Ulysses Dove: the Actors' Fund loves Dove.

Where to begin? This inspiring story has so many strands: the choreographer, the tragedy, the fund, the residence, the retirement home, the event. Perhaps it's best to start with Ulysses Dove, the talented and beloved choreographer who is at the vortex of this whirlwind of activity, this confluence of causes.

THE CHOREOGRAPHER

ULYSSES DOVE was a premed student when first he saw the Martha Graham Company perform in 1967. The astounding sense of beauty he experienced watching Mary Hinkson perform changed his life. He left Howard University the next day. His dance education is the model for what he has become: after considerable college-based training including a B.A. from Bennington College, he danced with both the formalist Merce Cunningham and the passionate Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, as well as in Anna Sokolow's angst-ridden classic, Rooms. Says Dove during an interview on "Two By Dove," the Emmy Award-winning Dance in America special devoted to his work: "Dance is definitely about form, but it is definitely about feeling." And elsewhere: "I am interested in pure movement that expresses pure emotion."

It was Ailey who first gave Dove the opportunity to choreograph in 1979. His very first work, I See the Moon ... and the Moon Sees Me, was an immediate success.

This was followed shortly by the opportunity to work with classically trained dancers as assistant director of the Groupe de Recherche Chordgraphique de l'Opera de Paris. After his stay at the Paris Opera from 1981 to 1983, Dove choreographed for many companies, among them Royal Swedish Ballet, Cullberg Ballet, Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, London Festival Ballet, New York City Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has continued to present his works regularly with many of the dances remaining in its active repertoire. Jeraldyne Blunden's Dayton Contemporary Dance Company has become a second home to the itinerant Dove, who has always worked as a freelance choreographer, never with a company of his own.

THE TRAGEDY

ABOUT A YEAR ago, when he was visiting Ballet Florida to decide if the company and he could work together on a new ballet, Dove collapsed, a victim of our twentieth-century plague, AIDS. During his prolonged hospital stay he was ministered to by Margaret Selby, PBS producer of "Two By Dove," which had given a great impetus to Dove's career. Selby had formed a deep admiration and friendship for him through their work together. She describes him as proud, elegant, private, and very easy to work with. What a blow this misfortune brought! The illness wiped out what meager financial resources Dove might have had. Like so many freelance artists and people in the dance world, he had little savings and no health insurance. So, this fine and much-loved artist returned to New York City penniless; he would also have been homeless except that another friend offered temporary housing.

Selby's humanity was stronger than her sense of self-preservation and she continued to look after Dove, threading her way through the bureaucratic red tape to find the resources to keep him functioning. The Gay Men's Health Crisis, while sympathetic, was so overwhelmed by requests that it could accept applications only one day a week; she couldn't get help there. God's Love We Deliver provided food, but the need for more help was still imperative. Searching every possible source of financial aid, Selby finally came upon the Actors' Fund of America.

THE ACTORS' FUND

WHAT IS THE Actors' Fund of America? And what has it to do with dance? A nonprofit, tax-exempt organization founded in 1882, the fund provides for the social welfare of all entertainment professionals: designers, writers, sound technicians, musicians, dancers, administrators, directors, film editors, stagehands--oh, and actors. It is a place where professionals in film, television, radio, theater, dance, and music can turn for financial support and a host of social services. It provides direct subsidies for rent, utilities, food, and medical care in times of urgent need, with little red tape or delay. It is there when needed; it is seriously committed to its mission "to advance, foster, and benefit the welfare of all professionals in the entertainment community who are in need of help, ensuring that these efforts are accomplished with compassion, confidentiality, and preservation of dignity for the individuals concerned."

Originally founded to pay for proper burials for entertainers, the fund now provides a continuum of care. It offers social services including counseling, substance abuse and mental health services, elder and disabled care, nursing home and retirement housing, and a full-scale AIDS initiative.

It is not a small organization. The 1996 budget is eleven million dollars, a sum that has grown in the last three years by more than 18 percent. In 1995 the organization served some 2,700 people nationwide, among whom were 184 dancers. One hundred five of the dancers received a total of $212,310 in direct financial assistance grants; 85 percent of this went to HIV-AIDS patients.

The Actors' Fund of America was founded on the principle that the entertainment industry must help its own. Thus the organization is funded primarily by the private contributions of individuals, foundations, corporations, organizations, and unions. A major source of the funds comes from special performances of theatrical events, proceeds of which go directly to the fund. An annual Actors' Fund Benefit performance is mandated in the Equity contract of every Broadway show.

What did the Actors' Fund mean to Ulysses Dove? It meant immediate help with his everyday expenses during his darkest days. As Selby says, "They had no idea who he was. They just did it. It is an organization that treats its clients with dignity and offers helping care. They just took over." And to Ulysses Dove it meant, and continues to mean, even more.

THE AURORA

IN PRACTICAL TERMS the Actors' Fund was already in the "bricks and mortar" business of supportive housing when, in 1990, the fund's board and management took a fresh look at the agency's provision for shelter. Rent subsidies were consuming about half of all the financial assistance budget. Affordable housing initiatives became a top priority in New York City and Los Angeles.

After an intensive search, the fund settled on a building, the Aurora Residence, located at 475 West 57th Street in New York City. They have also acquired two properties in Los Angeles: the Palm View, which will house persons with AIDS, and the King's Road, which will offer housing for seniors, disabled people, and families. The Los Angeles properties are the next to be readied.

Originally, in the late eighties, the Aurora was being renovated to house luxury apartments when the housing market in New York City crashed; the renovations had been 90 percent completed. Since that time the premises have remained incomplete and empty. Through a complex arrangement of funding, partially provided by tax credits to its for--profit partner in the enterprise, the Related Companies, the building has been bought and reconfigured into 178 residential units of affordable housing. Rents will be in the $400-$500 per month range, and tenants must be prepared to accept the concept of shared living.

The Aurora is beautiful, spanking new, and shiny! The apartments have several configurations. The one-bedroom units are designed to house one person or a couple if both qualify. They comprise a living room, a small kitchen, a bath, and a bedroom; the two- and three-bedroom units are meant to be shared by multiple clients, with one living room, a full kitchen, and one or two baths. All units contain both a washing machine and a dryer. Many of the apartments have balconies, and spectacular views abound. Entering the lobby, one has no idea that this building differs in any way from other condominiums and apartment buildings.

It is the second floor which tells the full story. It will house social services for residents and the Actors' Fund volunteer initiative. There is a large community room, with a kitchen attached, for recreation and events, a library, consulting rooms, and a conference room. The social services provided will include information and referral to community resources, entitlement-program advocacy, coordination of home care and medical services, outreach, health education, and support groups.

An arrangement for on-site medical help has been made with nearby Roosevelt Hospital. The buddy. services include haircutting, massage therapy, and much, much more. Activities planned thus far include cooking classes, yoga, exercise class, writers' workshops, and special events. Bruce Adams, the highly experienced and sensitive property manager of the Aurora, expects that the list of activities will grow as the population grows, coheres into a community, and articulates its needs and wishes. (At this writing the building is not quite complete, and only the first ten or so tenants have actually moved in.) When I asked about dance classes, the idea was enthusiastically embraced, with a somewhat rueful plea for a volunteer instructor and a donation of a small sprung dance floor that could be installed over the cement.

How does one qualify for residence? By meeting set criteria. The potential client must have a low income and be either elderly, a working professional, or a person with AIDS. "Low income" is defined by federal guidelines for special tax credits as 60 percent or less of the median area income. Last year in New York City that translated into an annual income below $20,584. Once having met all of these criteria, applicants will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Application forms must be requested in writing.

Ulysses Dove, of course, has met all of these criteria and is now happily installed in the Aurora. He says, "It is a fabulous living space, an unbelievably wonderful home. What the Actors' Fund is doing is completely right, and they do it for the right reasons. They are there when they are needed, and the way they help is completely dignified. I have never felt so privileged, so settled."

THE RETIREMENT HOME

IN ADDITION TO the newly acquired Aurora, the Actors' Fund runs a lovely retirement home in Englewood, New Jersey, in a beautiful seven-acre setting on the former Hetty Green estate. Retirees need only to have spent a significant portion of their lives in a professional entertainment career and earned a living in their chosen field in order to be eligible. There is an adjoining facility for those with specific nursing needs, allowing spouses in differing states of health to live in contiguous accommodations.

Currently living at the Englewood site with her husband, Ned Lehac, is Jane Sherman, a former dancer who at age sixteen toured the Orient with the Denishawn Company. More recently, Shefman has authored several books, among them Soaring, the delightful diary of that tour, and she is still active as a coach for dances of that period. Sherman finds the residence "a unique place which solves the problems that face old people, and provides interesting companionship [in a like-minded community]. The facility has a magnificent library and a small theater in which AGMA puts on shows monthly. We've had several dance events; the Vanaver Caravan visited recently. I can even rehearse my dancers here."

THE EVENT

MARGARET SELBY wanted to show her gratitude to the Actors' Fund in a very concrete way. She is, after all, a producer by profession, and so she came up with a wonderful idea. Along with coproducer William Darnell she has organized an evening, "For the Love of Dove," in which "the choreographic genius of Ulysses Dove will be celebrated by some of the world's best dance companies in a stunning one-night-only performance at Lincoln Center's New York State Theater on Monday, June 17." In an unprecedented show of generosity, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, and Royal Swedish Ballet will all perform in the first-ever full evening devoted to Dove's work. Contribution levels are planned to range from $150 to $400,000.

The dances to be presented are: Urban Folk Dance, a pas de deux from Serious Pleasures, Vespers, Red Angels, and, in its United States premiere, Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven. Major entertainers will introduce each of the works. Thus far Gregory Hines, Celeste Holm, and Debbie Allen have accepted invitations to do so. "For the Love of Dove" has also enlisted many of the city's best restaurants, caterers, and floral designers to create spectacular pre- and postperformance gala events. Sweden's Princess Christina is serving as Honorary Chair, and illustrious cochairs to date include, among many others, Stephanie French of the Philip Morris Companies Inc., Irene Diamond, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Heather Watts, Jock Soto, the James M. Nederlanders, the Bernard B. Jacobses, Sweden's Consul General Dag Sebastian Ahlander, and all of the artistic directors of the participating companies--Frank Andersen, Jeraldyne Blunden, Judith Jamison, Peter Martins, and Kevin McKenzie.

Says Selby, "`For the Love of Dove' will be an incredible evening of dance as well as a philanthropic triumph. The goal is to raise one million dollars for the Actors' Fund, which has given so much support to Mr. Dove during his illness. Half [of the proceeds] will be used to fund existing Actors' Fund programs, and half will be used to create the Ulysses Dove Dancers Fund, a special fund which will be directed specifically toward helping dancers." Selby and coproducer Darnell look forward to continually feeding this endowment fund with the proceeds of annual dance events. It looks like it's the place to be on June 17.

Ulysses Dove's many friends and fans are uniting to give him, if only for one night, the dance company he has never had. With the creation of the Dove Fund, he will be honored for many years to come.

Muriel Topaz, a Dance Magazine associate editor, was director of the Juilliard School Dance Division (1985-92) and of the Dance Notation Bureau (1978-85).