Miami dancers make fund-raising personal. (News).

Miami City Ballet principal Deanna Seay dances a luscious Giselle, but--as one lucky company supporter found out in a raffle--she also makes a mouth-watering chocolate cake. In the wake of post-September 11 funding cuts, Seay and fellow performers launched their own money-raising group, called Miami City Ballet Dancers Backstage. In the past few months, they've managed to add more than $10,000 to the company's coffers through lobby sales and a dancer-organized gala featuring that prize from Seay's oven.

"We want to give a view of the dancers that people wouldn't have otherwise," says Seay, who's risen through the ranks at MCB since arriving in 1989 and helped to spearhead MCB Dancers Backstage. According to Seay, developing this intimate contact will let the company tap into new sources of revenue and solidify existing commitments.

Dancers Backstage took wing in studio class when soloist Jared Redick, Seay's friend from their days at North Carolina School for the Arts, jotted down the names of colleagues able to pitch in. "It was really moving to see how everyone volunteered," he says.

Throughout MCB's fall tour, from Alaska to California, the dancers shaped their plans, meeting in places like late-night restaurants. "We had in mind something like New York City Ballet's Dinner with the Dancers," explains Seay. But they wanted to tone down formality and include opportunities to show their own works.

As their first project, however, they set up a dancer-staffed table in the theater lobby during performances to invite audience members to stop by to chat and browse through a unique selection of collectibles, including autographed T-shirts and a company photograph by dancer John Hall, which became a hot item. This endeavor netted more than $3,000.

THE FUND-RAISING DINNER, HELD in January, seemed the perfect time to stage the debut of company member Marc Spielberger's Three Songs, featuring Iliana Lopez. "In putting together the program," says Seay, "we kept an open door." This let company members--from coryphee Patricia Delgado fluffing out her "Black Swan" to principal Luis Serrano shedding feathers in his hilarious Dying Swan--regale partygoers with dancing straight from their hearts. "We completely rehearsed ourselves," Redick points out, telling how the participants seized every available moment within a tight schedule. His performance in Lacrymosa commemorated its choreographer, Edward Stierle, who at 18 won a gold medal at the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson before succumbing to AIDS a few years later.

According to Seay, the studio party raised $7,800, drawing younger faces than are usual at galas. But she measures success further. "People asked me about ballet, conversations evolved. It was good to hear them call me Deanna."

The dancers are already thinking about their next gala. "We hope to do marketing," announces Redick, a budding photographer, who proposes hitting the beach to take promo shots. "This creative aspect is one of the most important. Ideally, next year we can present a range of choreographers who will donate their work." He dreams of interesting Jiri Kylian in the project, reasoning, "All he can say is no." And how can such a little word thwart huge determination?