THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 17, 1996 TAG: 9604170051
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUE VANHECKE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
SIX YEARS AGO Frank Bove packed up his wife, infant son and three cats and drove all the way from sunny California to Norfolk to take over a foundering ballet school thousands of dollars in debt.
Since then, Bove has put Virginia Ballet Theatre, formerly Tidewater Ballet Association, in the black. He's on the brink of making it the only professional dance company in Hampton Roads.
Tonight's ``International Evening Of Dance'' - presented as part of the 43rd annual International Azalea Festival by Virginia Ballet Theatre, the Royal Netherlands Embassy and Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce - will spotlight Bove's Virginia Ballet Theatre as an emergent force on the regional arts scene.
The gala event reunites several VBT veterans who've gone on to acclaimed professional work, showcases esteemed guest artists - including dancers from the Dutch National Ballet Company and prestigious Erick Hawkins Dance Company - and features the world premiere of ``Carnival,'' with choreography by Bove and music by local composer Adolphus Hailstork.
Returning to the Norfolk stage will be Michael Barriskill of the Houston Ballet and Broadway production of ``Cats,'' Stacy Caddell of New York City Ballet and the Twyla Tharp Dance Company and Lorraine Graves of Dance Theater of Harlem.
``This is really an important event,'' Bove said recently. ``It's sponsored locally, it's bringing back dancers that are alumni and (it shows) that we can do good dance here.''
And Bove believes VBT can consistently deliver that good dance.
The school's artistic director and resident choreographer explains his vision for VBT - which currently trains close to 300 pupils - as ``a corps of fully paid dancers who are more than just excellent students. I'd like to start expanding the repertoire; it's been a goal - like getting a Balanchine piece - and we'd need to have those dancers there to do that. That validates you.''
So what's keeping VBT from achieving pro status?
``Money, primarily,'' Bove said, `` and getting support'' from patrons, the community and media. ``That's been our job for the last five years. The first part of the job was getting rid of $23,000 worth of debt. We've turned that around 200 percent, we're financially sound.
``(Consequently), grants and donations have all been growing, slowly but surely. It's been slow growth, which is good, because we're building a base of support.''
Part of the support-seeking has included non-paying, exposure-building performances at civic functions, grass-roots gigs like Norfolk's ``Grand Illumination'' festivities and holiday recitals at the zoo.
Bove has also been cultivating strong alliances with other local arts organizations, furnishing dancers and choreography for groups including the Virginia Symphony and Virginia Opera, which has helped to boost Virginia Ballet Theatre's credibility as well.
``We get the work out fast and efficiently and it looks good when it's done,'' Bove says with confidence. ``We've wanted to be a constant presence everywhere so there would start to be the recognition that Virginia Ballet Theatre is here - it's good, it's something real and it's something worth doing.''
Bove's focus was anywhere but on dance as a speech communications major and wide receiver for the football team at Arizona State University. A transfer to a New Jersey school and acting classes in New York City led to musical theater work.
Bove stumbled onto ballet when he lent his athletic talents - he could lift the female dancers - to a college dance production. Within a year he was on full scholarship at the Joffrey Ballet School and went on to dance as a soloist and principal artist with the Cleveland, Milwaukee and Colorado Ballets, as well as the Nevada Dance Theatre.
While co-directing a successful regional dance company and school with his wife in Pomona, Calif., Bove was contacted by his good friend Glenn White. White, a former dancer with the Joffrey Ballet who trained at the Tidewater Ballet Association, was now the school's artistic director.
Having just been diagnosed with full-blown AIDS only months after the school's founder, Gene Hammett, died in 1989, White was calling to ask Bove to take over. Bove accepted, and quickly learned both the pros and cons of the school.
He explains: ``It's been around for 35 years. Famous for training dancers - with well over 200 students going on to professional careers or training programs - and always known for that. On the other hand, always known for being terribly fiscally irresponsible.''
The school, which Bove renamed Virginia Ballet Theatre to create a stronger identity, had also been working toward becoming a pro corps, he says, and ``in a way, I'm shocked and astonished that it didn't happen, because they were really in a position to do that in their best years.
``Now we're at those best years that they had, and we want to take the next step.''
Bove's success in his quest for professional standing for Virginia Ballet Theatre would fill a gaping void in the area's cultural life.
``You've got an opera, a symphony, the Stage Company, even professional sports in town,'' Bove says. ``There's no reason why there shouldn't be a professional dance company. I know we've got the contacts, the knowledge and the leadership to do it. Now it's just a question of getting the support.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
by CNB