'I hope one day all US AIDS organizations will be out of business.'(dance-related AIDS benefits)

NEW YORK CITY--The dance community has stepped up its response to AIDS with a successful fund-raiser last spring at Steps Studio and major participation by New York City Ballet at the city's AIDS Walk being followed this month by benefit performances sponsored by Dancers Responding to AIDS. DRA also hosts a star-studded gala October 12 at the Kennedy Center.

"Dances from the Heart" comes to Fire Island Pines outside New York City August 3, with performances by American Ballroom Theatre, Complexions, dancers from Mark Morris Dance Group, Elisa Monte Dance, Cortez & Company, and Jamie Bishton.

On August 24 and 25 the scene shifts to Martha's Vineyard and will include a DRA--commissioned work by Joffrey Ballet alumnus Philip Jerry, set on Paul Taylor Dance Company's Patrick Corbin. Among the others featured are American Ballroom Theatre, Parsons Dance Company, Kevin Wynn Collection, and Taylor dancers Mary Cochran and Thomas Patrick.

In April Steps raised $5,000 for DRA and Gay Men's Health Crisis in two performances at its Upper West Side studio, according to Steps artistic director Carol Paumgarten.

"I know we do many, many benefits for [fighting] AIDS, but we never do enough," said Ann Reinking, who staged Bob Fosse's "All That Jazz" at the benefit.

The level and the diversity of talent were extraordinary, including NYCB soloists Katrina Killian and Michael Byars in Michael Vernon's Fleeting Images, Joffrey alumnus Christian Holder in a solo created for him by Margo Sappington, Graham dancer Christine Dakin and Graham alumni Donlin Foreman and Jacqulyn Buglisi, Elisa Monte dancers Nadine Mose and Marden Ramos, Parsons Dance Company, and Doug Varone.

DRA, founded in 1991 by Taylor Company's Hernando Cortez, gives economic support to dancers who have the virus. "What started out as a bunch of people getting together at the Pride march and marching in solidarity for our friends has now evolved into an organization raising over $125,000 a year," explained DRA associate director Denise Roberts. Adds Cortez: "I feel overwhelmed and useless at times, knowing the nation has reported 900,000 HIV cases and the number is still growing. What we do on a personal level to fight AIDS helps me through these desperate times. I hope one day all us AIDS organizations will be out of business."

Steps hopes to make its fund-raiser an annual event, says Paumgarten. Meanwhile, a contingent of fifty from the NYCB staff and School of American Ballet raised $12,000 in the AIDS Walk last May, according to NYCB administrative assistant Kristen Baecker.

DRA's fall gala will be comprised entirely of pieces by dance artists lost to AIDS, including Christopher Gillis, Edward Stierle, Clark Tippet, and Choo-San Goh. DRA and Broadway Cares assisted fifty-two dance artists last year, providing services worth nearly $174,00.