THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507210082
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 145 lines
TEMPERATURES in the Norfolk State University dance studio are hovering between 93 and 1,000 degrees and the pretty ballerinas aren't feeling very pretty.
Several 6-ish dancers lean against the barre, pulling at the holes in their tights to let in more air. The graduation recital is just a couple of days away, and some of the older girls tug at their braided hair in frustration, staring off into space, while sweat trickles down their necks.
But before the 40 dancers of the Norfolk State University Urban Academy melt into the wooden floor, instructor Dianne Maroney swoops in and senses what they need. It isn't water.
``I WANT TO SEE YOUR DREAMS!!!'' she announces, spreading her arms wide.
``I want to SEE them.''
Almost instantly, the barre is free. The dancers move into place, their toes pointing a little more sharply, their fingers a bit more dainty than moments before. The tiniest dancers lift their chins and knees and begin to prance as if walking to THE ball. Whatever those dreams are, they must be lovely.
``To see their dreams,'' Maroney explains, ``is to give the babies images, so that each person has a goal.
``To give them a purpose'' - Maroney strikes an elegant pose - ``that dream of what they want to be'' - another pose, and her body stills, her chest pushed to the sky, her face proud - ``and then they can dance.''
Maroney has been a believer in dreams for many years, ever since hers took the Norfolk native from one of the city's public housing communities to one of the world's most prestigious dance companies. Now a full-time choreographer, the 44-year-old stays busy with requests for her teaching around the country, but she returns home each summer to work with academy, a group of kids who come from the communities bordering the college campus.
Here, Maroney can pass along her dreams.
``My mom used to tell me, `You don't have this, but you will.' I try to give my students that,'' Maroney says.
``When the classes first started, some of the kids couldn't kick. They couldn't jump. But now they're leaping and twirling,'' Maroney says, the thoughts giving her chills.
``It makes you cry.''
Maroney got her first dance lessons growing up in Diggs Park, now known as Diggstown, in the '50s.
``All the kids danced in the projects,'' Maroney says.
Soon, adults noticed her abilities.
``My baby sitter, Vivian, was teaching me to swing dance one day and stopped and said, `How can you pick up these steps so quickly? You're only a little kid. How do you do this stuff?'' Maroney remembers.
``Or I usually only had to see a dance once before I could do it. All I can say is that I've always had a natural ability with dance.''
But it wasn't until she was 14 that Maroney began to take dance seriously. A chubby girl who had played viola and the French horn in the school band, she noticed a friend trotting to a dance studio once a week. One day Maroney decided to go to the studio herself, and there she met a local legend, Thaddeus Hayes.
``I had the opportunity to see him, watch him dance,'' Maroney says, putting her hand to her heart. ``Whew.''
``He had such charisma, such stage presence. I remember watching him performing something emotional and just crying.''
Maroney quickly progressed, often performing duets with Hayes. She graduated from Crestwood High School and enrolled at Norfolk State University in 1969, studying with dance instructor Inez Howard.
``She was so challenging. Every other step was something different,'' Maroney says. ``Back in those days, we didn't have a studio. The area was a concrete floor, a balcony overlooking the basketball court, with football players and cheerleaders coming and going. Sometimes it was 12 o'clock at night and we didn't even know it because we were having so much fun.''
Howard says she noticed Maroney's potential during her freshman year.
``I sort of knew it would happen,'' Howard says. ``At the time she had a weight problem and I knew if she could conquer that she'd be unstoppable. She never got tired of working.''
Maroney joined the Tidewater Dance Theater while studying at NSU but soon began to dream of dancing in a national troupe.
``I had a friend audition with Alvin Ailey and got the idea that I could do this,'' Maroney says. ``Mrs. Howard introduced me to Dan Wagoner (who owned a New York dance company) and I sort of blurted out, `If I could find a place to stay, could I study with you?'
``He said, `Sure, I'd be happy to have you.' ''
In 1973, Maroney left Norfolk to make a life of dance in New York, dreaming of dancing with Ailey. But she soon became the proverbial starving artist.
In exchange for the scholarship with Wagoner, Maroney answered phones and cleaned studio floors. She received a partial scholarship to the Dance Theater of Harlem and took classes at Joffrey Ballet - all while working at a department store and a day-care center to pay rent. She auditioned again and again, only to be rejected.
Her sister and mother sent a steady stream of support.
``I used to help my mom send Dianne care packages. Pretzels, canned goods, soup, beans, anything we could find and ship,'' says Dee Hunt, Maroney's younger sister. ``I told my mom, `I thought you did this for the poor.' She said, `Your sister is poor and struggling in New York.' ''
The struggling began to pay off in 1973, when Maroney had the chance to audition with the second company of the Alvin Ailey American Dance company.
``They called out the numbers (of those selected), but they didn't call mine,'' Maroney says. ``But then they said, `Don't go away.' They called six other numbers for scholarships. Mine was one of them.''
Within weeks, Maroney was a soloist with the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, traveling to Japan, Hong Kong, India and France to dance. Ten years later, Maroney was assistant director and faculty member for the group.
During one of the company's performances in Louisiana, Maroney learned of a teaching position at Grambling State University and considered leaving her international career.
``My father used to ask me, `What are you going to do if you ever break your leg?' I realized that I had traveled all around the world and had all of this technical training, but I didn't have the fundamental knowledge,'' Maroney says.
``I had done what I had gone to New York to do. I got what I wanted, more than that. I needed to do this.''
Maroney received her bachelor's degree in theater from Grambling in 1989 and a master's in speech from Louisiana Tech University in 1992. But she didn't give up dancing. That same year, Maroney became director of the Orchesis Dance Company at Grambling and a dance teacher at the school of performing arts at Louisiana Tech.
For the past two years, Maroney's original ballets ``Red'' and ``World Hunger'' have been honored by the Southwestern Regional Ballet Association in Texas. The Louisiana Dance Theatre of Shreveport, under Maroney's instruction, recently became the only American company invited to perform at the 1995 Dance World Congress in Nagoya, Japan.
The group doesn't have the money to attend the festival, but Maroney has other dreams to fulfill, she says. Gaining top honors at the Southwestern Regional Ballet Association this year. Choreographing a 30-minute ballet. Expanding the NSU Academy.
``We need to share and expose this to kids, especially when they know what it is that they want to do,'' Maroney says. ``In New York, I knew what I wanted to do and I saw myself doing it. If you can see it, you should be able to do it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
RICHARD L. DUNSTON/Staff
``I want to see your dreams!'' Dianne Maroney tells students at the
Norfolk State University Urban Academy.
Maroney works with Eugene Mason, 8. The 44-year-old former dancer
stays busy with requests for her teaching around the country.
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