A museum pays homage to the heroes of dance - programs and activities of National Museum of Dance center at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY

Dance Magazine, Sept, 1994 by Robert Johnson

SARATOGA SPRINGS, New York--Two men of vision, Lewis A. Swyer and Herbert A. Chesbrough, both executives associated with the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), founded the National Museum of Dance (NMD) in 1986 to honor America's greatest contributors to professional dance; to communicate the history of dance; and to expand the knowledge and appreciation of dance by the general public.

Now managed by executive director Joanne Allison and associate director Terrence Bohn as the educational arm of SPAC, the NMD subsists on an annual budget of $300,000, which includes the proceeds of a swank fund-raiser organized every summer by board president Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney. Located in a historic building that once housed the largest spa in Saratoga Springs, the NMD serves approximately eight thousand visitors during a season that stretches from late May until Labor Day. Apart from the ballet aficionados who descend on Saratoga during the New York City Ballet season in July, visitors include summer campers and regional tourists. "I'd like to think that we create a larger audience for dance," says Allison, adding that she could use a larger advertising budget.

At the heart of the NMD, and central to its mission, is a columned foyer with the names of twenty-one dance luminaries inscribed on the frieze in gold letters. This is the Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame, established in 1987 and expanded in 1992, which provides a much-needed antidote to the disillusionment of recent decades by casting in relief the exemplary lives and careers of America's dance heroes and heroines.

This summer one of the century's greatest choreographers, Bronislava Nijinska, entered the hall of fame; and an exhibition curated by Norton Owen and designed by Kevan Moss gives museum visitors a glimpse into the extraordinary imagination of this ballet master, who was nurtured by Serge Diaghilev and whose creative descendants include Sir Frederick Ashton and George Balanchine.

The exhibition "Bronislava Nijinska: Classic on the Edge" follows the trajectory of the choreographer's far-reaching career with a display of original artworks by such painters as Juan Gris and Marie Laurencin (both of whom designed for her), vintage photographs, and precious memorabilia. Following major Nijinska exhibitions mounted by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the Saratoga show adds photos of Nijinska working at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival (where she staged her Chopin Concerto in 1942); incorporates costumes for a revival of Nijinska's 1923 masterpiece Les Noces; and offers continuous showings of the documentary "Nijinska: A Legend in Dance," prepared by KQED-TV in San Francisco. This documentary is a terrific audio-visual aid, placing the exhibition's displays in context.

A rotating installation, "Bronislava Nijinska: Classic on the Edge" temporarily joins a permanent collection that documents the careers of such seminal figures as Alvin Ailey, Fred Astaire, Balanchine, Busby Berkeley, Lucia Chase, Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, Ted Shawn and Ruth St. Denis, Antony Tudor, and several other champions of the dance.

"I think it must inspire some young people," says Allison. "A lot of young people are taking dancing lessons, and they think that's as far as it goes. When they come to the hall of fame they see that people have made a wonderful career of their dancing."

Young people are an important presence at the NMD. In 1992 the Lewis A. Swyer School for the Performing Arts was built next to the museum, and its three state-of-the-art dance studios provide an ideal learning environment for students in July and August. During those months two-way mirrors in the studio walls give museum-goers the opportunity to view the inner mechanics of dance classes and rehearsals without intruding. The Swyer school is a fabulous resource that still has not been developed fully. (Perhaps in the future money will be available to sponsor choreographic residencies during May, September, and October, when the studios are now idle.)

The activities of the students at the Swyer school, as well as of the geniuses honored in the hall of fame, are a constant reminder of why we need a National Museum of Dance.