DANCEALIVE!
In its earliest days as a nationally recognized company, DANCE ALIVE! was offering dancers just $10 a show to perform with the utmost technical proficiency. Now in its 40th season, the professional nonprofit company boasts a staff of 14 accomplished dancers, several of whom have gained international acclaim. "This company is about the dancers," said Kim Tuttle, artistic director and resident choreographer of DANCE ALIVE!
Since the birth of the company in 1966, DANCE ALIVE! has brought unique performances and original choreography to the fertile art community in Gainesville, FL. Both the high quality of the company as well as its renowned dancers contribute to its success in a town of about 100,000 people.
Similar to other nationally recognized companies, DANCE ALIVE! began as a civic nonprofit company, which then became regional, and eventually developed into a national company. Since 1976, the company has participated in the Florida State Touring Program and is the oldest ballet company in the program today. Company members have traveled to perform in 17 states as well as Costa Rica through the years.
Tuttle, a former DANCE ALIVE! principal dancer, has served as artistic director for the company since 1986. She previously took leave of the company twice to work with the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany and then to serve as Ballet Mistress for the Zurich Ballet. Such experiences contributed to her expertise and abilities as a dancer and choreographer.
As artistic director, Tuttle performs a three-fold job for the company. She sets the artistic vision of the company, is resident choreographer and shares the duties of ballet master with principal dancer and ballet master Tak Kwan Chu. She is compelled to provide a creative, artistic and positive environment in her day-to-day career. The company is fortunate to have an artistic director who is also a choreographer, and Tuttle has created 25 full-length ballets for DANCE ALIVE! Tuttle, a chamber pianist, is able to develop both classical and contemporary choreography due to her musical background.
"It's about dancers," Tuttle said. "I choreograph with them in mind, and I'm inspired by them."
Tuttle's sister, Judy Skinner, is resident choreographer at DANCE ALIVE! as well. Both Skinner and Tuttle learned classical, modern and studio dance from their mother, who opened "Pofahl Studios," the resident school of DANCE ALIVE! Skinner then went on to receive professional training in New York. Tuttle and Skinner's varying styles and training contribute to the balance of the well-rounded company and its curricula.
It is unusual for dancers to leave the company after just one season, and some dancers have been a part of DANCE ALIVE! for 25 years, Tuttle said. Tim Heflin, a former dancer in the Zurich Ballet, has had the longest career with DANCE ALIVE!, remaining with the company for 27 years. All the dancers in the company have experienced professional training and success before joining DANCE ALIVE!
One of the strengths of DANCE ALIVE! is the individuality of the dancers, who hail from Russia, South America, Cuba, China, Korea and North America. The dancers sign 32 to 36 week contracts, which fluctuate from year to year. In the off-season and when dancers retire, Tuttle often offers them jobs teaching at "Pofahl Studios" and encourages them to pursue degrees at the University of Florida. With Tuttle's encouragement, several dancers have pursued careers in health-related professions through the years.
"I feel a strong responsibility to the dancers," Tuttle said. "I always feel an enormous responsibility to take care of their careers."
Along with original choreography by both Tuttle and Skinner, DANCE ALIVE! has exhibited classical works by celebrated choreographers. In 1995, DANCE ALIVE! became the first Florida company to perform Balanchine's celebrated "Apollo."
"It's a great gift to any company," Tuttle said, of gaining the rights to the ballet in which Balanchine famously introduced the abstract neoclassical ballet style.
Considering its modest budget, DANCE ALIVE! is limited in the amount of choreography they can effectively perform, therefore both Tuttle and Skinner develop mainly original choreography. The company regularly exhibits two shows in Fall and two in Spring, which Tuttle said "covers all the bases" of the company's audience. This season, DANCE ALIVE!'s four main stage productions include the daring contemporary ballet "On the Edge," audience favorites "Nutcracker" and "Carmen," and Tuttle's original "Lady Bug: Action Hero." Tuttle's story of the heroic ladybug, which she developed as a ballet and a children's book, has become a local sensation in Gainesville and on the road, and it returns this season due to popular demand. DANCE ALIVE! will be touring the ballet extensively as a family show this season.
Along with performing locally and touring, DANCE ALIVE! offers educational programming designed and implemented by Skinner. She has worked on such programs as "Dance Partners," a program that brings dance to those lacking economic opportunities; "Discover Dance," a program designed to bring school children to matinee performances of DANCE ALIVE! productions; and residencies, a program in which company members teach classes in various dance styles, as well as dance history, choreography and criticism to local schools for two to four weeks.
The previous season, as well as the current season, have been affected by hurricane damage, which has influenced both the company's performances and its programming. Such structural problems as fallen roofs and flooded facilities have damaged or destroyed buildings in which dancers were to perform. DANCE ALIVE! has indirectly experienced the aftermath of the storms in cancelled performances and touring.
Considering unsound properties, Tuttle recalls a time about 20 years ago when the company was scheduled to perform in a southern town in which the only theater was in a mental institution. Once they arrived, Tuttle was informed that the structure was merely concrete covered in linoleum, which is unsafe and could lead to injuries if the dancers performed on it. Rather than risk injury, the dancers revised the program and performed the entire ballet in tennis shoes, to great audience acclaim.
Although the company is now 20 years older, the same creative ideas and genuine mutual respect exist in the innermost foundation of the company. Such qualities have enabled DANCE ALIVE! to enjoy great success on the road and at home in the cultural hub of Gainesville.
Deena Wlodawski is University of Florida journalism major as well as an intern at DANCE ALIVE!