January cover gallery.

CELEBRATING DECADES OF DANCE Two things are certain about the dance world during the past 80 years: It has a rich, complex history; and Dance Magazine has been there to witness it. This year, in celebration, we're dedicating a special Anniversary Page in each issue to give you a glimpse into Dance Magazine's past. Though our name may have changed--for a few years we were known as Dance Screen & Stage or The American Dancer--our devotion to all forms of dance stayed strong. To kick off the first month of this anniversary year, we've chosen four of our most stunning January covers.

1949 Marge & Gower Champion 

Early in their career, just two years after the sweethearts were married, Marge and Gower Champion were on the cover of Dance Magazine. (Two months later, Life Magazine put the duo on their cover, too!) Looking back, Marge now says, "We really were a mini revue. We sang, we danced, we told dance stories; we were not the typical kind of dance teams." They had been choreographing and dancing Broadway revues like Small Wonder and Lend an Ear. In this cover shot, she says, "I was wearing a costume handmade by Gower's mother."

As their career flourished, they appeared on the TV shows of Ed Sullivan, Dinah Shore, and Jack Benny. By the time Gower died in 1980, he had won eight Tonys. He and Marge split in '73.

At 87, Marge is still dancing. She occasionally pairs up with legendary Broadway dancer/choreographer Donald Saddler. She was inducted into the National Dance Hall of Fame, and continues to perform what she calls her "dog and pony act" at colleges and on cruises. In March, she'll dance her way through Bali and the Great BarrierReef.

1971 Maurice Bejart

Maurice Bejart burst onto the international scene with an ultra-sensual, ultra-contemporary take on classical dance. Germinal Casado appeared on our cover in his work Bhakti. Artistic director of the Ballet of the Twentieth Century at the time, Bejart said in these pages: "All the world is a unity. All dance is a unity. People speak of ballet movements, modern jazz movements, Hindu movements ... but when a person goes from one movement to the next, the same body dances! Each person, too, is a unity." Bejart now directs Bejart Ballet Lausanne.

1997 Elizabeth Roxas

Elizabeth Roxas was in her 13th season with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater when she became the 1997 cover girl. That same year she retired as principal dancer, wanting to leave while she was still at the top. "The photograph was of me dancing Memoria, one of my favorite pieces. In retrospect it seems so appropriate." Roxas looks back at that cover with a new perspective. "As the excitement of seeing myself on the cover diminished, the significance of it increased." Although she's no longer performing, Roxas sets pieces on Ailey II, teaches Horton technique classes at The Ailey School, and also teaches at Marymount Manhattan College and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. And she has just begun to choreograph.

1999 Keith Roberts

In 1999, Keith Roberts was performing in Matthew Bourne's gender-bending production of Swan Lake an Broadway. He played the lead swan, who, in Bourne's version, has a dangerously sexual appeal. Being on the cover was thrilling for him, "It's something a dancer always dreams of." Since then, the former American Ballet Theatre principal worked with Twyla Tharp and created the role of Tony in Movin" Out. He is currently touring with Movin" Out, and setting In the Upper Room (see "Tharp All Over," p. 86).