An Homage to Beginnings: Aerial Dance Company: The First Seven Years 1986-1993

Dedicated to Judy, Billy & Max

Retirement Day #2251

Introduction

Classes began at Hope College last week and, for the 7^th year, I’m not there. Where AM I? sitting on our deck enjoying a lightly breezy, beautiful late August afternoon, recovering from a satisfyingly sweaty ride on StarBucks, my horse. I’m NOT in rehearsal, meeting with advisees, writing last minute curricula/syllabi, or running a Departmental meeting where, to all intents and purposes, the sacrificial chicken is beheaded in the middle of the conference table, only to run around flapping its distressed wings and bleeding to death. It will flop down at the end of the semester- Drained. Kaput. At the beginning of the next semester, it will re-appear -magically resurrected, Phoenix-like- entering the first meeting refreshed and gung-ho, only to be ambushed and beheaded all over again. It’s called “Academia.”

And I’m not there.

But I always say a prayer for the students, the dedicated faculty, and yes, even the administration. It’s a worthy, noble and joy-filled enterprise, this messy business of Higher Ed., where discoveries, creativity and training have a collective opportunity to bloom – sometimes it’s a rose, an orchid, a zinnia, a sweet little petunia, or a shrinking violet – even corpse flowers emerge on rare, stinky occasions. But learning, in all its sweaty, smelly glory, happens. I truly appreciate the curiosity and passion of students and deeply admire the dedication, knowledge, talent and generosity of the faculty.

Every new beginning stands on the shoulders of old beginnings. So, for this new semester, fall 2025, I offer a look back to a time when the Dance Department had just merited its Major, and a fledgling company was about to take flight.

Why Now

Spring of 2024, as I re-created “En Passant” for Dance 50, I realized that most Hope College dance students and faculty have no idea that anything before “H2” [the pre-professional company affiliated with the dance program] existed in the dance department. So much of what current students benefit from was forged in the late 1980s on the backs of a small cohort of bygone and for the most part unremembered artists. From 1986-1989, formative works such as “Mercy St.”, “The Last Wound Up,” “Aerial Boundaries,” “Private Treasures,” “Rain Dogs,” and “Chair Study” put Aerial on the Michigan dance map. Some of those artists are gone now- Judy Brooky died April 1998 of breast cancer. Billy Mayer died in 2017. Maxine [Max] DeBruyn died December 2020. I miss them all.

This story is for them.

In the beginning……

I joined the Hope dance faculty in 1983. It was a rough beginning. The madwoman/visionary who hired me, Maxine DeBruyn, also terrorized me [not intentionally, it was just her way] – I literally looked for her car when I came to work, just to prepare myself for a possible hallway “meeting.” Administrative support was sketchy at best- i.e. my office was a closet off the main Dance studio. I once overheard an administrator ask, “what does a dancer need with an office?” sigh I was contracted to teach 8 courses per semester and choreograph a ballet piece and a jazz piece for each spring concert.

Maxine DeBruyn [1937-2020] founder of the Hope College Dance program in Holland, MI

Trained in ballet, numerous forms of modern, jazz, tap, musical theater, stage combat, plus cultural, historical, social forms, martial arts, gymnastics, figure skating, etc. I was [and continue to be], curious about exploring movement forms. Given this range of movement vocabulary, I can “choreograph on demand,” but choreographic work defined by a singular technical style does not offer a fulfilling artistic outlet. I prefer to use whatever movement is in my arsenal plus the experiences that my dancers bring to the table to explore movement ideas, concepts, and whatever it takes to tell an abstracted embodied story, evoke a feeling or convey a dynamic image. Artistically I never felt bound to create using a particular technical form, but at Hope, I was contractually obliged to choreograph a “ballet” piece and a “jazz” piece, as one would for a community studio recital. Artistically I felt stifled. And I missed performing.

Moving to Holland, MI in the early 1980s from NYC, NY also found me struggling in other ways: 25, single, educated, super-needy and embalmed in self-doubt, I was a lonely mess. Billy Mayer, who was on faculty in the Art Dept. was the first person I met at Hope who became a true friend, a creative collaborator, instigator, inspirator, and someone who didn’t question my creative approach. Lay-people have a lot of weird misunderstandings and frustratingly ignorant ideas about “dancers” – at conservative Hope College those judgements were highlighted with a patina of righteousness, grounded in that covertly cherished conservative Christian idea that dance is a sin. A fellow “outsider,” Billy didn’t hold to this, and it was immediately clear that with him and his [then] wife Chris, plus the circle of artists they introduced me to- I could be my artistic self – exploring, creating, bouncing movement ideas around without fear of condescending, dismissive statements like “but dancers don’t do that” [this from those who would often precede this statement by proudly stating “I don’t dance, but….”]. Billy introduced me to my tribe.

The Company:

From 1985-1989, Billy and I collaborated on two pieces. Inspired by the first chapter of Ray Bradbury’s book “Dandelion Wine”, the first piece Billy and I collaborated on involved a big dancing chair, a tornado, and a little cone-headed bumblebee running man we named “Buzzby.” Supported by a Hope College faculty development grant that Billy and I drafted on a napkin in dive bar by the railroad tracks near Hope, “DW” premiered in spring 1986 for Dance 12, disguised as my “jazz” offering. I persuaded the student dancers [including later Aerial co-founder Kate McGory and company member Peter Boundy] to stay through early June, when we performed on a rickety side stage for the GR Arts Festival – June 4, 1986. Kate and I decided to keep creating together- and our duet “Aerial Boundaries” popped up; Kate’s connections with the Arts Council found us performing “Dandelion Wine,” “Aerial Boundaries” & other dances on the grass in Centennial Park.

We decided to call ourselves “Aerial” because I’d just gotten my pilot’s license and we liked the idea of flight, cutting “Boundaries” because it sounded limiting. Max, ever supportive, suggested we involve a 3^rd; she introduced us to Judy Brooky, who was working hard to develop a dance program at Muskegon Community College.

As Kate said about that seminal time, “We became fast friends. Clowning around with Billy Mayer, Richard Smith, and Perry Landes and making new friends with Judy [Brooky] Green in Muskegon, we created magical collaborations with the Art and Theatre Depts. Drawing on student talent to round out pieces and performing everywhere in every venue we could book was unhindered and abject fun. Max was carefully advising and began melding us into a dance company connected to HOPE, another fruit of her years of labor.  As we played in the studio doing crazy things like “RainDogs,” “Private Treasures,” “Mercy Street,” and “Chair-Study,” the gift of love, vision, perseverance, and friendship blossomed. Aerial Dance Company was the culmination of collective breaths and movements. It became a collective energy for telling stories and sharing the gift of dance with the people who mattered most to us. Is it not true that "Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come?" Victor Hugo (or Maxine DeBruyn) whoever came first!”

Judy, Kate and I started regularly rehearsing in the fall of 1986, with no real clear idea of anything in mind. I created “The Last Wound Up” that fall. 1987 was particularly productive: “Rain Dogs” [originally created for Dance 13 spring of 1987] joined the repertory; Kate & I created “Mercy St.” & Judy’s “Private Treasures” – an homage to her new creative friends – both came spring of 1987. Later, “Mercy St.” won the Michigan Dance Council’s New Choreographer’s award, “Private Treasures” received honorable mention. Paula Kramer of Detroit Dance Collective, Pat Knowles (U f IL) were enthusiastic and supportive. Interestingly, Hope College? Not so much, although Max could have shut us down, and was likely encouraged to do so if we didn’t involve students soon. Max was walking a tricky administrative line, given the institutional ambivalence about a dance.

Judy Brooky Green [1950-1998] in "The Last Wound Up"

L-R: M. Linda Graham, Kate McGory Fornarotto, Judy Brooky Green in "Private Treasures"

Kate McGory Fornarotto and M. Linda Graham in "Chair Study"

Taking Flight

For those first few years, thanks to Judy’s Muskegon Community College connection, we found production support and encouragement [thank you Rich Oman!], at MCC’s OverBrook Theater. Our repertory and reputation developed: Aerial officially premiered as a company on June 12, 1987. Billy connected us with Elona Van Gent [painting]- then director of Race St. Gallery/Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts in Grand Rapids. At that time, Race St. occupied an industrial space next to a railroad, just off the 1-96 Fulton St. exit in a building that used to be occupied by Consumers Power. The venue was a black box with minimal lighting and no backstage crossover, but Perry Landes from Hope Theater made it work, and set designer/sculptor Richard Smith was a cheerleader.

We performed John Fanthorpe’s “Losin’ the Grip” – plus he did a solo – “Give My Regards to Wall St.” We also did Judy’s “Private Treasures” and Judy performed “Soliloquy”- an homage to a new sweetheart; we performed “Mercy St.,” “Last Wound Up,” & the kicker was “Rain Dogs,” where Billy joined us for an epic moment on his “air” guitar.” It was a good show. We were elated afterwards, giddy with the reception and positive reviews.

Billy Mayer [1953-2017] as Air Guitar Man in "Rain Dogs"

For the next few years, we continued to perform at OverBrook. Pete Boundy recalled, “I stepped into a spot with Aerial early-ish, but not quite at the beginning. Linda and Kate had already had a year to move the troupe from an idea to having a small repertory. I was delighted to be included as a part of what I saw as a giant evolutionary step in the dance scene in the local area. A modern dance troupe that might be associated with an institution, might have access to their facilities… but a troupe that was an independent entity, moving into a gap Michigan didn’t know existed. Those were some heady days. Performing at Summerfest, Race Street Gallery, and any little venue or event that could fit in a small gaggle of dancers, we brought Modern Dance off the campus and out into the community spaces. (And yes, by golly, it was “modern dance”. “Modern dance” is a thing, we didn’t care if you thought it was supposed to be called “interpretive dance”!) We weren’t even the kind of dancers that they might have seen before. We were not the calm focused ballerinas or chattering pre-teen tap dancers. No, we were people who talked about regular stuff and then went on stage and told stories or displayed moods that everyone could relate to. We danced to music that you might have heard on the Top 40 station last year. Then we danced to music the likes of which you’d never heard. We made it beautiful, or thought-provoking, or sometimes even a little disturbing. But we were never ever part of a formulaic pattern. And that was part of the magic of being in Aerial. We might have had our feet firmly on the stage floor, but we were in flight inside.”

Transitions

With her first diagnosis of breast cancer, Judy stopped performing with the company by 1990. Kate started graduate school at the University of Michigan in Dance; her last performance with Aerial was in Saginaw, MI in 1992. Steven Iannacone, who was to carry the torch forward, started performing with Aerial fall 1990-his first semester on faculty at Hope. Starting in 1993 He moved to a year-round appointment with Hope and became co-director of Aerial. In 1993 we changed the name of the company to Aerial Dance Theater to more accurately convey its evolving aesthetic.

Aerial Dance Company was no more, but it’s legacy lives on today through H2.

Notes:

Aerial Dance Company: 1986-1993

Aerial Dance Theater: 1993-2005

InSync formed in 2001, founded by Dawn McIlhargey and Terri Filips to showcase Jazz and Tap

Aerial became DanceProject in 2005 - the company came fully under Steven’s artistic direction

Dance Project & InSync combined in 2017 to become H2

1994-2004: Steven became co-director just in time for my personal life to fall apart. Although I stayed with the company until 2004, my role necessarily diminished; but I did create a few more pieces, including “Just Dust,” “Add On/Of Being,” “Interview with a Child,” “Do You Hear the Angel’s Wings,” “Red Wolf” and “Iris Mae Precious.”  

Re: workload: Affiliate companies were not a recognized part of faculty workload until the early 2000s, when the inclusion of students and the value of the technical/performance and touring experience for their education became obvious. Hope provided rehearsal space, but until 1992, productions were not supported on campus; generally, productions and most expenses [i.e. housing, travel] were covered by performance earnings.