New Orleans report.

Not even a natural disaster can keep dancers away from the studio for long. Within a month after Hurricane Katrina struck in August ("Dance Matters," Jan.), instructors and students displaced from Tulane University's Newcomb College Dance Program and New Orleans Center for Creative Arts/Riverfront were welcomed into other dance communities.

J. Hammons, founder of Moving Humans Performance Group, a New Orleans-based dance company, was invited to teach at Montclair University School of the Arts in New Jersey. Tulane student Tierney St. John, who has family in the area, studied in the Montclair BFA program for the fall semester and was able to transfer credit to Tulane.

Tulane faculty member John Allen hosted a community of evacuees at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City where he had done graduate study. While the students didn't earn credit for the course work, they and Allen enjoyed open use of studio space, free classes, and the opportunity to perform at the school's graduate concert.

University of Florida, University of Houston, and SUNY Purchase did their part to help the 30 displaced Tulane students keep up studies and credits toward graduation. Five of the 40 NOCGA students went to Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts in Dallas; two went to North Carolina School of the Arts; and one got a scholarship to Idyllwild in California.

Both Miguel Lopez, head of NOCCA's dance department, and Beverly Trask, of Tulane, are eager for the New Orleans dance community to get back on its feet. Tulane resumed classes on Jan. 17 with 85 percent of its student body. As of press time, NOCCA is still displaced and holding classes in satellite locations.