Dance/USA Roundtable roundup.

CHICAGO--"That's a good question," says the teacher faced with a bright student's query for which there is no ready answer. That was the tenor of the 1994 Dance/USA Roundtable, a biennial event held this year in Chicago, May 19-21. Scores of dance administrators, educators, and artists from every part of the country participated in numerous seminars, workshops, and roundtables at which unanswerable questions surfaced about funding, touring, audience development, presenters, marketing, health insurance, AIDS, racism, and more. Yet panels of experienced individuals were able to offer useful suggestions even when the solution to a particular problem eluded them.

An especially popular session was that on dance in education, led by former Paul Taylor dancer Carolyn Adams. Her report on the National Task Force on Dance Education, a conference high-light, is available from Dance/USA, 777 Fourteenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20005-3270.

Company directors avid for information about touring heard presenters Wallace Chappell, of the University of lowa, and John Killacky, of the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, tell how they designed dance programs for their large audiences. But no one could suggest how to satisfy the pressing need for experienced agents to arrange convenient and profitable tours.

Andrea Snyder headed a session on preserving ephemeral dance; and archivist Leslie Hansen Kopp gave practical information about how to preserve such memorabilia as letters and programs. The panel did not touch on the historical importance of catching performances of great dancers and companies.

Also gratifying was the opportunity for attendees to socialize with old and new colleagues, including such prominent figures as Jeraldyne Blunden, Timothy Buckley, Dermot Burke, Donald Byrd, Ann Carlson, Ron Cunningham, Daniel Duell, Gary Dunning, Sali Ann Kriegsman, Bella Lewitzky, Bruce Marks, John McFall, Donald McKayle, Charles Reinhart, Marta Renzi, Francia Russell, Judith Sagan, Bessie Schonberg, Sybil Shearer, Ivan Sygoda, Michael Uthoff, Barbara Weisberger, Ethel Winter, David White, and more.

National Endowment for the Arts chairman Jane Alexander addressed the group on opening day and the closing event featured awards to dance luminaries. There was a moving tribute to the late W. McNeil Lowry by Dance/USA executive director, Bonnie Brooks, and by C. Bernard Jackson, executive director of the Inner City Cultural Center in Los Angeles. "Ernie" awards for lifetime educational work (named after the late lan Horvath) were conferred on Martha Hill and Bessie Schonberg; and Dance/USA Honors were awarded to Alexandra Danilova and Charles Reinhart.

Auxiliary social events included a reception by the Chicago Dance Coalition, a performance by Shirley Mordine's company at the Dance Center of Columbia College, and a lecture by Rosella Hightower, who spoke at the Newberry Library about her career.