By Liz Monnier 12, 460 Days! WOW! 299,040 hours! Okay…. forget how many minutes. Thirty-Five years. On January 23, 1979 we were officially named a nonprofit organization. We’ve celebrated over the years with cakes and parties and today we are quietly sharing some delicious DeBrand’s chocolate on this ZERO degrees winter day. We started with offering eight classes per week, now it’s close to 30 onsite classes with outreach classes spanning throughout the city. Our $7,000 budget has grown to $478,000. None of us had any idea at the time that we would not only survive but thrive this long. The seed that grew into the Fort Wayne Dance Collective started in the summer of 1978 following a three-week modern dance workshop sponsored by the Women’s Bureau and taught by Diane Elliot. It was in the parking lot after it ended that five women hung around not wanting to leave until we had a plan for the future. To keep it simple we just decided to create a dance called “Women in Power.” Primarily choreographed by Ranny Levy we first rehearsed at the Unitarian Meeting House and performed at Artlink on December 9, 1978. Lisa Tsetse, Cathy Craighead, Loma Walker, Ranny Levy and myself wearing denim overalls danced our hearts out and once again asked ourselves “what is next?” What was next was filing papers, renting the upstairs of Artlink and starting our own organization. We had no phone, no computers, and no copy machine. We had a typewriter, a record player and a conga drum. Mostly though we had ideas and the energy to carry them out. We also had the support of the community, which we are SO grateful for. Thank you to each of you who ever served on the board or a committee, to those who took classes, performed in a concert, taught a class, bought a performance ticket, sewed a costume, made a donation, shared an idea, ran a video camera, applauded, gave a hug, helped with a mailing or worked backstage! 17,942,400 minutes…
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