Miami Herald - Sunday, October 28, 2001
Brenda Krebs

"There are so many dancers you train with whose names you never get to know," De Sousa says. In disciplined dance studios, he explains, there is little time for chatter.

"But sometimes, years later," he continues, "you'll run into a friend and they'll ask you, `Remember that dancer with the braids who always wore the red leotard? Well, she died of AIDS last year."

In celebrating the creative lives of those dancers lost, and in a desire to help others who are ill, De Sousa is donating his time and choreographic talent to the South Florida Dance for Life, a benefit performance featuring more than two dozen talented dancers, which takes place at 7 tonight at downtown Miami's Gusman Center for the Performing Arts.

A former principal dancer with the Miami City Ballet who now teaches at Florida International University and the New World School of the Arts, De Sousa eagerly accepted the challenge of choreographing Dance for Life's closing work, which will pull together the dance styles of the five very different companies that are all donating their talents to tonight's fundraising event.

In the finale, guest company Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, noted for its eclectic, theatrical style, will perform with four Florida troupes: Southern Ballet Theatre of Orlando, directed by legendary classical ballet dancer Fernando Bujones; and the Miami-based groups Maximum Dance Company, Demetrius Klein Dance Company and Dance Esaias.

EMERGENCY AID

Part social service event and part fundraiser, the Dance for Life concept originated a decade ago in Chicago as a means of generating money to provide emergency financial assistance to dancers with HIV-AIDS. Chicago native and South Florida philanthropist Harvey Burstein was instrumental in bringing the companies together for tonight's event, which will benefit the HIV-AIDS education program of the American Red Cross and the Dancers' Fund. The fund provides small personal-assistance grants to South Florida dancers living with HIV-AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses.

"Since dancers dedicate themselves to their art at such a young age and for so little money, they rarely have insurance," says De Sousa, stressing the very real need for financial assistance for dancers who are ill.

For the performers participating in Dance for Life, the event offers a meaningful way to reach out to those in need, says Mikhael Plain, a member of Maximum Dance.

"We're doing what we love, and at the same time we're raising money for a great cause," he says. "It feels good to help out where we can."

Performer Love Lee Codella, who works with Dance Esaias, agrees.

"I think that with the recent national events, we all feel powerless right now," she says. "This is a way for us as dancers to empower ourselves, to take control of our little piece of the world."

Burstein and the Dance for Life steering committee have already raised almost $60,000 from sponsors and underwriters, enough to cover expenses such as theater rental. As a result, all ticket sales will go directly to the Dancers' Fund and the American Red Cross education program.

"For a first-time event, we're doing great," Burstein says.

This summer in Chicago, Dance for Life sold out a month in advance, raising almost $300,000 for charity. But beyond fulfilling its fundraising goals, Dance for Life aims to become a Miami tradition equal in stature to the Chicago event.

"Dance for Life has become the thing to do for the dance world in Chicago, and we want to make the event just as successful here in South Florida," says Dennis Edwards, Maximum Dance president and a Dance for Life committee member.

DANCE DIVERSITY

Tonight's event will also reflect the diversity of the South Florida community, with its Hispanic and African-American dance influences, as well as its classical ballet tradition. Each company will present a short work representative of its own unique style. Two video tributes, interspersed between the performance pieces, will honor dance icons June Taylor and Thomas Armour, who both were major forces in first bringing professional dancers to South Florida decades ago. Although the program will include performance segments, video tributes and educational information about how the money raised will be distributed to those in need, Dance for Life promises to be a fast-paced and tight-knit event, says Edwards. The two video pieces are each three minutes long, and the dance works range from seven to 15 minutes in length.

Jokes Edwards, "Dance for Life will be very entertaining and moving. But we'll get out of there in two hours because that's all the time we've paid for to rent the theater."

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