Vikki Baltimore-Dale: The continuum of her life

Steve Marcus

Vikki Baltimore-Dale, a UNLV dance instructor and choreographer, has collected many pieces of art from her students. “It’s amazing the talent people don’t use,” she said. “It’s dormant and it’s such an integral part of them. At the end of the semester I’m gratified because I see them gratified.”

By Kristen Peterson (contact)

Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Name: Vikki Baltimore-Dale, choreographer, professor

Age: 60

Education: Bachelor’s in dance education, University of Maryland; master’s in dance education, UNLV.

Getting into dance: “My mother saw ‘The Red Shoes’ and loved it. She didn’t have the money to go to dance classes so as soon as I was born and could walk, I would go to classes. She put me in everything except tap. We lived in Maryland, but she drove me to instructors in (Washington) D.C. She wanted me to be exposed. She didn’t want me to say, ‘I never had the opportunity to experience it.’ ”

Choosing a career: “Dance was there. I couldn’t think of anything else I wanted to pursue. But in college the focus was mostly modern. There was no ballet or jazz and I couldn’t really associate or connect. For four years I had not seen someone like myself on stage. Then one semester Alvin Ailey (dance company) came to the university. I saw them and thought, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ ”

Getting to Vegas: After college Baltimore-Dale danced with the D.C. Black Repertory Dance Company and George Faison Universal Dance Experience. She landed a role in the Broadway musical “Bubbling Brown Sugar.” She also danced in the movies “The Wiz” and “The Blues Brothers.” She came to Las Vegas for a temporary gig in 1982 — filling in for an injured friend in “Donn Arden’s Jubilee!”

At UNLV: She teaches dance technique and a course on African-American dancers and choreographers. Her office is crammed with artwork made by non-dance students studying the history of black dancers. Baltimore-Dale connects the students with dancers by connecting them first with their own creativity, whether it’s drawing, sculpting, painting, baking, sewing, puppetry or music. From this, she’s gained a museum of works, which includes paintings of Ailey, Josephine Baker and Peg Leg Bates. These are students, she says, who are studying to be accountants and engineers: “It’s amazing the talent people don’t use. It’s dormant and it’s such an integral part of them. At the end of the semester I’m gratified because I see them gratified.”

On choreographing: “That’s when I feel like I’m connecting. There’s a whole marriage that happens between the person watching, the performer and the choreographer. It’s a flow of life. The choreography is really what I love and feel. That is my mission.”

One of her pieces, “Continuum,” was created for the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Company. The Denver-based company will perform “Continuum” Oct. 9 at UNLV.

On “Continuum”: “I lost my husband five years ago. It’s about that whole thing of having to go on, keep moving. Life starts to adjust itself in different ways, but you still have to keep moving. There are hiccups, these moments of pause, but even during the hiccups there’s a continuum. You’re working it out or trying to work it out. You’re moving on.”

Dance in Las Vegas: “I would like to see more dance. For dance to survive and grow there has to be a sense of unity and respect. I’m not into supporting one thing and not another. I’m just looking for something that’s going to make me inspired.”

Other interests: Purple. She wears purple every day. Her home is filled with purple. Her UNLV office is filled with purple items — filing cabinet, pillows, vases, paper clips, photo frames and pencil holder. She also owns four dogs (three cocker spaniels and one Pomapoo) and has five fish tanks.

Sticking around? “For right now, but it’s a continuum.” (She laughs.) “I’m good, you know. I’m good. Vegas has been good for me.”