
DATE: Thursday, August 28, 1997             TAG: 9708280546

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:  113 lines

MEMORIAL FOR A DANCER REMEMBERING AN INSPIRATION

Kathryn Therese Tussey's supple young body translated the emotional content of music into dips and pirouettes that could move an audience to tears of joy and sadness.

The 18-year-old Virginia Beach woman was one of the brightest young ballet stars ever to toe-twirl onto a Virginia Ballet Theatre stage, directors of the professional dance troupe say.

On Aug. 20, Katie Tussey died when she apparently fell asleep at the wheel of her car, skidded on a wet highway and crashed into a guard rail en route to Butler University's Jordan College of Fine Arts in Indianapolis, where she was to study classical ballet on a scholarship.

Her boyfriend of eight months, Adam Chandler of Virginia Beach, was traveling with her but was not seriously injured.

On Wednesday evening, more than 200 of those who loved Katie came together to celebrate her life, gathering for a memorial service at the Virginia Ballet Theatre's rehearsal studio on Olney Road where Katie had spent so many joyful hours.

When two of her fellow dancers performed to the sad strains of a song that spoke of angels, the tears of other friends flowed, and they hugged each other in grief.

But Katie's real legacy is one of love of life and her art, and of inspiration to others.

``I learned so much from her about how to lead my life,'' said Elisabeth Motley, 16, a close friend and fellow dancer at the ballet theater. Through Katie, Motley said, she learned to overlook small annoyances and to make the best of many situations.

Frank Bove, the ballet theater's artistic director, called Katie ``a bright light'' who touched numerous lives.

``She was a very old soul who had a lot to offer,'' said Bove, referring to Katie's maturity and wisdom. ``We were lucky to have had that opportunity. She's still with us.''

Bove saw Katie perform her own choreographed ballet, ``Eleven Homes, Eighteen Years,'' and remembers thinking: ``That openness. She's so good.''

Janina Bove, who co-directs the theater with her husband, described Katie as ``an incredible dramatic artist. She opened herself and let you into her inner being.''

Katie was the eldest child of David Tussey of Virginia Beach and Margaret Tussey of Jacksonville, Fla. The Tusseys are divorced, and Katie's 13-year-old brother, Justin, lives in Florida with his mother.

David Tussey, a retired Navy officer and computer consultant, spoke about his daughter Tuesday in his Salem home.

What he would miss most, he said, was the pleasing contrast in her personality - her dedication and commitment to ballet in contrast to her playful, witty nature. He showed a visitor a photograph of Katie at a recent picnic stuffing her mouth full of marshmallows.

``She was very serious about her dancing, but was at once both silly and insightful,'' said Tussey, just returned from his daughter's funeral the day before in Jacksonville.

Katie's mother, Margaret Tussey, who flew to Norfolk for Wednesday's memorial service, said her daughter's acceptance of people for themselves was one of the things that made her special.

Katie's bedroom is decorated with ballet posters and dried flowers from performances. A Hartford Ballet poster is a memento from her six weeks at the Connecticut school last summer. She had been dancing seriously from the age of eight.

The only logical explanations for the accident are that Katie either fell asleep at the wheel or let her attention wander from the road, said David Tussey, who was to have flown to Indianapolis to drive the car back to Virginia once his daughter was ensconced in her college dormitory.

``The tread marks leave the road slowly,'' said Tussey, who visited the crash site. ``There was an attempt to regain control, but the road was wet, and it was raining. She lost control, hit the guard rail. The impact was right at the driver's door. The only solace is that she was apparently killed instantly.''

Adam Chandler, 19, a visual artist and graduate of the Governor's School for the Arts, was on his way to study art at a Cincinnati, Ohio, academy.

Katie had come from Florida to live with her father in January 1996. She brought her love of ballet with her and quickly became a rising star in the Governor's School for the Arts.

She had that hard-to-define ability of the great artist of any genre to make transparent and visible her vulnerability, innocence and fragility, said Kathy Brenner, another of Katie's dance instructors at the governor's school.

Earlier this week, Katie's teachers and friends, other dancers at the theater, watched films of some of her performances. Her modern dance teacher from the Governor's school, Deborah Thorpe of Norfolk, was editing the clips to create a tape to present to Katie's father.

In June, Katie Tussey graduated with honors from Bayside High School and the Governor's School for the Arts. This spring, she played the lead role in ``The Abyss,'' performed by the Virginia Ballet Theater at the Harrison Opera House. One critic called her performance ``quite exceptional.''

Camilo Rodriquez, 20, of New York played the lead with Katie in the performance. He spoke of the tragedy earlier this week.

``It was a horrible thing, but at the same time . . . she was clear with herself and the world. Maybe she completed her mission. She danced and lived so well, experienced truth, and many don't. She was living instead of just going through life.'' MEMO: Virginia Ballet Theatre's upcoming production of Igor Stravinsky's

``The Firebird,'' scheduled for Sept. 27 at Chrysler Hall, will be

dedicated to Katie Tussey. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]

TAMARA VONINSKI/The Virginian-Pilot

From left, dancers Jenny Robinson, 15, and Kristen Leonard, 17,

embrace as dance instructor Leslie Vise grieves with Mary Wilson,

Leonard's mother, after Kathryn Tussey's memorial service Wednesday

in Norfolk.

Dancers with the Virginia Ballet Theatre in Norfolk mourn the death

of fellow dancer Kathryn Tussey, 18, at a memorial service Wednesday

at the dance troupe's rehearsal studio. Katie died in a car accident

last Wednesday.

TAMARA VONINSKI