Beloved dance instructor back, widens outreach

At Norfolk’s Attucks Theatre, about 20 elementary- and middle-school students pranced along the stage one recent Saturday morning. Clad in leotards and tights, they stretched against the original brick wall in the 93-year old-historically black theater and then lined up for warm-up exercises.

Gail Harts, their instructor, began to count. “Up. 1, 2, don’t let your heels come off the floor. Last time. Down, 2, 3, 4, stay. Uh-uh, stay down, stay down.

Keep those heels flat on the floor. Open your knees. Stay. You should have a flat back, ” she said while walking among the students.

Harts is a longtime Portsmouth dance instructor whose studio has produced Broadway stars such as “Dreamgirls” actress Adrienne Warren and “Memphis” performer Tiffany Howard. Harts has begun teaching free and low-cost classes through the Attucks Theatre.

Harts, who started on High Street in 1979 before moving to other locations, closed the studio in 2004 after tearing her Achilles tendon. Compelled by parents, Harts reopened in 2007 in Virginia Beach but moved back to Portsmouth in November. The studio is at the Renaissance Performing Arts

Dream Center, known as R.P.A.D. on Victory Boulevard.

“Portsmouth gave me my start. When I started here, I didn’t know anyone,” the New Orleans native said.

“The people here, they embraced me and helped me to grow.”

The Attucks programs allow her do to community outreach through the nonprofit arm of Gail Harts Performing Arts Group.

Monty Ross, operations manager at the Attucks, said the community classes are a part of the theater’s mission to reach at-risk children from low-income neighborhoods. He pointed out the handful of nearby public housing and mixed-use communities.

“Our mission is basically to provide cultural enhancement to that underserved population,” he said.

Attucks’ students pay $35 a month, but many receive scholarships to attend, Ross said. Studio students pay about $150 a month, Harts said.

She also hosts free after-school sessions in the Attucks’ Heartbeat Dance program for Norfolk Public Schools elementary students. Having Harts lead the classes provides children with quality instruction whereas they might not otherwise have access or the means to afford it, Ross said.

Harts, 65, attended Southern University and has studied at Old Dominion University, but she learned to dance in New Orleans studios as a child.

She teaches several types including jazz, tap, liturgical and modern to students ages 2 and older.

Gabriel Skinner, 10, and her sister Zipporah Jackson, 8, huffed through the stretching exercises at the Attucks class. “They’re hard, but they’re good for us,” Gabriel said. They want to be dancers when they grow up.

During the warm-ups, Harts answered a call from a parent who planned to remove her child from the Portsmouth studio because of financial hardship. Harts wouldn’t hear of it.

“Send her to class,” Harts said through her cell phone. “Does she want to dance? Then don’t pull her. Even if I have to give scholarship,” her voice trailed off.

Parents like Sharon Prigrom, whose daughter Tiffany takes classes, appreciate Harts’ family-friendly approach.

“I had to go to work and I couldn’t get her to the studio on time. I used to drop her off (at Harts’ home) and Mrs. Harts would take her with no problem,” Prigrom said.

Harts eased into the routines for the Attucks youngsters, but she didn’t letup on the students in her advanced- class at a recent the Portsmouth studio session.

“Ready? And prepare,” as a pair of dancers stepped and twirled across the wooden studio floor.

“Keep going. Uh-uh come back. I wanna see you do it together. Step, step, step, step, step, step,” she said smacking her hands to the beat. They tried it again.

“Where are your arms with the chaînés?” she asked about the ballet move. She made them start over.

Harts said students often come to compete or do recitals, but that’s not what it’s all about.

“It’s work. They have to learn terminology, technique,” she said.

When Harts took a break from teaching, longtime student and instructor Christin Thomas, 26, took over.

Thomas, who has lupus, said dancing helped her regain memory she lost after many seizures.

Returning to the studio boosted her health. “I got the strength back in my legs,” the Cavalier Manor resident said.

Although parents and students are grateful for Harts’ guidance and support, Harts said she too is thankful. “So many doors have been opened,” she said.

“Just to be able to do what I enjoy doing, it’s a passion.

For info on the dance group, call 410-8517.

Cherise M. Newsome, 446-2794, cherise.newsome@pilotonline.com