much  at  financial  risk  as  art- 
ists. 

The  dozen  profiles  that  follow  illustrate  the  exciting  varieties  and  possibilities 
for  artists  and  communities  that  have  been  helped  through  the  Arts 
Endowment's  Dance  On  Tour  program.  Some  artists  crave  unfettered. time 
in  a  theater  to  create  and  rehearse  work  to  be  presented  later,  as  in  the  Trisha 
Brown  Company  profile.  The  Liz  Lerman/Dance  Exchange  and  Urban  Bush 
Women  profiles  illustrate  interplay  with  the  community  and  with  non-tradi- 
tional settings  involving  populations  at  risk — children,  the  incarcerated, 
caregivers,  the  aged  and  infirm — engaged  in  dance  processes  that  are  life- 
affirming  and  often  healing.  Local  artists,  often  experiencing  a  sense  of  iso- 
lation in  their  communities,  are  given  opportunities  to  study  and  perform  with 
fellow  artists  from  other  communities,  sharing  ideas  and  exploring  new  av- 
enues for  artistic  growth  as  in  the  Mark  Dendy  profile.  We  see  through  all 
these  stories  that  there  is  no  end  of  possibilities  for  artists,  presenters  and 
communities  to  engage  with  each  other  in  ways  that  nourish  and  stimulate 
creativity. 

All  this  takes  wise  planning,  responsive  management,  an  entrepreneurial  spirit 
and  the  resources  equal  to  the  real  costs  involved.  That  is  why  subsidy  is 
imperative. 

The  National  Endowment  for  the  Arts  recognized  long  ago  that  federal  subsidy 
was  needed  to  bring  the  best  dance  of  all  kinds  to  people  living  in  all  parts 
of  the  country.  The  profiles  in  this  book  attest  to  the  creativity  and  energy 
and  innovation  that  have  made  our  dance  artists  and  companies  the  envy  of 
the  world.  Through  Dance  On  Tour,  the  art  and  artists  are  "moving  around," 
engaging  Americans  in  all  walks  of  life  and  in  many  different  ways. 

The  twelve  projects  you  read  about  here  only  hint  at  the  almost  limitless 
possibilities  when  creative  artists  and  equally  creative  presenters  have  the 
resources  available  to  engage,  to  enlighten  and  to  inspire  communities. 


DANCE  ON  TOUR 


Almost  from  its  inception,  the  Arts  Endowment  has  supported  dance  tour- 
ing by  direct  support  to  dance  artists/companies  and  by  nurturing  the  part- 
nerships between  dance  artists/companies,  presenters,  communities  and  state 
and,  later,  regional  funding  agencies.  For  over  a  dozen  years,  the  Dance  Tour- 
ing Program  (DTP)  and  its  predecessor  programs  fueled  unprecedented  growth 
in  the  number  of  touring  dance  companies  and  the  breadth  of  public  access 
to  dance  nationwide.  By  1981,  however,  the  Arts  Endowment's  budget  growth 
had  slowed  greatly;  funding  for  DTP  could  no  longer  keep  pace  with  demand 
and  rising  costs.  By  1987,  attempts  at  finding  new  ways  to  support  the  vital 
partnerships  necessary  to  bring  dance  to  communities  throughout  the  nation 
had  resulted  in  a  patchwork  of  various  state  and  regional  programs  that  left 
the  partners  confused  and  discouraged. 

In  1987,  Dance/USA  convened  a  special  Task  Force  in  Houston  that  helped 
identify  components  of  a  more  consistent  national  approach  to  support  for 
dance  touring.  Between  October  1987  and  March  1990,  choreographers,  dancers 
and  representatives  from  dance  companies,  arts  presenters,  arts  service  or- 
ganizations, the  state  arts  agencies,  the  regional  arts  agencies  and  the  Arts 
Endowment  conducted  more  than  thirty  planning  meetings  across  the  coun- 
try. As  a  result  of  these  consultations,  Dance  On  Tour  was  developed  to  co- 
ordinate more  effectively  public  support  for  dance  presenting  and  touring. 

The  purpose  of  Dance  On  Tour  is  to  strengthen  dance  and  dance  audiences 
in  America  by  bringing  exemplary  dance  to  audiences  around  the  country  in 
ways  that  are  responsive  to  dance  companies,  presenters  and  communities. 

Dance  On  Tour  is  a  cooperative  effort  of  the  Endowment's  Presenting  and 
Commissioning,  Dance,  and  State  and  Regional  Programs.  It  is  administered 
by  the  Presenting  and  Commissioning  Program.  The  category  has  two  com- 
ponents: 

•  a  state  component  to  assist  projects  designed  by  state 
arts  agencies  (see  Contacts,  page  44)  to  strengthen 
the  presentation  of  outstanding  out-of-state  dance  art- 
ists/companies, and 

•  a  regional  component,  facilitated  by  the  six  regional 
arts  organizations  (see  Contacts,  page  45),  to  assist 
the  regional  arts  organizations'  support  for  engage- 
ments by  exemplary  dance  artists/companies. 

The  state  component  of  Dance  On  Tour  is  available  to  all  state  arts  agen- 
cies (applying  directly  to  the  Arts  Endowment)  on  a  competitive  basis  for 
projects  that  address  specific  issues  in  the  presentation  of  quality  out-of-state 
dance  artists/companies.    This  component  is  intended  to  foster  long-term 


development  of  dance  presenting  in  a  given  state.  It  is  hoped  that  future  dance 
activity  can  be  nurtured  through  collaborative  planning  of  tours  by  the  state 
arts  agencies,  presenters,  dance  artists  and  local  communities.  The  program 
encourages  dance  companies  to  design  such  projects.  These  projects  are 
expected  to  complement,  not  duplicate,  support  through  the  regional  com- 
ponent. 

The  regional  component  assists  the  six  mainland  regional  arts  organizations 
to  support  in-region  touring  of  exemplary  dance  artists/companies.  Presenters 
apply  to  their  regional  arts  organizations  for  fee  support  for  primarily  multi- 
day  engagements  by  exemplary  out-of-state  touring  dance  companies.  All  six 
regions  have  a  common  deadline,  use  the  same  guidelines  and  application  forms 
and  assemble  panels  using  a  mix  of  in-region  and  out-of-region  presenters 
and  dance  artists.  Presenters  and  dance  artists/companies  are  encouraged 
to  work  together  to  develop  effective  systems  for  fee  support. 

Dance  On  Tour's  dance,  presenting  and  funding  partners  envisioned  a  pro- 
gram that  would  help  outstanding  dance  artists/companies  tour  regularly  and 
reliably  across  the  United  States.  This  two  part  structure  of  state  and  regional 
support  brings  a  national  framework  and  consistency  to  funding  for  dance 
touring.    With  Dance  On  Tour: 

•  dance  companies  can  reach  audiences  in  a  wide  range 
of  communities,  performing  current  repertory,  teach- 
ing and  cultivating  fresh  expressions  and  experiences 
of  dance; 

•  the  work  of  a  broad  spectrum  of  outstanding  dance 
artists  exemplifying  the  country's  rich  diversity  of 
cultural  and  aesthetic  traditions  can  be  seen  across 
the  country; 

•  extended  dance  engagements  can  be  planned,  provid- 
ing more  meaningful  community  involvement,  less 
exhausting  travel  schedules  and  better  performance 
environments  for  artists;  and 

•  presenters  of  various  sizes  and  cultural  perspectives 
in  all  parts  of  the  country  can  enhance  their  capac- 
ity to  present  dance  effectively. 

It  is  hoped  that  Dance  On  Tour  can  leverage  new  funds  from  both  the  public 
and  private  sectors,  building  a  strong,  diversified  economic  infrastructure  for 
dance  touring. 


10 


Dance  On  Tour  is  a  collaboration  made  dynamic  by  the  artists  it  supports, 
the  communities  in  which  they  perform  and  the  presenting  organizations  that 
invest  in  its  success.  In  the  last  two  years,  the  state  component  of  Dance  On 
Tour  assisted  25  development  projects  in  18  states  involving  20  different  dance 
artists/companies.  In  the  regional  component,  fee  support  for  the  1992-93 
season  was  awarded  to  230  presenters  across  the  country  making  possible  over 
400  engagements.  The  dozen  examples  of  Dance  On  Tour's  success  described 
here  have  one  major  element  in  common:  all  speak  to  the  positive  impact  of 
close  partnership  among  dance  artists,  presenters  and  funders.  All  have 
advanced  the  goal  of  engaging  communities  across  America  with  the  nation's 
finest  dance  artists. 


11 


MOVING 


"AT  THE  CENTER  OF  THIS 

IE  LOVE  OF  BEAUTY." 


// 


WHO 

Feld  Ballets/NY 

Wisconsin 
Arts  Board 

Various  Presenters 


WHAT 

3  '/2-week  Statewide 
Residency 

WHEN 

September,  1991 

WHERE 

Various  Sites, 
Wisconsin 

DOT  Funds 

$30,000 

(state  component) 

$44,000 

(regional  component) 


Everybody  has  this  sort  of  meaning- 
ful conversation  about  outreach  and 
multiculturism,  which  are  buzzwords 
that  we  hold  very  deeply.  But  to  my 
mind  there  is  only  one  thing  at  the 
center  of  this — the  love  of  beauty."  No 
one  can  accuse  Wisconsin's  Philip 
Procter  of  sponsoring  the  state's  Dance 
On  Tour  (DOT)  project  with  choreog- 
rapher Eliot  Feld  for  the  wrong  reasons. 
To  hear  the  presenter  tell  it,  this  was 
a  burning  case  of  art  for  art's  sake. 

"Yes,  there  was  just  this  manic  love 
for  his  work  that  was  the  energy  that 
got  the  project  going,"  continues 
Philip  Procter,  executive  director  of 
Milwaukee's  Pabst  Theater,  which 
served  as  fiscal  agent  for  the  Feld 
Ballets/NY  three-and-a-half-week  resi- 
dency. "I  think  in  any  project  there's 
a  crazy  point  where  somebody  just 
says,  T  want  to  do  this,'  and  that's  it. 
The  planning,  plotting  and  fundraising 
can  be  figured  out  once  that  first  dy- 
namic energy,  that  first  idea,  is  in 
place." 

Procter's  commitment  to  Feld's  work 
dates  back  to  the  late  1970s  when  he 
caught  his  first  full  evening  of  the 
New  York  choreographer's  ballets  at 
Royce  Hall  in  Los  Angeles.  "The 
minute  I  saw  the  first  dance,  I  knew 
exactly  what  this  was  about,"  says 
Procter.  "I  felt  the  same  the  first  time 
I  saw  Judith  Jamison  step  onstage  with 
the  Ailey  company.  What  can  you  say? 
I  just  knew  this  was  a  company  I 
would  never  forget." 

Some  15  years  later,  Procter  dreamed 
of  bringing  the  Feld  company  to  the 
Pabst,  but  the  20-member  company  was 


too  expensive.  So  he  began  searching 
for  other  presenters  to  help  foot  the 
bill.  Hearing  of  his  dilemma,  Gretchen 
Thomson,  then  community  arts  devel- 
opment coordinator  of  the  Wisconsin 
Arts  Board,  suggested  Dance  On  Tour 
as  a  possible  source  of  funding.  To- 
gether with  Procter  and  Feld  Ballets' 
booking  manager  Eugene  Lowery, 
Thomson  proposed  a  statewide  col- 
laborative venture  in  which  some  ten 
presenting  organizations  in  eight  cit- 
ies would  share  costs — with  contribu- 
tions ranging  from  $4,500  for  a  perfor- 
mance and  one  outreach  activity  in  the 
small  town  of  Oshkosh,  to  $20,000  for 
two  performances  and  three  outreach 
activities  in  a  large  hall  in  Madison. 
Ultimately,  the  remainder  was  covered 
through  a  $30,000  grant  from  DOT,  a 
$44,000  regional  DOT  grant  from  Arts 
Midwest,  a  matching  grant  from  the 
Wisconsin  Arts  Board,  and  sizeable  con- 
tributions from  a  number  of  corporations 
including  $55,000  from  Wisconsin  Bell,  the 
designated  "statewide  sponsor." 

"It  was  certainly  a  bigger  price  tag 
than  we  had  ever  met  before,"  says 
Thomson,  who  believes  the  project 
would  have  folded  without  the  Dance 
On  Tour  seed  money.  "There  were 
probably  not  more  than  one  or  two 
presenters  in  the  state  who  could  af- 
ford this  company  as  a  single  event. 
Even  with  block-booking,  I  don't  think 
we  could  have  come  up  with  aggre- 
gate funds  to  have  done  this." 

The  resultant  residency  featured  an 
assortment  of  outreach  activities,  from 
workshops  with  professional  dancers 
in  Milwaukee  to  lecture-demonstra- 


13 


Feld  Ballets/NY 

Wisconsin 
Arts  Board 

Various  Presenters 


tions  for  the  children  of  Eau  Claire. 
Feld  is  well-known  for  his  school  pro- 
grams in  New  York  City,  and  the 
Milwaukee  Ballet  School  took  advan- 
tage of  his  presence  to  discuss  the 
possibility  of  replicating  that  program 
in  Wisconsin. 

But,  like  Procter,  audiences  seemed 
most  energized  by  the  troupe's 
evening  performances  where  Feld's 
distinctive  vision  of  contemporary 
American  ballet  was  on  display.  In 
particular,  the  world  premiere  of 
Endsong,  considered  by  many  critics  to 
be  Feld's  finest  work  to  date,  consti- 
tuted its  own  kind  of  outreach,  sug- 
gests Procter.  "I  would  love  to  bring 
people  to  the  art,  and  not  always  feel 
that  we  have  to  bring  it  and  drop  it 
in  their  laps,"  he  says.  "I  want  to  see 
them  energized  to  put  in  the  effort  to 
go  and  see  it.  It  is  one  of  my  biggest 
problems  with  school  programs,  put- 
ting them  passively  on  the  bus  or 
bringing  the  artists  to  school,  where 
they're  captive.  I'd  like  them  to  seek 
art  out." 

For  that  reason,  Procter  hopes  that 
the  presenting  program  will  expand  to 
allow  more  performances  in  far-flung 
locales  around  Wisconsin,  so  that  more 
citizens  of  the  state  can  experience 
professional  dance  firsthand.  Thomson 
reports  that  13  communities  are  par- 
ticipating in  Wisconsin's  1992-93 


Lynn  Aaron  of  Feld  Ballets/NY  in  Endsong.  Choreog- 
raphy: Eliot  Feld;  Photo:  Lois  Greenfield. 

Dance  On  Tour  with  the  David  Par- 
sons Dance  Company,  and  another  16 
have  expressed  interest  in  the  follow- 
ing year's  DOT  tour  by  Ballet 
Hispanico  of  New  York. 

"Hopefully  presenters  in  other  cit- 
ies will  see  the  possibility  of  doing 
something  more  than  one  dance  com- 
pany a  year,"  says  Procter.  "Maybe 
they'll  do  two,  three  or  four  compa- 
nies, so  that  their  audiences  can  see 
dance  on  a  regular  basis  and  fall  in 
love  with  it."  Just  like  Procter  did 
with  Feld. 

— David  Gere 


.  .?-'' 


14 


13r*Wfc, 


*»* 


,.-** 


i~£&&+*Bzr*  *-***Bems;fc  '•"* 


"IS  THERE  ANY  WAY  WE   CAN 

:X  THEM  TO  STAY  LONGER?" 


WHO 

Eugene  Ballet 
Company 

New  Mexico 
Arts  Division 

Various  Presenters 

WHAT 

Performance/ 
Outreach  Residency 

WHEN 

March-April,  1992 

WHERE 

Various  sites, 
New  Mexico 

DOT  Funds 

$25,000 


New  Mexico  is  a  big  state  with  a 
small  population;  finding  ways  to 
develop  successful  dance  residencies 
which  draw  substantial  audiences 
takes  ingenuity.  Fortunately,  New 
Mexico  had  Ian  Rosenkranz  and  Beth 
Bradley  as  project  consultants  for  the 
21-day  statewide  Dance  On  Tour 
(DOT)  residency  with  a  total  cost  of 
$66,228.  It  was  equally  fortunate  in 
drawing  artistic  director  Toni  Pimble, 
executive  director  Riley  Grannan  and 
their  Eugene  Ballet  Company  from 
Oregon  for  the  1992  residency.  The 
company  spent  time  in  four  primary 
sites — Farmington,  Taos,  Raton  and 
Silver  City — as  well  as  visiting  satel- 
lite locations  such  as  Albuquerque, 
Santa  Fe  and  a  Navajo  community  to 
provide  special  services. 

The  residency  was  designed  to  pro- 
vide professional  development  and 
technical  assistance  for  small  and  less 
experienced  presenters  in  order  to 
develop  a  wider  network  of  present- 
ers committed  to  presenting  dance.  In 
this  way,  the  art  form  can  continue  to 
tour  New  Mexico.  Rosenkranz  and 
Bradley  led  a  team  of  more  than  25 
people  in  participating  communities 
with  whom  they  communicated  regu- 
larly; these  people  in  turn  had  respon- 
sibilities in  the  local  communities, 
working  with  schools,  senior  centers 
and  other  groups,  said  Rosenkranz. 
"When  we  first  visited  [each  poten- 
tial site],  we  targeted  everyone  who 
might  remotely  have  some  interest  in 
dance.  First  Beth  and  I  asked  ques- 
tions: 'Do  you  have  a  group  of  differ- 
ently-abled  adults?  Den  mothers? 


Cheerleaders?  Drill  team?'  These 
people  were  called  to  meetings;  they 
had  no  idea  why.  We'd  show  them 
videos,  explain  what  services  a  dance 
company  could  provide  in  their  com- 
munity." 

On  the  second  visit,  the  residency 
design  team  planned  specific  activities. 
They  brought  along  Grannan,  a  gifted 
dance  teacher  in  his  own  right.  Brad- 
ley, herself  a  former  dancer,  brought 
to  the  planning  process  her  under- 
standing of  what  the  company  could 
conceivably  accomplish  in  a  single 
day. 

The  residency  design  team  struc- 
tured the  dancers'  time,  dividing  the 
company  into  small  platoons  so  more 
territory  could  be  covered  simulta- 
neously. A  community  volunteer  trav- 
eled with  each  small  group.  When  they 
weren't  teaching  or  performing,  they 
were  on  the  road;  Easter  Day  was 
spent  covering  the  216  miles  from  Taos 
to  Farmington;  the  following  Sunday 
they  drove  378  miles  from  Farmington 
to  Silver  City. 

The  visiting  performers  gave  gener- 
ously of  their  time  and  energy,  and  left 
feeling  that  they,  too,  had  been  edu- 
cated. 

New  Mexico  is  a  place  people  are 
curious  about  and  eager  to  visit.  "That 
factor  means  a  company  can  enjoy 
their  time  here  even  though  we  work 
them  to  the  bone,"  laughs  Rosenkranz. 

The  Eugene  Ballet  performed  Chil- 
dren of  the  Raven,  a  signature  piece  in 
their  repertory.  The  dance  is  based  on 
legends  of  people  native  to  the  Pacific 
Northwest  coast.  Among  the  residency 


15 


Eugene  Ballet 
Company 

New  Mexico 
Arts  Division 

Various  Presenters 


sites  were  several  Native  American 
communities.  The  Eugene  contingent 
included  a  Native  American  storyteller 
who  shared  his  knowledge,  most  of  it 
completely  unfamiliar  to  the  New 
Mexicans,  at  workshops  in  schools  and 
communities.  But  when  they  contacted 
the  Navajo  Teen  Life  Center,  their  li- 
aison said  she  really  wanted  to  explore 
classical  and  contemporary  works. 
"The  kids  out  there,"  says  Rosenkranz, 
"have  no  exposure  to  classical  and 
contemporary  forms." 

The  New  Mexico  project  allowed 
Eugene  Ballet  members  to  interact 
with  people  from  other  cultures.  Ev- 
eryone in  a  given  town  knew  they 
were  there.  "We  had  over  110  activi- 
ties going  on,  serving  over  16,000  per- 
sons; in  rural  New  Mexico,  that's  a 
lot,"  observes  Rosenkranz,  who's 
based  in  Ojo  de  la  Bacca,  outside  of 
Santa  Fe.  "The  largest  community  has 
22,000  people." 

In  addition  to  the  four  full  company 
performances,  the  company  offered 
lecture-demonstrations  in  schools, 
stretch  classes  for  athletes  and  for 
senior  citizens,  consultations  with  high 
school  drill  teams,  movement-for-ac- 
tors  classes  to  choral  societies  and  a 
talk  about  career  options  in  dance, 
other  than  performing,  at  the  Navajo 
high  school.  "We  scheduled  open  fo- 
rums with  the  dancers  to  talk  about 
careers  in  the  arts,"  says  Rosenkranz. 
"The  kids  have  no  exposure  to  that, 
don't  realize  that  for  every  performer, 
there  are  20  people  behind  the  scenes." 

Among  other  things,  they  offered 
partnering  classes  to  the  Buen  Viaje 


Dancers,  an  ensemble  of  eight  learn- 
ing-disabled adults,  some  with 
Down's  syndrome,  some  with  cerebral 
palsy,  "and  one,"  commented  Grannan, 
"who's  merely  blind.  They're  able  to 
do  disarmingly  simple  work.  You 
have  to  get  down  to  dance's  very 
fundamental  thing,  use  it  as  a  means 
of  communicating  simple  messages. 
Their  concerns  have  to  do  with  basic 
feelings:  how  people  treat  one  an- 
other." The  director  of  Buen  Viaje 
spent  hours  with  Grannan,  teaching 
him  how  to  work  with  these  very  spe- 
cial performers. 

The  greatest  satisfaction  for 
Rosenkranz  came  from  the  trans- 
formed attitudes  of  the  presenters 
with  whom  he  worked.  At  early  meet- 
ings, the  standard  question  from  pre- 
senters and  community  members  alike 
was  "What  are  we  going  to  do  with 
a  dance  company  for  five  days?"  Once 
the  residency  was  in  progress,  how- 
ever, the  cry  changed  to  "Is  there  any 
way  we  can  get  them  to  stay  longer?" 
"That's  how  we  judge  our  success," 
notes  Rosenkranz,  who  is  revving  up 
to  tour  Dayton  Contemporary  Dance 
Company,  an  African-American  com- 
pany, in  the  next  DOT  cycle.  "It 
means  the  presenter  doesn't  have  to 
re-invent  the  wheel.  In  all  four  com- 
munities, we're  using  Dance  On  Tour 
as  a  model,  showing  presenters  that 
there's  a  hunger  for  arts  activities. 
Everyone  is  convinced  that  extended 
residencies  are  the  way  to  go.  Present- 
ers can  now  bring  in  artists  from  any 
medium  and  plug  them  into  our  net- 
work. In  Raton,  a  small  coal  mining 


-.-*•> 


.-  *•« 


16 


'V&m* 


'  U2S^**St!^***r*a!!mtr,''' 


ppiMf  jjkwpa.  m **^E$^!%ilj&mm%&8^  M8Bjsnww«j»  «apj»«s  ^-^r!**^-- 


Eugene  Ballet 
Company 

New  Mexico 
Arts  Division 

Various  Presenters 


community,  they  do  a  series  with  sev- 
eral different  artists  each  year.  The 
DOT  project  was  their  first  attempt  at 
a  multi-day  residency  with  a  large 
dance  company.  In  the  coming  year, 
the  presenter  intends  to  bring  every 
artist  in  their  series  into  the  commu- 
nity for  an  extended  residency.  In 
Farmington,  they've  started  a  children's 
series,  so  that  over  the  course  of  the 
year,  every  student  will  have  some 
form  of  exposure  to  the  performing 
arts — a  direct  result  of  the  DOT 
project.  It's  been  an  organic  process; 
we're  pushing  it  and  it's  pulling  us. 
We  were  able  to  bring  DOT  into  the 
day  school  at  the  Taos  Pueblo,  and 
bring  the  kids  down  to  the  city  audi- 
torium. It  sounds  like  a  simple  pro- 
cess, but  it's  not." 

Rosenkranz  continues,  "You  find  the 
dance  company  on  the  front  page  of 
the  small  town  newspaper,  a  ballerina 
demonstrating  stretch  to  a  football 
player.  It  shows  these  folks  that  art- 
ists are  people.  And  then  there  are  the 


Mark  Lia  of  Eugene  Ballet  in  Children  of  the  Raven. 
Choreography:  Toni  Pimble;  Photo:  Clitf  Coles 

professional  skills  the  presenters  are 
getting,  writing  WESTAF  [Western 
State  Arts  Federation]  and  state  arts 
council  grants.  Now  they  want  to 
write  Meet  the  Composer  Grants  and 
commission  new  pieces.  We  think 
that's  light  years  of  progress." 


— Elizabeth  Zimmer 


17 


"PEOPLE  WALKED  OUT  WITH 

TEARS  IN  THEIR  EYES." 


WHO 

David  Rousseve/Reality 

Arts  Midwest 

Dance  Center  of 
Columbia  College 
Chicago 

WHEAT 

Performance/ 
Outreach  Residency 

WHEN 

September,  1992 

WHERE 

Various  sites, 
Chicago,  Illinois 

DOT  Funds 

$10,960 


Audiences  in  Chicago,  says  Woodie 
White,  "are  among  the  most  diverse  in 
the  country — African-Americans,  Asian 
Americans  and  Latinos.  David  Rousseve 
was  able  to  spend  a  significant  amount 
of  time  reaching  out  to  these  and  other 
communities.  He  relates  to  people  in  an 
honest  manner.  His  work  addresses  im- 
portant themes  in  our  society,  in  aston- 
ishing ways." 

White  is  the  executive  director  at  the 
Dance  Center  of  Columbia  College  Chi- 
cago; David  Rousseve  is  the  choreogra- 
pher/writer and  central  performer  of  Ur- 
ban Scenes/Creole  Dreams,  a  dance-theater 
project  he  had  been  developing  for  sev- 
eral years  and  completed  during  his  four- 
week  Dance  On  Tour  (DOT)  residency  in 
Chicago.  The  work  explores  the  many 
ways  people  intimidate  and  oppress  one 
another — racially,  economically  and  in 
terms  of  gender  and  sexual  orientation. 
In  the  course  of  the  piece,  several  of  the 
male  dancers  bare  their  bodies  as  well  as 
their  souls.  The  project  premiered  at  two 
well-attended  performances  at  the  recently 
renovated  Blackstone  Theater. 

An  openly  gay  African-American  artist, 
native  to  Houston  with  Creole  roots, 
Rousseve  thrived  in  Chicago.  Collaborat- 
ing with  White,  Shirley  Mordine  (artistic 
director  at  the  Dance  Center),  and  Susan 
Lipman  (executive  director  of  Performing 
Arts  Chicago),  Rousseve  was  able,  he 
said,  to  reach  out  to  a  vast  and  various 
group  of  people.  "They  really  listened  to 
what  we  were  telling  them  about  the  piece 
and  how  it  should  be  marketed — that  its 
issues  are  political  as  well  as  spiritual." 

Sue  Latham,  Rousseve's  producer  in 
New  York,  did  the  planning  in  tight  com- 


munication with  Chicago.  Julie  Simpson, 
a  Chicago  manager,  was  put  in  charge  of 
day-to-day  operations.  Woodie  White 
made  extraordinary  efforts  to  build  un- 
derstanding of  the  potentially  controver- 
sial piece  and  to  build  audiences.  He  ar- 
ranged outreach  events  at  the  Harold 
Washington  Library  in  Chicago's  inner 
city,  at  a  gay  community  center  and  at 
various  churches.  Master  classes  were 
held  in  the  community.  One  of  Rousseve's 
dancers,  Aziza,  taught  a  combination  of 
hip-hop  and  modern  dance  technique 
three  days  a  week  for  four  weeks,  to  high- 
school-age  kids  from  public  housing  who 
wanted  to  be  there.  "Aziza  lives  in 
Harlem,"  says  Rousseve,  "and  African- 
American  pride  is  a  big  part  of  her  per- 
sonal agenda." 

He  continues,  "The  bottom  line,  artis- 
tically speaking?  The  Chicago  residency 
had  a  profound  effect  on  the  piece.  You 
can't  focus  in  your  home  town  the  way 
you  can  in  another  city.  When  you're  out- 
of-town  you  have  the  dancers'  undivided 
attention  for  four  weeks;  you  can  rehearse 
eight  hours  a  day  instead  of  two.  They 
don't  have  to  teach  or  go  to  work  as 
waitresses.  I'm  convinced  that  the  piece, 
[co-commissioned  by  the  Walker  Art  Cen- 
ter in  Minneapolis]  which  was  performed 
in  the  Next  Wave  Festival  at  the  Brook- 
lyn Academy  of  Music  in  mid-November 
would  not  have  been  such  a  success 
without  Chicago.  To  get  it  up  on  stage 
and  see  what  it  looked  like  made  a  pro- 
found difference." 

"What  at  first  appeared  as  overwhelm- 
ing," says  Rousseve,  "became,  by  the  end, 
a  great  system.  It  was  the  first  time  that 
community  outreach  became  really  ful- 


18 


David  Rousseve/Reality 

Arts  Midwest 

Dance  Center  of 
Columbia  College 
Chicago 


filling  for  us.  Audiences  knew  what  to 
expect  when  they  came.  It  even  was  more 
valuable  for  me  than  for  the  audience.  We 
decided  to  reach  out  to  church-going 
African-American  people  and  have 
'informances/  and  to  ask  them  what  they 
saw." 

It  was  the  first  time,  says  Rousseve, 
that  "any  producer  out-of-town  has  had 
the  time,  money  and  resources  to  make 
us  the  centerpiece  of  a  lot  of  different 
things.  We  recruited  six  dancers  locally; 
Woodie  took  a  lot  of  time  finding  them. 
They  had  the  ability  to  invest  a  lot  of 
time  and  energy  in  the  piece.  And  my 
dancers  were  completely  giving;  we 
kept  saying  'Can  we  do  more?  You're 
taking  us  to  an  African-American  cul- 
tural center  in  the  middle  of  the 
projects?  Great!!'  The  outreach  was  a 
pleasure  rather  than  a  chore." 

For  the  final  performances,  about 
1,000  people  a  night  filled  the  Black- 
stone  Theater:  gay,  straight,  young,  old, 
black,  white,  the  most  diverse  audience 
Rousseve  had  ever  seen  for  experimen- 
tal work.  The  presenters  arranged  a  se- 
ries discount  for  purchasers  of  tickets 
to  another  attraction,  a  performance  by 
Sweet  Honey  in  the  Rock,  one  of  whose 
members  composed  original  gospel 
music  for  Rousseve's  piece.  The  result 
was  a  crossover  audience,  "an  incred- 
ible crowd  of  people." 

Chicago  is  a  major  center  for  gospel 
music;  Susan  Lipman  recruited  the 
Faith  Tabernacle  Choir  to  perform  in 
Rousseve's  work  and  in  the  process 
attracted  hundreds  of  church-going 
African- Americans  who  had  never  be- 


Aziza  of  David  Rousseve/Reality  in  a  lecture- 
demonstration.  Photo:  Bob  Kusel 


fore  visited  the  theater.  She  speaks  of 
the  euphoria  that  the  partners  felt  in  this 
collaboration.  "David  was  willing  to 
meet  with  key  people  in  the  media.  He 
wants  something  we  want:  to  create 
artistic  work  that  has  social  content,  that 
is  not  abstract.  Chicago  remains  one  of 
the  most  segregated  cities  in  the  United 
States.  He  was  able  to  bring  together 
white  audiences  and  black  audiences, 
and  make  both  of  them  stretch.  You're 
talking  about  church  as  source;  it's  very 
difficult  to  go  to  that  audience  and 
introduce  them  to  nudity.  It  was  ex- 
tremely subtle.  Nothing  was  forced  on 
anyone.  We  were  all  in  agreement;  we 
all  supported  what  was  going  on. 
People  walked  out  of  that  theater  with 
tears  in  their  eyes." 

— Elizabeth  Zimmer 


-**— , 


^HMk 


..*** 


'  ■^£8a&  *t£Vj^*i*Sr*fl?!!!!&F-* 


19 


6  *WE  ^WERE  ZEALOTS.  WE  WERE  EST  A  HURRY 

BECAUSE  WE  WERE  SO  TERRIFIED  OF  LOSING  PEOPLE." 


WHO 

Colorado  Dance  Festival 

Western  States  Arts 
Federation 

WHAT 

"A  Tribute  to  Tap"  (The 
Great  Tap  Reunion) 

WHEN 

July.  1992 

WHERE 

Various  sites,  Boulder, 
Colorado 

DOT  Funds 

$22,926 


Only  a  handful  of  art  forms  can  genu- 
inely be  labeled  American.  Musical  the- 
ater is  one.  Modern  dance  is  another. 
Jazz  is  a  third. 

And  then  there's  tap  dancing,  a  meld- 
ing of  African  rhythms  and  Irish  step 
dancing  that  has,  over  the  course  of  the 
last  50  years,  gone  from  being  the  most 
popular  dance  form  in  the  land  to  becom- 
ing practically  an  endangered  species. 

Like  the  bald  eagle,  however,  tap  has 
been  experiencing  a  resurgence,  partly  on 
account  of  the  African-American  artists 
who  have  maintained  their  artistic  tradi- 
tions at  an  extremely  high  level,  and  partly 
due  to  the  efforts  of  presenters  like 
Colorado's  Marda  Kirn,  who  has  worked 
tirelessly  to  keep  the  art  form  from  dis- 
appearing— with  the  assistance  of  fund- 
ing from  Dance  On  Tour  (DOT). 

"Tap  dancing  has  never  been  as  popu- 
lar as  it  is  today,"  said  famed  tapper 
Charles  "Honi"  Coles  at  the  "Fascinating 
Rhythms"  conference  that  ran  concur- 
rently with  the  1992  Colorado  Dance 
Festival.  "It  seems  to  finally  have  been 
placed  on  a  higher  level,  with  respect.  It's 
a  good  feeling." 

Kirn,  artistic  director  of  the  Boulder- 
based  festival,  was  introduced  to  tap  in 
1982  when  she  presented  the  Los  Ange- 
les-based Jazz  Tap  Ensemble,  the  first  tap 
company  on  the  national  dance  scene.  "I 
loved  what  they  were  doing  with  rhythm. 
It  really  opened  my  ears  to  what  was 
possible,"  says  Kirn,  a  self-confessed  ballet 
"bunhead"  who,  nonetheless,  was  open 
to  forms  beyond  ballet.  So  when  Sali  Ann 
Kriegsman — a  dance  critic  and  presenter 
who  later  became  director  of  the  National 
Endowment  for  the  Arts  (NEA)  Dance 
Program — shared  with  Kirn  her  fears  that 


tap  was  "in  danger  of  being  lost  for  lack 
of  understanding,"  Kirn  jumped  into  the 
fray,  volunteering  to  present  a  Colorado 
tap  festival.  "We  were  zealots,"  says  Kirn 
with  a  laugh.  "We  were  in  a  hurry  be- 
cause we  were  so  terrified  of  losing 
people." 

For  good  reason.  That  first  year,  1986, 
the  event  featured  two  master  artists  who 
are  no  longer  with  us:  Steve  Condos,  an 
electrifying  improviser  who  died  sud- 
denly (with  his  tap  shoes  on)  in  1990,  and 
Coles,  the  granddaddy  of  modern  tap 
who  passed  on  in  late  1992.  "There  was 
tremendous  suspicion  among  the  older 
generation,  because  they  had  been  ripped- 
off  so  often  by  the  movie  industry  and 
producers,"  explains  Kirn,  who  says  she 
was  able  to  win  the  artists'  trust  largely 
because  of  Kriegsman's  hard-won  con- 
tacts. "And  there  was  professional  jeal- 
ousy, because  the  scraps  were  so  few,  and 
the  jobs  so  rare.  So  that  first  festival  in 
1986  was  really  historic." 

Historic  for  two  reasons:  not  only  were 
some  of  the  greatest  tap  dancers  of  the 
1930s,  '40s  and  '50s  present  in  the  flesh, 
including  legends  Jimmy  Slyde  and  Eddie 
Brown  in  addition  to  Condos  and  Coles, 
but  strong  evidence  was  emerging  to 
indicate  that  tap  was  adapting  and  would 
survive  into  the  next  century.  Gregory 
Hines,  the  rising  star  of  the  young  gen- 
eration, was  showcased  in  that  first  fes- 
tival, and  two  weeks  of  intensive  studio 
training  provided  a  bridge  to  the  future 
for  young  adherents  of  the  form. 

"The  thing  about  dancing  is  that  it's 
really  body  to  body,  mind  to  mind,"  says 
Kirn,  stressing  the  need  for  young  dancers 
to  learn  in  the  studio  directly  from  the 
masters.  "Right  from  the  start,  I  was 


20 


Colorado  Dance 
Festival 

Western  States 
Arts  Federation 


-  *■' 


adamant  about  including  a  training  com- 
ponent." 

That  need  was  addressed  most  directly 
in  the  1992  festival,  the  fifth  since  1986, 
which  featured  a  two-week  "tap  conser- 
vatory" designed  and  curated  by  Lynn 
Dalley  of  Los  Angeles'  Jazz  Tap  Ensemble 
and  Brenda  Bufalino  of  New  York's 
American  Tap  Dance  Orchestra.  Some 
170  dancers  from  ten  countries  partici- 
pated in  classes  taught  by  veteran  artists 
like  Cholly  Atkins  and  Eddie  Brown,  with 
supplementary  sessions  featuring  second 
and  third  generation  dancers  like 
Bufalino,  Sam  Weber  and  physical  come- 
dian Bill  Irwin.  The  training  climaxed  in 
"The  Rising  Stars  of  Tap,"  a  joyous  stu- 
dent concert  featuring  modern  interpre- 
tations of  styles  ranging  from  softshoe  to 
the  Charleston,  topped  off  by  an  impres- 
sive solo  performance  by  young  prodigy 
Baakari  Wilder.  A  Dance  On  Tour  grant 
in  the  amount  of  $22,926  was  provided 
through  the  Western  States  Arts  Federa- 
tion toward  the  total  budget  of  $191,280. 

"There  are  some  whiz  kids  coming  up 
now,"  says  Kirn,  clearly  buoyed  by  signs 
of  tap's  rebirth  as  seen  in  the  faces  and 
feet  of  these  young  students.  "Some  have 
flying  feet,  and  some,  like  Baakari,  are 
dancing  with  wisdom,  too." 

Other  highlights  of  the  1992  festival 
included  talks  and  film  showings  on  the 
history  of  tap,  with  a  notably  inspired 
lecture  by  scholar  Sally  Sommer;  nightly 
performances  featuring  greats  like  Slyde, 
accompanied  by  his  whisper-shoed  pro- 
tege Sarah  Petronio;  and  ample  opportu- 
nity for  informal  learning  in  university 
hallways  and  theater  foyers. 


■^'  '-+***,. 


Jimmy  Slyde  and  Sarah  Petronio.  Photo:  Peter 
Petronio 

History  and  practice  coincided  most 
fittingly  in  a  trio  of  "heritage"  lectures  by 
Coles,  who  also  helped  curate  the  three 
evening  concerts  and  served,  with  former 
partner  Atkins,  as  master  of  ceremonies 
at  the  final  presentation — where  he  re- 
ceived a  spontaneous  standing  ovation 
without  even  dancing  a  step.  Coles  died 
four  months  later  at  the  age  of  81,  leav- 
ing festival-goers  grateful  to  have  heard 
his  firsthand  reminiscences  about  tap's 
glory  days  and  to  have  witnessed  him 
soaking  up  the  audience's  applause  and 
adulation. 

"It's  sort  of  like  spreading  the  gospel," 
says  Kirn  of  the  ongoing  Colorado  tap 
project.  "We  have  this  amazing  Ameri- 
can treasure:  it's  here,  it's  alive  and  it's 
fragile,  but  it's  extraordinary." 


-David  Gere 


,,  -•»■- 


"--^■fc* 


■^£^S.^SSs^*j<^-«^!^^-'r 


21 


£6' 


THE  PROJECT  WA.S  A  CATALYST 

FOR.  COLLABORATIONS." 


WHO 

Cleo  Parker  Robinson 
Dance  Ensemble 

Mark  Dendy  and 
Dendy  Dance 

North  Carolina  Arts 
Council 

WHAT 

Performance/Outreach 
Residency  (Robinson) 

Performance/Outreach/ 
Creative  Residency 
(Dendy) 

WHEN 

February,  1992 
(Robinson) 

April,  1992 
(Dendy) 

WHERE 

Various  sites,  North 
Carolina 

DOT  Funds 

$25,000 


The  focus  of  the  North  Carolina  Arts 
Council's  1991-92  Dance  On  Tour  (DOT) 
Project  was  twofold:  to  create  organiza- 
tional partnerships  between  presenters 
and  community  groups,  and  provide  tech- 
nical assistance  and  support  to  less  estab- 
lished dance  presenters  (using  the  artis- 
tic and  team-building  skills  of  Cleo  Parker 
Robinson  and  her  Denver-based  Dance 
Ensemble);  and  to  provide  an  artistic 
resource  for  North  Carolina's  dance  com- 
panies (in  the  person  of  North  Carolina 
native  Mark  Dendy,  who  now  lives  in 
New  York  where  he  directs  Dendy 
Dance).  In  both  cases,  an  important  ob- 
jective was  audience  development. 

"When  I  came  to  the  North  Carolina 
Arts  Council  [as  touring  and  presenting 
director]  in  1989,"  says  Pamela  Martin 
Green,  "the  cultural  diversity  work  was 
just  getting  going.  I  decided  to  try  and 
do  something  with  a  black  dance  com- 
pany that  would  address  communities  of 
color.  A  lot  of  the  mainstream  present- 
ers were  complaining  about  not  being  able 
to  get  black  folks  in  to  see  their  perfor- 
mances. My  idea  was  to  get  the  two 
together  to  satisfy  each  other's  needs — 
to  partner  the  presenters  with  local  com- 
munity organizations  of  color. 

"We  did  the  Robinson  project  in  six 
locations — Asheville,  Winston-Salem, 
Greensboro,  Charlette,  Chapel  Hill  and 
Pembroke — in  four  weeks.  I  think  it  was 
incredible  for  the  communities,  and  very, 
very  hard  for  the  Cleo  Parker  Robinson 
Dance  Ensemble.  I  don't  know  of  another 
company  that  would  have  been  willing 
to  do  what  they  did." 

What  they  did  was  appear  in  six  com- 
munities, performing  repertory  including 


Spiritual  Suite,  a  contemporary  work  to 
gospel  music.  For  this  piece,  they  incor- 
porated local  dancers  in  each  place. 
"We'd  audition  in  each  city,  rehearse  and 
do  a  costumed  performance — all  in  four 
days,"  laughed  Robinson.  In  a  couple  of 
locales,  they  recruited  and  rehearsed  live 
gospel  choirs  as  well.  The  company  also 
offered  master  classes  and  lecture  dem- 
onstrations at  each  site. 

"We  spent  a  lot  of  our  money  on  plan- 
ning. We  brought  Cleo  in  from  Denver 
three  times  before  the  residency  actually 
took  place,"  says  Green.  "I  required  all 
the  partners  to  attend.  It  gave  a  sense  of 
unity  to  the  tour.  Everybody  got  to  know 
each  other.  The  state  arts  council  created 
a  promotional  package  to  go  along  with 
the  tour:  a  poster,  a  public  service  an- 
nouncement. We  commissioned  feature 
stories  from  a  writer  and  sent  all  the 
partners  as  much  as  they  wanted  of  that 
material.  We  also  provided  technical 
support.  If  places  didn't  have  enough 
expertise,  we  hired  freelance  lighting  and 
sound  people  to  go  in.  " 

Overall,  Green  estimates,  the  Spiritual 
Suite  project  reached  10,000  to  12,000 
people,  53%  of  them  minority,  in  the  six 
communities  involved. 

The  Robinson  project  had  its  start  at  the 
American  Dance  Festival,  where  the 
North  Carolina  presenters  were  meeting. 
Robinson  began  brainstorming  with  them 
about  what  each  community  could  offer. 
"They  were  able  to  find  out  more  about 
each  other,  and  to  network  in  ways  they 
hadn't  before,"  she  said.  "The  project  was 
a  catalyst  for  collaborations.  If  they  were 
tentative  about  the  makeup  of  their  own 
community,  they  could  get  support  from 


22 


Cleo  Parker  Robinson 
Dance  Ensemble 

Mark  Dendy  and 
Dendy  Dance 

North  Carolina  Arts 
Council 


•-.-*•' 


the  experiences  of  other  regional  present- 
ers who  had  worked  successfully  with 
local  community  groups." 

Mark  Dendy  is  a  native  of  Weaverville, 
NC,  who  has  emerged  in  New  York  as 
a  choreographer  and  company  director. 
His  work  flirts  with  outrageousness,  of- 
ten includes  nudity  and  engages  contem- 
porary social  issues  such  as  the  AIDS 
crisis.  A  graduate  of  the  North  Carolina 
School  of  the  Arts,  he  speaks  enthusias- 
tically of  his  training  and  of  the  oppor- 
tunities the  DOT  project  offered:  "It  was 
very  rewarding  to  go  back  and  work  in 
the  place  that  spawned  me."  His  con- 
nections to  the  companies  with  whom  he 
collaborated  on  the  project  go  back  a  de- 
cade or  more;  he  held  his  first  meeting 
with  a  potential  presenter  a  year  before 
the  project  officially  began.  "Quite  a  few 
of  them  were  put  off  by  my  aesthetic," 
he  muses.  "The  people  who  chose  me 
knew  me  personally  and  knew  my 
work." 

Dendy  worked  with  companies  in  Ra- 
leigh, Asheville  and  New  Bern.  On  circa 
1990,  a  Raleigh-based  dance  ensemble,  he 
set  a  new  work,  Lore,  which  had  its  pre- 
miere as  part  of  a  split  bill  shared  with 
his  own  company  at  the  North  Carolina 
State  University  and  in  Charlotte  at  Spirit 
Square.  Dendy  himself  performed  with 
circa  1990  in  Lore,  which  was  developed 
from  his  own  family's  music  and  ritu- 
als— funerals,  storytelling  and  dance.  "My 
Aunt  Jesse  was  the  focal  point  of  the 
piece,"  he  observed. 

In  Asheville,  Dendy  set  a  piece  called 
Overheard  on  Wall  Street  Dance.  He  set 
Beat,  perhaps  his  signature  work,  on 
Atlantic  Dance  Theatre  in  New  Bern.  "It's 


Mark  Dendy  in  Back  Back.  Photo  ©Lois  Greenfield 

their  favorite  piece  now,  popular  in  all 
their  outreach  work." 

He  gave  master  classes  to  different  age 
groups  at  local  high  schools,  talked  to 
them  about  modern  dance  and  challenged 
them  physically.  Between  his  DOT  en- 
gagements and  other  commitments, 
Dendy  spent  almost  27  weeks  in  North 
Carolina  during  the  residency  year,  en- 
abling a  lot  of  planning  at  very  little  cost 
to  the  program. 

Green  observes  that  the  $25,000  contri- 
bution of  DOT  to  the  $56,345  total  project 
cost  of  the  residency  helped  generate 
more  than  four  times  that  amount  for  the 
companies.  "The  ripple  effect  of  those 
funds  is  hard  to  describe.  We  really  made 
that  money  go  far,  hired  a  lot  of  artists. 
It  went  back  into  the  communities."  Both 
Dendy  and  Robinson  were  the  best  kind 
of  catalyst. 

— Elizabeth  Zimmer 


v*-*1 


t-Zdum 


z^>*£&&-m*££!37*  «y»*-¥»?5!W':-' 


23 


"EVERY  KID  NEEDS  SOMEONE 
to  look:  up  to." 


WHO 

Urban  Bush  Women 

Mid-America 
Arts  Alliance 

Center  for  Women 
&  Their  Work 

WHAT 

Performance/ 
Outreach  Residency 

WHEN 

May,  1992 

WHERE 

Various  sites, 
Austin,  Texas 

DOT  Funds 

$3,160 


When  Ric  Garcia,  the  theater  director 
at  Austin's  Johnston  High  School, 
turned  on  the  follow  spot  in  the  school's 
theater,  he  thought  he  was  preparing  for 
a  typical  schooltime  performance.  But 
within  minutes,  he  knew  that  New 
York's  Urban  Bush  Women  were  any- 
thing but  typical. 

"They  took  participants  from  the  au- 
dience and  asked  them  to  demonstrate 
the  dances  they  grew  up  with,"  recalls 
Garcia,  who  brought  up  the  houselights 
when  he  saw  the  group's  eight  members 
interacting  avidly  with  the  students  in 
the  audience.  "Some  showed  games  like 
hopscotch  or  patty-cake  while  others 
did  rap  numbers,"  says  Garcia.  "And 
after  that,  the  company  explained  how 
they  had  developed  similar  material  into 
their  own  performance." 

Sixty  minutes  later,  at  the  climax  of 
an  event  that  grew  to  feel  like  a  "revival 
meeting,"  says  Garcia,  the  capacity  au- 
dience of  360  white,  black  and  Hispanic 
students  jumped  to  their  feet  and 
cheered. 

The  idea  that  art  can  be  created  from 
personal  experience — that  it  need  not  be 
intellectually  distant  or  inapproach- 
able— is  a  central  tenet  of  Urban  Bush 
Women's  philosophy,  a  philosophy  the 
company  has  been  able  to  pass  on  all 
over  the  country  through  programs 
funded  in  part  by  Dance  On  Tour.  In 
performance  pieces  that  blend  stories, 
games,  songs  and  memories,  artistic 
director  Jawole  Willa  Jo  Zollar  ada- 
mantly affirms  her  own  African-Ameri- 
can heritage,  even  as  she  and  her  pre- 
dominantly female  company  serve  as 
role  models  for  African-American  kids. 


"They  are  very  interested  in  being  role 
models,  in  showing  kids  that  being  an 
artist  or  dancer  is  something  admirable 
and  something  to  aspire  to,"  says  Chris 
Cowden,  the  executive  director  of  the 
Center  for  Women  &  Their  Work,  the 
group's  Austin  presenter.  "That's  very 
central  to  what  they  do,  so  that  makes 
their  appearance  in  schools  a  very  good 
fit." 

And  a  good  fit  for  Women  &  Their 
Work,  too,  an  organization  whose  mis- 
sion is  to  encourage  "art  as  a  profes- 
sion"— especially  for  women. 

Cowden,  who  first  presented  Urban 
Bush  Women  in  1989,  brought  the 
group  back  as  the  centerpiece  of  "Be- 
yond Borders,"  a  series  designed  to 
showcase  a  wide  range  of  culturally 
defined  aesthetics.  Accordingly, 
Cowden  and  her  racially  diverse  board 
made  special  efforts  to  reach  out  to  the 
African-American  community  in  Aus- 
tin, which  makes  up  approximately  12% 
of  the  city's  half-million  population. 

"You  have  to  market  differently  to 
different  communities,"  explains 
Cowden,  who  says  she  has  learned  a  lot 
about  attracting  black  audiences 
through  years  of  building  cross-cultural 
alliances.  "It's  important  to  go  through 
churches,  through  social  groups,  sorori- 
ties and  fraternities — which  have  a  dif- 
ferent meaning  in  the  black  community 
than  they  do  in  the  white  community." 
Black-oriented  media  can  play  an  im- 
portant role  too,  she  says.  Zollar,  for  in- 
stance, was  interviewed  on  the  local  Af- 
rican-American radio  station,  and  ad- 
vertisements were  placed  in  the  black 
newspaper  and  other  media  that  di- 


24 


Urban  Bush 
Women 

Mid-America 
Arts  Alliance 

Center  for  Women 
&  Their  Work 


rectly  served  the  African-American 
population.  The  connections  paid  off. 

"The  phone  started  ringing  on  Mon- 
day and  we  got  500  calls  that  week," 
says  Cowden,  whose  small  office  staff 
was  unprepared  for  the  onslaught.  With 
ticket  revenue  from  two  sold-out  per- 
formances, a  grant  of  $3,160  from 
Dance  On  Tour  through  the  Mid- 
America  Arts  Alliance  and  additional 
funds  from  the  National  Performance 
Network,  the  National  Endowment  for 
the  Arts  and  the  City  of  Austin,  Women 
&  Their  Work  was  able  to  break  even 
on  its  budget  of  $15,238. 

"To  call  it  a  financial  success  would 
be  kind  of  misleading,"  says  Cowden 
with  a  chuckle,  explaining  that  substan- 
tial in-kind  donations  and  administra- 
tive costs  are  not  included  in  this  fig- 
ure. "But  we  always  look  at  the  impact 
on  Austin  as  the  measure  of  success." 

For  that,  one  must  look  again  at 
Johnston  High  School  which  includes 
a  sizeable  African-American  popula- 
tion. Except  for  the  400  students  who 
attend  the  magnet  Liberal  Arts  Acad- 
emy housed  there,  the  majority  of  the 
school's  1,700  pupils  come  from  single- 
parent  homes  in  two  of  the  poorest 
areas  in  Austin.  More  than  half  of  the 
students  at  Urban  Bush  Women's  lec- 
ture-demonstration were  black,  clearly 
hungry  for  the  rare  opportunity  to  wit- 
ness their  heritage  being  explored  and 
validated. 

"We're  seven  strong  women  and  one 
man,  we  wear  our  hair  natural,  we  talk 


Urban  Bush  Women  in  Heat.  Choreography:  Jawole 
Willa  Jo  Zollar;  Photo:  Johan  Elbers 


about  the  things  we  believe  in — I  do 
think  it  has  a  powerful  effect,"  says 
Zollar. 

Garcia,  a  Mexican-American,  knows 
from  personal  experience  what  it's  like 
to  go  through  school  without  teachers 
of  one's  own  ethnicity.  "Even  here, 
where  we're  dealing  with  75%  minor- 
ity students,  the  teachers  are  mostly 
anglo,"  he  explains,  "so  exposure  to 
African- American  culture  is  not  near  at 
hand — unless  you  travel  to  New  York, 
Chicago  or  Los  Angeles.  These  kids  are 
robbed  of  that.  So  when  this  troupe 
comes  to  town,  they  are  definitely  play- 
ing role  models."  Every  kid  needs 
someone  to  look  up  to. 

— David  Gere 


-  *■» 


: "'*''--*..*    -- 


"-3fl*teji 


:,      -^^ 


'-^*-' '  ^JS^S-^iSS^'^n-^S^^'- 


25 


if 


'V^E'VE  COME  TO  TAKE  SERIOUSLY  OUR 

RESPONSIBILITY  TO  GIVE  SOMETHING  BACK  TO  ARTISTS." 


WHO 

Trisha  Brown 
Company 

New  England 
Foundation  for 
the  Arts 

Flynn  Theatre 


WHAT 

Creative  Residency 

WHEN 

Residency 

August-September, 

1992 

Performance 
February,  1993 

WHERE 

Burlington,  Vermont 

DOT  Funds 

$6,000 


Over  the  last  several  years,  New 
York-based  choreographer  Trisha 
Brown  has  been  conceiving  new 
dances  which,  because  of  their  increas- 
ing scale  and  complexity,  require  de- 
velopment in  a  proscenium  theater. 
Making  them  in  a  cramped  studio  and 
seeing  them  performed  on  stage  for 
the  first  time  only  days  before  a  pre- 
miere had  become  unacceptable.  Work 
looks  different  from  the  15th  row  of 
an  auditorium,  she  knows,  than  it 
does  when  you're  right  on  top  of  it. 
But  theaters  are  expensive  to  open  and 
run.  As  well,  Brown  and  her  dancers 
were  eager  to  open  a  school  through 
which  they  could  disseminate  her 
technical  innovations.  They  had  re- 
ceived an  Arts  Endowment  Challenge 
grant  to  explore  some  options.  "We 
figured  there  had  to  be  presenters 
with  facilities  but  without  the  money 
for  residencies  of  at  least  four  weeks," 
commented  Brown's  executive  direc- 
tor, Susan  Fait-Meyers. 

The  well-equipped,  1,453-seat  Flynn 
Theatre  in  downtown  Burlington  had 
been  unused  during  July  and  August 
every  year;  during  the  short  northern 
Vermont  summer,  people  spend  as 
much  time  outdoors  as  possible.  The 
Flynn's  director  of  programming, 
Philip  Bither,  wanted  to  keep  the 
building  in  use  without  extending  the 
performance  season  or  his  budget. 
He  had  met  Fait-Meyers  in  the  early 
developmental  days  of  the  Dance  On 
Tour  program  at  a  presenters'  confer- 
ence in  Maryland.  Bither  and  Brown's 
manager  developed  a  residency  plan 
which  met  all  of  their  needs.  Sup- 


ported by  the  New  England  Founda- 
tion for  the  Arts  (NEFA),  they  found 
a  way  for  Brown's  ensemble  to  have  that 
rarest  commodity:  weeks  of  relaxed  resi- 
dency in  a  bucolic  spot,  the  best  possible 
environment  for  the  development  of  new 
dance.  The  only  question  remaining  was 
how  to  involve  the  Vermont  community. 
They  decided  to  concentrate  outreach  ac- 
tivities on  one  long  weekend,  so  that  the 
Vermonters  wouldn't  have  to  forgo  the 
outdoor  summer  activities  they  craved, 
and  the  Brown  company  could  focus 
uninterrupted  time  on  their  own  work. 
A  different  company  member 
taught  a  master  class  each  Tuesday 
night  during  the  three-week  residency; 
between  20  and  30  people  attended 
each  session.  Early  in  the  residency 
Brown  presented  a  lecture-demonstra- 
tion in  which  she  explored,  in  public, 
the  movement  problems  she  was  in- 
vestigating with  her  dancers.  During 
the  open  weekend,  called  "Evolution 
of  an  Artist,"  Brown  hosted  more  than 
200  people.  She  talked  about  her  work; 
offered  a  company  demonstration  of 
her  major  themes  from  the  past  two 
decades  and  of  the  piece  she  was 
developing  at  the  Flynn;  opened  her 
rehearsal  to  the  public;  screened  a 
series  of  videotapes  of  earlier  works 
in  a  downstairs  space;  and  held  a 
"meet  the  artist"  discussion.  Interested 
visitors  could  view  both  process  and 
product,  as  well  as  spend  social  time 
meeting  and  talking  with  Brown  and 
her  dancers. 

All  activities  other  than  master 
classes  were  free;  full  concerts  featur- 
ing the  work  developed  during  the 


26 


Trisha  Brown 
Company 

New  England 
Foundation  for 
the  Arts 

Flynn  Theatre 


-  *' 


residency  were  scheduled  for  late  Feb- 
ruary, 1993.  The  "open-weekend"  at- 
tracted local  participants  as  well  as 
visitors  from  as  far  away  as  Montreal, 
Brooklyn,  Ohio  and  Boston.  About  400 
community  people  participated  in  the  resi- 
dency in  one  way  or  another.  An  ideal 
balance  was  struck  between  the  company's 
need  to  cloister  itself  and  create  new  work, 
and  the  community's  desire  for  opportu- 
nities to  study  and  to  observe. 

"Often  a  residency  is  about  catering 
to  the  audience's  needs,"  noted  Fait- 
Meyers.  "Here,  the  center  was  taking 
care  of  the  artist's  and  the  company's 
needs;  the  audience  responded 
strongly  to  that.  Partly,  it  was  because 
Burlington  is  an  aware,  progressive, 
inquisitive  community." 

"We  struck  the  right  balance  between 
allowing  enough  time  for  the  Trisha 
Brown  Company  to  be  on  its  own,  and 
for  it  to  give  something  back,"  said 
Bither.  "One  of  the  final  events  was  an 
informal  discussion  on  dance/music 
collaborations.  We  invited  all  the  lo- 
cal composers,  many  of  whom  collabo- 
rate with  area  dancers.  It  turned  into 
a  wonderful  talk,  discussions  about 
artists'  approach  to  music,  the  various 
ways  to  go  about  working  and  the 
power  relationships  between  choreog- 
raphers and  composers.  It  really  gave 
the  local  people  a  window  into  Trisha's 
thinking:  how  music  functions  for  her. 
The  discussion  opened  the  event  up 
beyond  the  dance  community." 

Bither  and  his  staff  found  housing 
for  Trisha  and  the  dancers  in  private 
homes,  rented  bicycles,  commandeered 
vans.  The  bulk  of  the  Flynn's  contri- 


'*'^-*. 


Brown  Company  members  in  Set  and  Reset.  Chore- 
ography: Trisha  Brown;  Photo:  Mark  Hanauer 

bution  to  the  residency  was  in-kind 
services:  the  use  of  the  theater,  its 
staff  and  equipment  and  the  work  of 
rounding  up  donated  housing  and 
other  services.  The  kind  cooperation 
of  IATSE,  the  stagehands'  union  at  the 
Flynn,  allowed  work  to  continue  in 
the  theater  throughout  the  project. 
Bither,  said  Brown  company  manager 
Cathy  Einhorn,  "was  so  sensitive  to 
the  way  we  wanted  to  work.  It  was 
a  balancing  act  between  what  he 
needed  and  allowing  the  company  to 
have  as  much  latitude  as  possible." 

"We  were  able  to  do  a  terrific  two- 
day  photo  shoot  on  the  Flynn  stage," 
observed  Fait-Meyers.  "If  we  hadn't 
done  it  there  we'd  have  had  to  rent 
a  theater." 

One  of  the  outcomes  of  the  resi- 
dency was  to  create  a  climate  in  which 
the  company  and  the  theater  felt  com 


..-  ■**s 


.>#?' 

W 


,  *»*' 


3&P&J, 


27 


.•_ ffi5fc^iSf .-- 


Pgipy#%!fM"JL  m -*'*S&^gj»JBgiWMff^ 


Trisha  Brown 
Company 

New  England 
Foundation  for 
the  Arts 

Flynn  Theatre 


fortable  in  brainstorming  possible  joint 
projects  for  the  future.  "On  the  last 
day  we  were  there,"  continued  Fait- 
Meyers,  "we  had  a  fabulous  hour  fan- 
tasizing. The  stage  is  a  little  narrow; 
they're  talking  about  enlarging  it. 
There's  a  space  behind  the  theater,  an 
old  factory  building  that  they'd  like 
to  bring  under  the  umbrella  of  a  capi- 
tal campaign.  We  discussed  a  time 
share,  various  models  of  dealing  with 
real  estate,  co-op  agreements,  partner- 
ships. It's  really  empowering  and 
helpful  to  have  this  conversation  with 
potential  partners,  so  that  ideas  reso- 
nate in  terms  of  what  their  needs  re- 


ally are,  rather  than  evolving  some- 
thing in  a  vacuum  and  taking  it  out 
into  the  presenting  world  where  it 
doesn't  fit." 

"We  proved  at  the  Flynn  that  such 
residencies  can  be  made  to  work," 
commented  Rebecca  Blunk  of  NEFA. 
"It's  a  model  program  that  I  hope  gets 
replicated.  There  are  a  lot  of  spaces 
that  could  be  made  available  with 
minimal  staffing  and  utilities.  Col- 
leges and  universities  have  beautiful 
spaces,  but  there  needs  to  be  a  coop- 
erative staff,  and  a  program  that  al- 
lows for  these  exchanges." 

— Elizabeth  Zimmer 


28 


"JUST  LIKE  THERE  ARE  200,000  'NUTCRACKERS' 

THE  WORLD,  THERE  SHOULD  BE  200,000  'RAINBOWS.'  " 


WHO 


Dayton  Contemporary 
Dance  Company 

Southern  Arts 
Federation 

American  Dance 
Festival  (ADF) 

WHAT 

Residency  as  part  of 
ADF's  "Black 
Traditions  in  American 
Modern  Dance" 

WHEN 

June,  1992 

WHERE 

Durham, 
North  Carolina 

DOT  Funds 

$6,820 


On  the  cusp  of  its  25th  anniversary, 
Dayton  Contemporary  Dance  Company 
is  on  an  uphill  climb  toward  national 
recognition.  And  to  the  surprise  of 
many  in  the  New  York-centered  dance 
world,  this  feisty  company  right  out  of 
the  industrial  Midwest  is  actually  get- 
ting it.  The  reason  for  the  troupe's  suc- 
cess? Far-reaching  touring  opportuni- 
ties facilitated,  in  part,  by  Dance  On 
Tour  (DOT). 

"We  started  touring  in  1972  when  we 
were  part  of  the  National  Association 
of  Regional  Ballet  Companies,"  says 
Jeraldyne  Blunden,  founder  and  artis- 
tic director  of  Dayton's  African-Ameri- 
can-oriented dance  troupe.  "But  basi- 
cally we  were  just  touring  to  people  that 
I  knew.  If  someone  requested  a  perfor- 
mance, we  went,  but  we  didn't  go  out 
looking  for  it." 

Those  were  the  old  days.  Through 
Dance  On  Tour  and  a  novel  touring 
program  sponsored  by  the  American 
Dance  Festival  (ADF),  the  company's 
visibility  has  increased  exponentially, 
says  Blunden.  In  1991-92,  Dayton  Con- 
temporary visited  12  venues,  including 
an  extensive  network  of  theaters  in 
California.  "We  had  never  traveled  west 
of  Illinois  before,"  says  Blunden.  And 
for  1992-93, 18  venues  are  already  lined 
up.  New  DOT  projects  include  a  two- 
week  residency  in  North  Carolina,  where 
the  American  Dance  Festival  is  based,  and 
three  weeks  in  New  Mexico,  which  has 
never  hosted  an  African- American  mod- 
ern dance  residency  before. 

"Over  a  three-year  period,  we  will 
have  worked  with  40  presenters,"  says 
Art  Waber,  ADF  operations  manager 


who  also  books  Dayton's  tours.  "All  of 
our  sites  have  applied  to  their  regional 
consortium  groups  to  bring  in  DOT 
money.  If  we  didn't  have  the  DOT 
support,  we  wouldn't  be  able  to  tour 
the  company." 

The  company's  unusually  close  asso- 
ciation with  ADF,  which  has  facilitated 
its  recent  meteoric  growth  in  reputa- 
tion, dates  back  to  1987  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  three-year  initiative  to 
heighten  awareness  of  the  African- 
American  contribution  to  modern 
dance.  Under  the  auspices  of  that 
project,  "Black  Traditions  in  American 
Modern  Dance,"  Dayton  Contemporary 
joined  four  other  predominantly  black 
companies  in  presenting  reconstruc- 
tions of  classic  works  by  such  seminal 
choreographers  as  Donald  McKayle, 
Pearl  Primus  and  Talley  Beatty.  Day- 
ton was  handpicked  by  the  choreogra- 
phers to  perform  eight  of  the  fourteen 
reconstructed  works,  including 
McKayle's  Rainbow  'Round  My  Shoulder, 
a  highly  acclaimed  work  choreo- 
graphed in  1959. 

During  those  three  years,  all  premiere 
performances  took  place  at  the  Dance 
Festival,  with  subsequent  mini-tours  to 
as  many  as  ten  traditionally  black  col- 
leges around  North  Carolina  so  that 
students  and  members  of  the  commu- 
nity could  learn  more  about  their  dance 
heritage.  To  bolster  that  cause,  ADF 
packed  the  program  with  lecture-dem- 
onstrations, panels  with  dance  histori- 
ans and  discussions  with  the  choreog- 
raphers. "We  offered  a  wonderful  au- 
dience-building, context-building  pack- 
age," says  Waber.  "If  you  went  through 


29 


Dayton 

Contemporary 
Dance  Company 

Southern  Arts 
Federation 

American  Dance 
Festival 


the  whole  process,  you  learned  a  lot 
about  African- American  modern  dance." 

Meanwhile,  Dayton  Contemporary 
learned  a  lot  about  successful  touring, 
which  led  to  the  company  being  cho- 
sen by  ADF  to  spearhead  an  extended 
project  pairing  the  company's  perfor- 
mances with  scholarly  humanities  sym- 
posia funded  by  the  National  Endow- 
ment for  the  Humanities.  The  Lila 
Wallace-Reader's  Digest  Fund  was  the 
major  contributor  to  the  overall  effort. 
"We  felt  that  the  company  was  on  the 
verge  of  making  a  national  move,"  says 
Waber,  who  now  oversees  the  intersec- 
tion of  the  Dance  Festival,  the  humani- 
ties symposia  and  Dayton's  perfor- 
mances. "It's  been  a  tremendous  chal- 
lenge for  them  administratively,  to  go 
from  being  a  regional  company  to  a 
national  company,  but  it's  time  for 
them  to  move  up,"  says  Waber. 

Blunden  seems  faintly  surprised  that 
so  much  attention  is  swaying  toward 
an  African-American  company  that 
came  up  from  such  "meager  beginnings." 

Alvin  Ailey  American  Dance  Theater 
and  Dance  Theatre  of  Harlem  have  tra- 
ditionally garnered  the  lion's  share  of 
attention,  says  Blunden  with  character- 
istic candor.  "It  was  very  hard  to  get 
anything  equal  to  that  from  funding 
sources  or  presenters,  because — and 
they  still  feel  this  way — Ailey's  a  sure 
thing.  But  they  need  to  give  these  other 
companies  a  try." 

And  why  not?  Owing  to  the  Black 
Traditions  project  at  the  ADF,  Dayton 
now  boasts  a  repertory  of  great  works 
by  African-American  choreographers 
that  rivals  that  of  any  of  the  big  New 


Dayton  Contemporary  Dance  Company  in  The  Stack- 
Up.  Choreography:  Talley  Beatty;  Photo:  J.  Anderson 

York-based  companies.  The  company  not 
only  shares  its  repertory  with  audiences 
in  performance,  but  also  with  other  danc- 
ers in  the  studio.  "Not  only  have  we  re- 
done and  recorded  these  works,"  says 
Blunden,  "but  we  also  have  people  in  our 
company  who  can  go  out  and  set  them 
on  other  groups." 

Perhaps  most  important,  though,  is  the 
opportunity  Dayton's  performances  pro- 
vide to  set  the  record  straight  about  the 
contributions  African-American  artists 
have  made  to  the  art  form  we  call  mod- 
ern dance.  "Dayton  Contemporary  rep- 
resents a  page  of  our  history  that's  been 
missing  far  too  long,"  says  Waber. 

Blunden  agrees.  "Just  like  there  are 
200,000  Nutcrackers  in  the  world,"  she 
says,  "there  should  be  200,000  Rainbows. 
I  think  these  works  are  that  important." 

— David  Gere 


\ 


30 


SMMfc 


*  ** 


:KEE  jjz**^ 


"WE  OVER-SCHEDULED  THE  LADY. 

CE  COULD  NOT  HAVE  GIVEN  IVIORE  OF  HERSELF." 


WHO 

Lewitzky  Dance 
Company 

Arizona 
Commission 
on  the  Arts 

WHAT 

Month-Long 

Outreach/Creative 

Residency 

WHEN 

July,  1992 

WHERE 

Scottsdaie  Center 
for  the  Arts 

Ballet  Arizona 

DOT  Funds 

$35,000 


On  the  first  day  of  the  Lewitzky  Dance 
Company's  month-long  1992  residency 
in  Arizona,  one  of  the  company's  danc- 
ers was  rushed  to  the  hospital  for  sur- 
gery. Bella  Lewitzky  continued  unfazed, 
giving  the  people  of  Arizona  nearly 
every  waking  hour  of  her  time,  as  cho- 
reographer, teacher  and  advocate  for 
the  arts.  She  could  not  have  done  it,  she 
insists,  without  the  dedicated  team  of 
Arizonans  who  put  the  residency  to- 
gether. 

Now  in  its  third  year,  Arizona  Dance 
On  Tour  (DOT)  mobilized  people  and 
resources  to  give  this  residency  unprec- 
edented depth  and  coverage.  Kathy 
Hotchner,  director  of  programs  for  the 
Scottsdaie  Center  for  the  Arts,  had  a 
theater  that  was  unused  in  the  summer; 
she  had  long  wanted  to  do  something 
with  Lewitzky  to  improve  the  quality 
of  local  dance  in  Arizona.  Working  with 
the  Arizona  Commission  on  the  Arts 
(ACA),  she  developed  a  DOT  proposal 
that  made  it  happen. 

The  Scottsdaie  Center,  the  ACA  and 
Ballet  Arizona  were  partners  in  this 
wide-ranging  collaboration.  The  Center 
paid  the  commissioning  fee  for  a  new 
work  and  provided  space  and  staff 
time.  The  ACA  organized  the  multi- 
faceted  event.  Donors  public  and  pri- 
vate, artistic  and  commercial  contrib- 
uted. The  Safari  Resort  donated  hous- 
ing for  the  month.  Thousands  of  citi- 
zens were  exposed  to  the  varied  re- 
sources represented  by  an  experienced 
dance  company  with  a  composer  (Larry 
Attaway)  and  a  lighting  designer 
(Darlene  Neel)  in  residence. 


Ballet  Arizona,  on  whom  Lewitzky 
set  the  new  work,  offered  in-kind  ser- 
vices. "They  let  us  haul  their  dance 
floor  around  town;  they  learned  the 
new  work  and  will  take  it  into  their 
repertoire,"  observed  Mollie  Lakin- 
Hayes,  touring/community  develop- 
ment director  at  the  ACA.  "The  ballet 
dancers  are  very  different,  physically, 
from  the  Lewitzky  company.  They  got 
the  word  out,  their  board  was  involved, 
everyone  worked  toward  the  same 
goal.  There  was  no  feeling  of  compe- 
tition." 

"Michael  Uthoff,  the  new  director  of 
Ballet  Arizona,  was  interested  in  hav- 
ing my  work  available  to  his  company," 
says  Lewitzky.  "The  ballet  dancers 
came  to  take  class;  some  of  them  had 
never  seen  modern  dance  before."  Of 
Ballet  Arizona's  experience  with 
Lewitzky,  Uthoff  said,  "I  know  the 
dancers  who  had  the  opportunity  to 
work  with  Bella  are  totally  different 
artists,  in  a  positive  way.  A  couple  of 
them  had  no  experience  of  working  in 
a  contemporary  style,  and  wanted  to 
be  pretty  ballerinas.  After  that  expe- 
rience, they  discovered  a  totally  new 
way  of  communicating.  Their  whole 
sense  of  humanity  was  different." 

"Bella  loves  to  talk,"  laughs  Claire 
West,  the  ACA's  performing  arts  di- 
rector. "She  just  transfixes  every- 
body: legislators,  boards  of  directors, 
the  general  public.  Our  goals  were  to 
increase  audiences  for  dance  through- 
out the  state;  we  decided  to  do  it  by 
focusing  on  Scottsdaie,  to  have  an  ex- 
cellent dance  company  in  residence 


31 


Lewitzky  Dance 
Company 

Arizona 
Commission 
on  the  Arts 


for  a  month,  doing  audience  develop- 
ment and  education  activities.  We 
opened  her  company  class  to  public 
viewing  every  day;  she'd  spend  15 
minutes  at  the  end  addressing  ques- 
tions. We  involved  classroom  teach- 
ers, dance  teachers,  dancers,  visual 
artists.  Between  20  and  70  people 
turned  up  each  day.  Bella  went  to 
lunch  with  Arizonans  for  Cultural 
Development,  the  Scottsdale  Chamber 
of  Commerce  Board  of  Directors,  the 
ACA's  Board  of  Directors,  the  Busi- 
ness Volunteers  for  the  Arts  and  ma- 
jor corporate  contributors.  She  talked 
about  her  art  to  them,  and  they  were 
fascinated.  A  lot  of  them  returned  for 
the  final  concerts." 

"It  was  a  dream  residency,"  com- 
mented Lewitzky  a  few  months  later 
between  her  month  in  Scottsdale  and 
a  December  swing  through  rural  Ari- 
zona to  Lake  Havasu  City,  Yuma, 
Safford,  Prescott  and  Page  to  prepare 
presenters  in  these  communities  for 
another  DOT  project  with  her  com- 
pany in  1993.  "It  included  the  com- 
missioning of  a  new  piece,  which  is 
the  ultimate  luxury.  Usually  when 
you  take  time  to  make  new  work,  it's 
unpaid  time,  expensive  time.  New 
work  is  a  basic  necessity." 

The  new  work,  Episode  #3:  The  Out- 
sider, premiered  at  the  Scottsdale 
Cultural  Center,  attracting  an  audi- 
ence of  600  people,  "which  in  Arizona 
in  July  is  amazing,"  according  to 
West.  The  dance  explored  the  feelings 
of  a  newcomer  to  American  culture. 
"The  lead  dancer  is  trained  in  Chinese 
classical  dance,"  recalls  Lakin-Hayes. 


"She  showed  how  it  felt  to  be  over- 
looked, looked  through,  not  really 
accepted.  She  resolved  that  her  indi- 
viduality was  really  important." 

Lewitzky  and  her  dancers  tour  ex- 
tensively every  year,  so  the  opportu- 
nity to  stay  in  one  place  for  several 
weeks  was  a  blessing.  "Most  of  our 
touring  is  hit-and-run;  all  you  see  is 
the  hotel  and  the  theater.  Here  we  got 
to  see  the  city,  to  walk  around,  to  rest. 
We  worked  with  the  community,  in- 
vited people  at  every  opportunity. 
Larry  [Attaway]  and  I  made  ourselves 
available  at  lunchtime.  We  talked 
with  anyone  the  Scottsdale  team 
thought  was  important:  funders,  cor- 
porate people,  artists  in  the  commu- 
nity. We  opened  the  process  of  our 
work  to  the  public.  My  dancers  taught 
community  classes.  It  was  a  chock-a- 
block  full  schedule,  by  all  accounts 
highly  successful — one  of  the  things 
you  hope  will  happen." 

It  didn't  just  happen.  West  and  Lakin- 
Hayes  at  the  ACA,  and  Hotchner  at  the 
Scottsdale  Cultural  Council  mobilized 
a  large  number  of  volunteers  to  shep- 
herd Lewitzky's  company. 

"The  Lewitzky  Company  also  did  a 
lecture-demonstration  at  the  Her- 
berger  Theater  Center  in  downtown 
Phoenix,"  where  reports  West,  "those 
who  attended  got  a  very  up-close-and- 
personal  experience  in  a  rehearsal 
room.  We  held  master  classes  for 
children,  teens  and  adults  in  the  West 
Valley,  which  is  heavily  Hispanic, 
Native  American  and  Black.  Bella 
offered  a  Craft  of  Choreography  semi- 
nar, free  to  professional  choreogra- 


^j*** 


~"    '"*■**■:       -»  -- 


32 


'--Vt**,* 


^ffi^.«*^^.***~w#"^r."~: 


J^PWl 


^®*%pzi*j&8mi»s&S3Z  j  BwjBgjwwmi  ■.'»irt!t;.*''X  wtyyji*!*^- 


phers  from  all  over  the  state,  which 
drew  artists  working  in  Native  Ameri- 
can and  Flamenco  modes  as  well  as 
ballet  and  modern.  The  final  presen- 
tation of  their  work  drew  an  audience 
of  200.  The  classes  for  professional 
and  intermediate  dancers  had  waiting 
lists  as  long  as  my  arm." 

A  Dance  Production  Weekend,  led 
by  Darlene  Neel  and  Attaway,  at- 
tracted 41  people  overall.  It  drew  de- 
signers, composers,  people  interested 
in  getting  into  arts  management  as 
well  as  the  staffs  of  Arizona  dance 
companies.  "Bella  also  did  a  work- 
shop for  boards  of  directors.  She  was 
interviewed  on  the  radio,  on  televi- 
sion, in  the  newspaper.  We  over- 
scheduled  the  lady.  She  could  not 
have  given  more  of  herself." 

These  were  the  longest  days  of  the 
year,  from  mid-June  to  mid-July.  "We 
hit  100,  105  degrees  during  the  day," 
observes  Lakin-Hayes.  "Luckily,  Scotts- 


Bella  Lewitzky.  Photo:  John  Blackmer 

dale  Center  is  air-conditioned."  And 
luckily  Bella  Lewitzky,  a  native  of  the 
California  desert,  flourishes  in  the  heat. 
Oh,  and  the  dancer  who  had  sur- 
gery is  fine. 

— Elizabeth  Zimmer 


33 


"THEY  DON'T  KNOW  THE  NAJVIES  OF  THE 

COMPANIES,  BUT  NOW  THEY  ASK  FOR  MODERN  DANCE." 


WHO 

Garth  Fagan  Dance 

Kansas  Arts 
Commission 

Various  Presenters 

WHAT 

Performance/ 
Outreach  Residency 

WHEN 

April,  1992 

WHERE 

Various  sites, 
Kansas 


DOT  Funds 

$25,000 


In  Kansas,  where  modern  dance  can 
seem  almost  as  foreign  as  Oz,  Dance  On 
Tour  coordinator  Monique  Pittman-Lui 
knew  she  could  get  the  audience  for 
Garth  Fagan  Dance  Company  on  their 
feet — if  only  she  could  get  them  in  the 
hall. 

"Modern  dance  is  not  the  main 
thing  here  in  Kansas,"  says  Pittman- 
Lui,  who  was  hired  by  the  Topeka 
Performing  Arts  Center  specifically  to 
oversee  the  Fagan  company's  two- 
week  Dance  On  Tour  residency.  "Bal- 
let, of  course,  is  popular,  and  Kansas 
City  is  big  on  jazz,"  she  says,  noting 
that  east  Kansas  is  "very  cosmopoli- 
tan." But  modern  dance?  The  owners 
of  some  private  dance  studios — a 
prime  target  of  the  residency's  mas- 
ter classes — were  so  skeptical  that 
many  refused  even  to  tell  their  stu- 
dents that  Fagan's  modern  dance  com- 
pany was  in  town. 

In  choosing  to  bring  modern  dance 
to  populations  largely  unfamiliar  with 
this  most  American  of  art  forms,  the 
tour's  six  east  Kansas  presenters — 
Emporia  Arts  Council,  Topeka  Perform- 
ing Arts  Center,  University  of  Kansas 
Concert  Series,  Kansas  State  University 
McCain  Series,  Wichita  Park  Alliance 
and  Johnson  Community  College — 
knew  they  were  choosing  a  tough  road. 
But,  given  prior  experience  of  Fagan's 
artistry — the  company  performed  suc- 
cessfully at  the  Kansas  University  Con- 
cert Series  in  Lawrence  in  1989 — they 
felt  sure  they  could  overcome  any  in- 
transigence. In  large  measure,  they  did. 

"People  were  touched  here  by  Garth 
Fagan     Dance,"     says     Pittman-Lui, 


"whether  they  talked  to  the  dancers,  saw 
the  dance,  heard  the  music  or  received 
the  messages  that  were  embedded  in  the 
choreography.  They  got  standing  ovations 
everywhere  they  went,  whether  for  resi- 
dencies, performances  or  lecture-demon- 
strations. So  we  learned  a  lot  about  mod- 
ern dance  and  really  furthered  the  cause 
of  modern  dance  in  Kansas." 

Perseverance  and  good  organization 
proved  to  be  key. 

In  Topeka,  for  instance,  the  local  tour 
coordinators  found  their  community 
strikingly  resistant  to  hosting  dance 
"outsiders"  from  Rochester,  New  York. 
Invitations  to  master  classes  were  sent 
to  dance  studios,  drill  teams  and  a  His- 
panic ballet  troupe,  but  the  lack  of  re- 
sponse seemed  to  reflect  a  marked  an- 
tipathy to  modern  dance  as  an  art  form. 
"Some  ballet  teachers  complained  that 
the  Garth  Fagan  dancers  don't  wear 
shoes,  which  would  hurt  their  dancers," 
recalls  Pittman-Lui.  "I  think  they  were 
afraid  of  losing  their  students." 

Ultimately,  however,  several  mem- 
bers of  Justicia,  the  city's  ballet 
folklorico,  did  enroll  in  the  master 
classes  and  became  so  enthusiastic 
about  Fagan's  work  that  they  attended 
every  public  performance,  bringing 
along  family  members  and  becoming 
avid  fans  of  the  troupe.  Also  in  To- 
peka, the  volunteer  coordinators  over- 
came initial  resistance  to  build  support 
for  a  highly  successful  lecture-demon- 
stration for  2,800  school  children  by 
bringing  together  students  from  four 
different  school  districts.  The  project 
is  now  seen  as  a  model  for  how  dis- 
tricts can  work  together. 


34 


Garth  Fagan  Dance 

Kansas  Arts 
Commission 

Various  Presenters 


"Our  site  coordinators  here  in  To- 
peka  were  almost  camping  out  on 
people's  doors  to  get  that  response," 
says  Pittman-Lui,  who  attributes  the 
residency's  many  visible  successes  to 
the  commitment  of  community  pre- 
senters who  invested  in  the  project 
with  a  "personal  touch." 

Not  every  residency  was  equally  suc- 
cessful. In  Wichita  less  than  100  people 
attended  the  residency  activities,  at  a  cost 
to  the  tour  of  $5,000.  Conversely,  in 
Lawrence — a  university  town  of  60,000 — 
teachers  at  Central  Junior  High  School 
took  their  own  initiative  to  ask  the  Kan- 
sas Dance  Network  for  a  preview  lecture 
and  were  subsequently  amazed  at  the 
mature  responses  their  students  exhibited 
to  Fagan's  work. 

"Generally  speaking,  you  can't  tell 
kids  in  grades  7-9  anything  about 
performance  or  culture  or  art  or  any- 
thing," says  Pittman-Lui  with  a  laugh. 
"But  they  were  not  only  orderly,  they 
stamped  and  cheered  and  pounded  on 
chairs  at  the  end  of  the  lecture-dem- 
onstration. The  teachers  said  that  had 
never  happened  before." 

University  of  Kansas  presenter 
Jacqueline  Davis  believes  that  the  type 
of  audience  preparation  provided  at 
the  junior  high  school  is  exactly 
what's  necessary  on  a  larger  scale  for 
modern  dance  to  gain  a  stronger  foot- 
hold in  Kansas.  Lacking  such  prepa- 
ration, audiences  tend  to  find  mod- 
ern dance  obscure,  she  says. 

"With  modern  dance,  you  go  into 
the  theater  and  you  have  to  think," 


A  Fagan  Company  master  class  at  Johnson  County 
Community  College.  Photo:  Gary  Becker. 


says  Davis,  who  has  been  presenting 
dance  and  music  in  Lawrence  for 
nearly  15  years.  "When  you  walk  out 
of  there,  if  you  don't  understand  what 
happened,  you  feel  stupid.  And  that 
is  the  crux  of  the  problem  nationwide: 
if  people  are  feeling  stupid,  they're 
not  going  to  want  to  come  back." 

After  learning  about  modern  dance 
via  the  educational  opportunities  pro- 
vided by  Kansas  Dance  On  Tour, 
however,  audiences  seemed  eager  for 
a  repeat  encounter,  says  Pittman-Lui. 
In  surveys  following  the  Fagan  resi- 
dency, patrons  of  the  Topeka  Perfor- 
ming Arts  Center  expressed  a  desire 
to  see  modern  dance  again.  "They 
don't  know  the  names  of  the  compa- 
nies," she  adds,  "but  now  they  write 
in  'modern  dance.'  " 


-.-*' 


-~*w 


■31m*. 


■*■  itafe. 


-David  Gere 


*** 


tz2^+&a^~*»~&e&Fr-*:  -"*" 


-»"- 


35 


"THERE'S  A  DISCIPLINE  THAT 

CARRIES  OVER  TO  OTHER  THINGS." 


WHO 

Ballet  Hispanico 
of  New  York 

Mid  Atlantic  Arts 
Foundation 

Pittsburgh  Dance 
Council 


WHAT 

Performance/ 
Outreach  Residency 

WHEN 

December,  1991 

WHERE 

Various  sites, 

Pittsburgh, 

Pennsylvania 

DOT  Funds 

$2,295 


At  Pittsburgh's  Creative  and  Per- 
forming Arts  High  School  (CAPA), 
"the  dancers  need  as  much  exposure 
to  professionals  as  they  can  get,"  says 
Norma  Jean  Barnes.  So  the  Decem- 
ber, 1991  residency  of  Ballet  Hispanico 
of  New  York,  though  it  lasted  only 
three  days,  meant  a  great  deal  to  the 
CAPA  students.  The  residency  also 
touched  students  of  the  Frick  Middle 
School,  whose  magnet  curriculum  is 
specialized  in  foreign  languages,  and 
the  Advanced  Spanish  Literature  class 
at  Carnegie  Mellon  University. 

Barnes  is  the  residency  coordinator 
for  the  Pittsburgh  Dance  Council 
(PDC),  which  sponsored  the 
company's  visit.  She  planned  the 
events  with  company  representatives, 
and  visited  classrooms  ahead  of  time 
to  show  a  company  video  "so  they'd 
know  beforehand  what  they'd  be  see- 
ing" and  to  instruct  children  in  how 
to  behave  at  a  live  theater  perfor- 
mance. She  also  invited  various  uni- 
versity community  groups  to  a  Satur- 
day afternoon  open  rehearsal  of  the 
company's  repertoire,  which  included 
the  premiere  of  Graciela  Daniele's 
new  work,  El  Nuevo  Mundo,  focusing 
on  Columbus's  encounter  with  the 
Americas.  A  sexy,  comic,  punk 
rocker's  version  of  the  journey  across 
the  Atlantic,  it  was  shown  in  Pitts- 
burgh a  year  before  its  New  York 
premiere  in  late  1992. 

Barnes  was  impressed  with  Tina 
Ramirez,  Ballet  Hispanico's  artistic 
director.  "She's  a  role  model  and  a 
roots  person,  working  in  the  commu- 
nity, reaching  out  to  Hispanic  youth 


through  dance.  Even  if  a  student 
doesn't  want  to  be  a  professional 
dancer,  there's  a  discipline  that  car- 
ries over  to  other  things.  Ballet 
Hispanico  has  a  history  of  working  in 
the  community,  and  their  lecture-dem- 
onstration was  out  of  sight." 

"I  taught  them  flamenco  arms,"  re- 
members Ramirez.  "You  use  the  same 
muscles  in  different  techniques  to 
produce  movements;  the  intention 
changes  the  style.  At  the  post-perfor- 
mance discussion,  I  found  that  the 
junior  high  school  kids  understood  the 
Daniele  work  better  than  the  adults; 
they  saw  the  humor  of  the  choreog- 
raphy. They  got  straight  to  the  grain 
of  what  we  were  trying  to  do." 

The  residency  focused  as  much  on 
the  "Hispanico"  in  the  company's 
name  as  on  the  "Ballet."  Pittsburgh's 
public  school  population  is  55%  Afri- 
can-American and  45%  "other,"  in- 
cluding many  newly  arrived  Russian 
immigrants.  The  percentage  of  His- 
panics  is  relatively  small,  so  the  op- 
portunity was  seized  both  to  expose 
everyone  to  an  authentic  manifestation 
of  Latin  American  culture,  and  to 
reinforce  that  culture  for  members  of 
the  Hispanic  community. 

"While  contemporary  work  is  still 
our  focus,"  says  Carolelinda  Dickey, 
executive  director  of  the  PDC,  "we 
have  an  ongoing  commitment  to  bring 
in  work  of  three  general  cultural 
groups:  Hispanic,  Asian  and  African- 
American.  This  can  include  tradi- 
tional, experimental  and  cross-disci- 
plinary work.  After  discussion  with 
Tina,  who  is  classically  trained,  we 


36 


Ballet  Hispanico 
of  New  York 

Mid  Atlantic  Arts 
Foundation 

Pittsburgh  Dance 
Council 


realized  that  we  would  be  able  to 
show  not  only  folk  and  flamenco,  but 
also  demonstrate  that  within  the  His- 
panic culture  there  are  many  genres 
of  work.  It  was  important  to  her  to  be 
viewed  and  used  as  a  classical  com- 
pany. And  we  were  able  to  provide 
large  chunks  of  time  in  the  Fulton  The- 
ater, so  the  company  could  finish 
'tech-ing'  the  work  on  stage.  Dance  On 
Tour  makes  the  difference  between  my 
doing  a  one-night  stand  and  doing  a 
multi-day  residency  of  this  kind." 

The  1,380-seat  Fulton  Theater  was  full 
for  the  Ballet  Hispanico  performance, 
with  nearly  1,200  paid  admissions  and 
the  rest  of  the  seats  filled  with  students. 
"A  good  third  of  the  audience  was 
Spanish-speaking,  meaning  that  the 
residency  was  well-supported  by  the 
Hispanic  community,"  says  Dickey. 

Partnerships  with  community  organi- 
zations mean  a  great  deal  to  the  chil- 
dren at  the  Frick,  that  middle  school 
where  Ramirez,  choreographer  Daniele 
and  the  company  members  demon- 
strated and  talked  about  their  work. 
The  school's  location  is  almost  a  meta- 
phor for  the  pressures  upon  it.  It  sits 
in  an  area  called  Oakland,  in  the  middle 
of  a  triangle  formed  by  Pittsburgh's 
African-American  Hill  District,  the  af- 
fluent Squirrel  Hill  and  Shadyside  sub- 
urbs and  the  University  of  Pittsburgh. 

Community  partnerships  like  this 
one  between  Frick  and  the  Pittsburgh 


Ballet  Hispanico  in  Cafe  America.  Choreography: 
George  Faison;   Photo:  Tom  Brazil 

Dance  Council,  which  assists  in  its 
program  to  develop  a  dance  curriculum 
with  an  exhaustive  visiting  artists  pro- 
gram, can  help  assure  that  students 
from  the  Hill  District  who  come  to 
Frick  have  a  range  of  experiences  not 
unlike  those  available  to  its  more  afflu- 
ent neighbors.  The  enriched  curriculum 
encourages  children  to  stay  in  school, 
increasing  their  chances  for  rewarding 
careers  and  adult  lives.  Immersion  in 
dance  experiences  like  the  Ballet 
Hispanico  of  New  York  residency  is 
basic  to  their  multi-cultural,  multi-dis- 
ciplinary education. 

— Elizabeth  Zimmer 


*' 


-'-  ■*•  VJtjg, 


-^m>, 


I*     ** 


'*T3fBSffrr  «B^^**safrflB!gWg? 


37 


"PARTICIPATION  IS  WHERE 

PEOPLE  LEARJV  MOST." 


WHO 

Liz  Lerman/Dance 
Exchange 

Maine  Arts 
Commission 

WHAT 

Performance/ 

Outreach/Creative 

Residency 

WHEN 

January,  1991 

WHERE 

University  of  Maine- 
Farmington 

Various  sites, 
Farmington,  Maine 

DOT  Funds 

$15,000 


Washington,  DC-based  choreogra- 
pher Liz  Lerman  turns  the  whole  con- 
cept of  dance  upside  down,  which  is 
probably  why  her  unconventional, 
boundary-busting  work  looks  so  at 
home  in  the  independent-minded  state 
of  Maine. 

"There  are  times  when  I'm  quite 
happy  to  do  an  informal  performance, 
incorporating  how  young  and  old, 
straight  and  gay,  or  black  and  white 
in  my  company  dance  together,"  says 
Lerman,  whose  multi-generational, 
multi-ethnic  Dance  Exchange  has  been 
featured  in  such  prestigious  venues  as 
Washington,  DC's  Kennedy  Center 
and  Jacob's  Pillow  in  Lee,  Massachu- 
setts. "But  I  really  think,  in  my  heart 
of  hearts,  that  participation  is  where 
people  learn  most.  When  people  do  it, 
it  changes  how  they  see  what  we  do, 
but  it  also  changes  what  they  get  to 
experience. 

"It's  hard  to  talk  about  this  without 
sounding  really  corny,"  she  adds,  "but 
all  of  us  in  the  company  feel  like 
people  really  are  creative.  If  given  the 
tools — not  in  a  condescending  or  pa- 
tronizing way — they  can  make  sense 
out  of  their  own  lives.  If  we  listen  to 
them,  it  means  something  to  them, 
whether  they  become  artists  or  not." 

Lerman's  uniquely  populist  perspec- 
tive— she's  been  called  "the  ultimate 
democrat  of  dance" — made  her  the 
perfect  choice  for  a  two-week  Dance 
On  Tour  (DOT)  residency  sponsored 
by  the  Maine  Arts  Commission. 
"Maine  is  an  anomaly  in  New  En- 
gland," explains  Alden  Wilson,  direc- 
tor of  the  Maine  Arts  Commission. 


"It's  five  times  bigger  than  the  other 
states,  but  it's  sparsely  populated. 
Portland,  its  largest  city,  has  a  popu- 
lation of  only  65,000." 

"This  is  not  the  Kennebunkport  of 
George  Bush,"  adds  Margaret  Gould 
Wescott,  director  of  the  Dance  Pro- 
gram at  the  University  of  Maine- 
Farmington,  one  of  the  DOT  present- 
ers. On  the  contrary,  says  Wescott, 
Maine  is  a  large  state  clotted  with 
mostly  poor  rural  communities,  where 
alcohol,  poverty,  incest  and  other 
social  problems  are  prevalent.  Not 
surprisingly,  dance  presenters  are  few 
and  the  formal  dance  concert  has  lim- 
ited applicability.  Local  artists  are  search- 
ing for  a  way  to  respond  to  the  sense  of 
fractured  community,  she  says,  and 
Lerman  was  brought  in  as  a  catalyst. 

In  the  absence  of  a  statewide  dance 
service  organization,  the  Maine  Arts 
Commission  coordinated  the  residency 
and  served  as  financial  guarantor. 
Each  community  was  responsible  for 
contributing  a  small  portion  of  the 
budget.  Wescott,  for  instance,  put  in 
$2,000,  an  amount  she  collected  from 
individuals  in  Farmington  in  the  form 
of  small  donations. 

More  important  than  money,  how- 
ever, was  each  presenter's  ability  to 
identify  the  people  with  whom 
Lerman  might  work.  In  Farmington, 
for  instance,  with  a  population  of 
6,000,  Wescott  identified  22  different 
organizations  and  school  sites,  which 
led  to  an  extraordinary  range  of  com- 
munity involvement.  For  six  days, 
Lerman  and  her  dancers  huddled  with 
groups  of  older  adults,  the  university 


38 


Liz  Lerman/Dance 
Exchange 

Maine  Arts 
Commission 


-  -A* 


dance  company,  high  school  theater 
students,  elementary  school  students,  a 
group  of  ministers,  terminally  ill  hospi- 
tal patients,  incest  survivors  and  a 
women's  advisory  group,  culminating  in 
a  packed  performance  on  campus. 

"One  of  the  neat  things  they  did  at 
that  performance,"  says  Wescott, 
"was  to  make  a  dance  incorporating 
impressions  of  things  they  experi- 
enced in  Farmington,  like  a  bridge 
that  was  under  construction  and  store 
windows  that  were  closed  after  5 
p.m."  (Farmington  is  "dead"  at  night, 
she  explains  with  a  laugh.)  What's 
more,  many  in  this  predominantly 
white  community  were  witnessing 
their  first  example  of  racial  diversity. 
"Kids  wrote  letters  afterward  saying 
they  liked  the  way  the  black  man 
jumped.  Boris,  one  of  Liz's  dancers, 
was  probably  the  first  black  man  they 
had  ever  seen." 

One  of  Lerman's  strongest  memo- 
ries of  the  Portland  portion  of  the 
residency — which  happened  to  coin- 
cide with  the  Desert  Storm  bombing 
of  Iraq — was  a  performance  featuring 
local  women,  many  of  whom  had 
relatives  in  the  military,  sharing  their 
thoughts  about  the  Persian  Gulf  War. 
"Their  willingness  to  stand  up  in  their 
community  and  admit  to  their  am- 
biguous feelings  was  really  some- 
thing," says  Lerman,  who  facilitated 
the  creation  of  the  piece  by  asking  the 
dancers  to  recall  where  they  were 
when  they  heard  about  Japan's  bomb- 
ing of  Pearl  Harbor.  "I  took  that  the- 
matic structure  home  with  me  and  we 
used  it  in  a  piece  of  our  own." 


"-■***. 


i  ■ 


Liz  Lerman/Dance  Exchange  company  members. 
Photo:  Philip  Trager 

Betsy  Dunphy,  an  independent  cho- 
reographer from  South  Portland  who 
has  followed  Lerman's  work  for  five 
years  and  incorporates  multi-genera- 
tional dancers  in  her  own  choreogra- 
phy, says  that  Lerman  has  an  unusual 
ability  to  discover  the  common  thread 
in  a  community,  stitching  it  into  a 
remarkably  beautiful  crazy  quilt. 
"Physically,  these  people  don't  look 
like  dancers,"  says  Dunphy.  "But  they 
get  up  there  and  deliver  a  perfor- 
mance that  is  so  personal.  It  comes 
from  the  deepest  parts  of  individuals 
and  gets  distilled  by  the  group  into 
a  shared  group  piece.  It's  not  any- 
thing you  have  to  grapple  with  to  un- 
derstand because  it's  coming  from  a 
common  center.  I  like  that." 

— David  Gere 


..    *M^ 


SS&P&i 


"•'■"flvafa 


39 


^£&£>««5^**&?tt$!P(&* 


AFTERWORD 


So  many  images  of  dance.  So  many  ways  in  which  dancing 
happens,  and  so  many  ways  in  which  dance  builds  community 
and  makes  bridges.  These  twelve  stories  about  dance  and  part- 
nerships featured  by  the  Dance  On  Tour  Program  are  only  a 
tiny  fraction  of  the  many  collaborations  between  dance  artists, 
presenters,  state  arts  agencies,  regional  arts  organizations  and 
hundreds  of  communities  across  America  working  together  to 
bring  excellence  to  the  citizens  of  our  land. 

The  profiles  in  Moving  Around  show  us  that  Dance  On  Tour 
can  work  for  the  benefit  of  many,  and  demonstrate  the  critical 
leadership  that  the  federal  government  can  play  in  securing  rich 
cultural  experiences  for  a  great  variety  of  Americans.  Yet  the 
funding  currently  available  through  Dance  On  Tour  is  not  suf- 
ficient to  meet  the  need  or  the  possibilities  that  dance  compa- 
nies and  presenters  can  offer  to  American  communities. 

In  an  era  when  the  arts  world  is  characterized  by  the  strength 
of  our  art  forms  and  the  fragility  of  our  institutions,  Dance  On 
Tour  suggests  a  new  way  of  doing  business  which  is  built  on 
partnerships  and  on  the  investments  of  talents,  time  and  funds 
by  many  different  players.  How  do  we  capitalize  upon  these 
models?  What  strategies  will  increase  the  visibility  and  re- 
sources for  this  program  and  for  the  audiences  and  artists  it 
serves? 

We  have  begun  answering  those  questions  by  doing  what 
people  have  always  done:  telling  the  stories.  And  imagining 
how  many  more  stories  lie  ahead,  with  the  support  and  resources 
needed.  The  challenge  belongs  to  us  all. 

— Bonnie  Brooks 


40 


MOVING 


> 
0 

c 
a 


THE  NUMBERS: 

DISTRIBUTION  OF  DANCE  ON   TOUR  PROJECTS 

Regional  Component  (FY  1991-1993) 


Virgin  Islands 

© 

Puerto  Rico 


?o 


<C5s 

Hawaii 


*£> 


0 


Key: 

(#J  Number  of  Regional  Engagements  Supported 
1991-1993 


•  820  dance  residencies 

•  1 ,859  performances  supported 

•  over  170  companies  have 
participated 

•  484  presenters  participating 


42 


State  Component  (FY  1 990  - 1 993) 


Puerto  Rico 


pO 


Hawaii 


°S> 


Key: 


Grantees  of  the  State  Component 
1990-1993 


•  41  companies/artists  have  participated 
in  state  projects 

•  1 9  states  have  conducted  DOT  projects 

•  over  220  communities  have  been  served 


43 


CONTACT  LIST: 

STATE  AND  REGIONAL  ARTS  ORGANIZATIONS 


STATE  ARTS  ORGANIZATIONS 


Alabama  State  Council  on  the  Arts 

One  Dexter  Avenue 
Montgomery,  Alabama    36130 
205/242-4076  FAX:  205/240-3269 

Alaska  State  Council  on  the  Arts 

411  West  4th  Avenue,  Suite  IE 
Anchorage,  Alaska  99501-2343 
907/279-1558  FAX:  907/279-4330 

Arizona  Commission  on  the  Arts 

417  West  Roosevelt 
Phoenix,  Arizona    85003 
602/255-5882  FAX:  602-256-0282 

Arkansas  Arts  Council 

1500  Tower  Building 

323  Center  Street 

Little  Rock,  Arkansas    72201 

501/324-9766  FAX:  501/324-9154 

California  Arts  Council 

2411  Alhambra  Boulevard 
Sacramento,  California    95817 
916/227-2550  FAX:  916/227-2628 

Colorado  Council  on  the  Arts 

750  Pennsylvania  Street 
Denver,  Colorado    80203-3699 
303/894-2617  FAX:  303/894-2615 

Connecticut  Commission  on  the  Arts 

227  Lawrence  Street 
Hartford,  Connecticut    06106 
203/566-4770    FAX:  203/566-6462 

Delaware  Division  of  the  Arts 
State  Office  Building 
820  North  French  Street 
Wilmington,  Delaware    19801 
302/577-3540  FAX:  302/577-3862 

District  of  Columbia  Commission  on 
the  Arts  &  Humanities 

410  8th  Street,  NW 
Washington,  DC    20004 
202/724-5613  FAX:  202/727-4135 

Division  of  Cultural  Affairs  Florida 
Department  of  State 

The  Capitol 


Tallahassee,  Florida    32399-0250 
904/487-2980  FAX:  904/922-5259 

Georgia  Council  for  the  Arts 

530  Means  Street,  NW,  Suite  115 
Atlanta,  Georgia    30318 
404/651-7920  FAX:  404/651-7922 

State  Foundation  on  Culture  &  the  Arts 

335  Merchant  Street,  Room  202 
Honolulu,  Hawaii    96813 
808/586-0300  FAX:  808/586-0308 

Idaho  Commission  on  the  Arts 

304  West  State  Street 

c/o  Statehouse  Mail 

Boise,  Idaho    83720 

208/334-2119  FAX:  208/334-2488 

Illinois  Arts  Council 

State  of  Illinois  Center 
100  West  Randolph,  Suite  10-500 
Chicago,  Illinois    60601 
312/814-6750  FAX:  312/814-1471 

Indiana  Arts  Commission 

402  West  Washington  Street,  Room  72 
Indianapolis,  Indiana    46204-2741 
317/232-1268  FAX:  317/232-5595 

Iowa  Arts  Council 
1223  East  Court  Avenue 
State  Capitol  Complex 
Des  Moines,  Iowa    50319 
515/281-4013  FAX:  515/242-6498 

Kansas  Arts  Commission 

700  Jackson,  Suite  1004 
Topeka,  Kansas  66603 
913/296-3335  FAX:  913/296-4989 

Kentucky  Arts  Council 
31  Fountain  Place 
Frankfort,  Kentucky    40601 
502/564-3757  FAX:  502/564-2839 

Division  of  the  Arts  Louisiana  Department 
of  Culture,  Recreation  &  Tourism 

1051  North  3rd  Street,  P.O.  Box  44247 
Baton  Rouge,  Louisiana    70804 
504/342-8180  FAX:  504/342-3207 


Maine  Arts  Commission 

55  Capitol  Street 
State  House  Station  25 
Augusta,  Maine    04333 
207/287-2724  FAX:  207/287-2335 

Maryland  State  Arts  Council 
601  North  Howard  Street,  1st  Floor 
Baltimore,  Maryland    21201 
410/333-8232    '      FAX:  410/333-1062 

Massachusetts  Cultural  Council 

80  Boylston  Street 
The  Little  Building,  10th  Floor 
Boston,  Massachusetts    02116 
617/727-3668  FAX:  617/727-0044 

Michigan  Council  for  Arts  and  Cultural 
Affairs 

1200  6th  Street,  Executive  Plaza 
Detroit,  Michigan    48226 
313/256-3735  FAX:  313/256-3781 

Minnesota  State  Arts  Board 

432  Summit  Avenue 

St.  Paul,  Minnesota    55102 

612/297-2603  FAX:  612/297-4304 

Mississippi  Arts  Commission 

239  North  Lamar  Street,  Second  Floor 
Jackson,  Mississippi    39201 
601/359-6030  FAX:  601/359-6008 

Missouri  State  Council  on  the  Arts 

Wainwright  Office  Complex 
111  North  Seventh  Street,  Suite  105 
St.  Louis,  Missouri    63101 
314/340-6845  FAX:  314/340-7215 

Montana  Arts  Council 

316  North  Park  Avenue 

Room  252 

Helena,  Montana    59620 

406/444-6430  FAX:  406/444-6548 

Nebraska  Arts  Council 

The  Joslyn  Castle  Carriage  House 
3838  Davenport  Street 
Omaha,  Nebraska    68131-2329 
402/595-2122  FAX:  402/595-2334 


44 


Nevada  State  Council  on  the  Arts 

329  Flint  Street 

Reno,  Nevada    89501 

702/688-1225  FAX:  702/688-1110 

New  Hampshire  State  Council  on  the  Arts 

Phenix  Hall 

40  North  Main  Street 

Concord,  New  Hampshire  03301 

603/271-2789  FAX:  603/271-2361 

New  Jersey  State  Council  on  the  Arts 

4  North  Broad  Street 
Trenton,  New  Jersey    08625 
609/292-6130  FAX:  609/989-1440 

New  Mexico  Arts  Division 

228  East  Palace  Avenue 
Santa  Fe,  New  Mexico    87501 
505/827-6490  FAX:  505/827-7308 

New  York  State  Council  on  the  Arts 

915  Broadway 

New  York,  New  York    10010 

212/387-7000  FAX:  212/387-7164 

North  Carolina  Arts  Council 
Department  of  Cultural  Resources 
Raleigh,  North  Carolina    27611 
919/733-2821  FAX:  919/733-4834 

North  Dakota  Council  on  the  Arts 
Black  Building,  Suite  606 
Fargo,  North  Dakota    58102 
701/239-7150  FAX:    701/239-7153 

Ohio  Arts  Council 

727  East  Main  Street 
Columbus,  Ohio    43205 
614/466-2613  FAX:  614/466-4494 

State  Arts  Council  of  Oklahoma 

Jim  Thorpe  Building,  Room  640 
2101  North  Lincoln  Boulevard 
Oklahoma  City,  Oklahoma    73105 
405/521-2931  FAX:  405/521-6418 

Oregon  Arts  Commission 

550  Airport  Road,  SE 
Salem,  Oregon  97310 
503/378-3625  FAX:  503/373-7789 


Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  Council 
on  the  Arts 

Finance  Building,  Room  216 
Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania    17120 
717/787-6883  FAX:  717/783-2538 

Rhode  Island  State  Council  on  the  Arts 

95  Cedar  Street,  Suite  103 
Providence,  Rhode  Island    02903 
401/277-3880  FAX:  401/521-1351 

South  Carolina  Arts  Commission 
1800  Gervais  Street 
Columbia,  South  Carolina    29201 
803/734-8696  FAX:  803/734-8526 

South  Dakota  Arts  Council 

230  South  Phillips  Avenue,  Suite  204 
Sioux  Falls,  South  Dakota  57102-0720 
605/339-6646  FAX:  605/332-7965 

Tennessee  Arts  Commission 

320  Sixth  Avenue,  North,  Suite  100 
Nashville,  Tennessee    37243-0780 
615/741-1701  FAX:  615/741-8559 

Texas  Commission  on  the  Arts 
P.O.  Box  13406,  Capitol  Station 
Austin,  Texas    78711 
512/463-5535  FAX:  512/475-2699 

Utah  Arts  Council 

617  East  South  Temple  Street 
Salt  Lake  City,  Utah    84102 
801/533-5895  FAX:  801/533-6196 

Vermont  Council  on  the  Arts 

136  State  Street 

Montpelier,  Vermont    05633-6001 

802/828-3291  FAX:  802/828-3233 

Virginia  Commission  for  the  Arts 

223  Governor  Street 
Richmond,  Virginia    23219 
804/225-3132  FAX:  804/225-4327 

Virgin  Islands  Council  on  the  Arts 

41-42  Norre  Gade,  P.O.  Box  103 
St.  Thomas,  Virgin  Islands    00802 
809/774-5984  FAX:  809/774-6206 

Washington  State  Arts  Commission 
110  9th  &  Columbia  Street 


Mail  Stop  GH-11 

Olympia,  Washington    98504-2675 

206/753-3860  FAX:  206/586-5351 

Arts  &  Humanities  Section  West  Virginia 
Division  of  Culture  &  History 

Capitol  Complex 

Charleston,  West  Virginia    25305 

304/558-0220  FAX:  304/558-2779 

Wisconsin  Arts  Board 

101  East  Wilson  Street,  1st  floor 
Madison,  Wisconsin    53702 
608/266-0190  FAX:  608/267-0380 

Wyoming  Arts  Council 

2320  Capitol  Avenue 
Cheyenne,  Wyoming    82002 
307/777-7742  FAX:  307/777-5499 


REGIONAL  ARTS  ORGANIZATIONS 


Arts  Midwest 

Hennepin  Center  for  the  Arts 

528  Hennepin  Avenue,  Suite  310 

Minneapolis,  Minnesota    55403 

612/341-0755  FAX:  612/341-0902 

Mid-America  Arts  Alliance 

912  Baltimore  Avenue,  Suite  700 
Kansas  City,  Missouri    64105 
816/421-1388  FAX:  816/421-3918 

Mid  Atlantic  Arts  Foundation 

11  East  Chase  Street,  Suite  2-A 
Baltimore,  Maryland    21202 
410/539-6659    '      FAX:  410/837-5517 

New  England  Foundation  for  the  Arts 

678  Massachusetts  Avenue 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts    02139 
617/492-2914  FAX:  617/876-0702 

Southern  Arts  Federation 

1293  Peachtree  Street,  NE,  Suite  500 
Atlanta,  Georgia    30309 
404/874-7244  FAX:  404/873-2148 

Western  States  Arts  Federation 

236  Montezuma  Avenue 
Santa  Fe,  New  Mexico    87501 
505/988-1166  FAX:  505/982-9307 


45 


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 


Sally  Brayley  Bliss  was  a  dancer  with  the  National  Ballet  of  Canada,  Ameri- 
can Ballet  Theatre  and  the  Joffrey  Ballet.  She  was  director  of  the  Joffrey  II 
Dancers  from  1969-1985,  and  is  now  the  trustee  of  the  Antony  Tudor  Ballet 
Trust.    She  is  a  member  of  the  National  Council  on  the  Arts. 

Arthur  Mitchell  is  the  co-founder  and  artistic  director  of  Dance  Theatre  of 
Harlem — a  multicultural,  neo-classical  ballet  company — and  a  pivotal  figure 
in  education  and  the  performing  arts.  He  was  the  first  African-American  pre- 
mier danseur  with  the  New  York  City  Ballet  and  is  the  recipient  of  thirteen 
Honorary  Doctorate  Degrees.  Mr.  Mitchell  is  a  member  of  the  National  Council 
on  the  Arts. 

Elizabeth  Zimmer  is  the  dance  editor  of  New  York's  Village  Voice.  Over  the 
past  five  years,  she  has  observed  the  work  of  practically  every  professional 
dance  ensemble  in  the  country. 

David  Gere  is  the  dance  and  music  critic  for  the  Alameda  Newspaper  Group 
based  in  Oakland,  California.  He  is  also  co-editor  of  the  "Talking  Dance" 
Project,  an  ongoing  series  of  dance  symposia  in  the  Bay  Area. 

Bonnie  Brooks  is  the  executive  director  of  Dance/USA,  the  national  service 
organization  for  nonprofit  professional  dance. 

Robert  Yesselman  was  the  executive  director  of  the  Paul  Taylor  Dance  Com- 
pany for  fifteen  years  and  of  the  Joffrey  Ballet  for  one  year.  He  is  currently 
a  consultant  in  organizational  development  for  dance  companies. 


46 


MOVING 


MOVING 


NATIONAL 
ENDOWMENT 


T2 


- 


Dance/USA 


Suite  540 

Washington,  DC   20005