Concert, Talks Top OCC AIDS Awareness Week

The numbers are numbing, but they command respect. Figures released Friday from the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta now show a tally of 75,437 diagnosed cases of AIDS in the United States since 1981.

Fifty-six percent of that number--42,432 people--have died.

More than 25,000 full-blown cases--one-third of the total--have been diagnosed so far this year.

Orange County has been spared the brunt of the scourge. Still, more than 800 men, women and children in the county have contracted acquired immune deficiency syndrome, according to Pearl Jemison-Smith, chairwoman and a founder of ACTION--AIDS Coalition to Identify Orange County Needs.

“You just can’t keep up. The numbers just keep continuing to grow,” Jemison-Smith said in a recent phone interview. “It’s a countywide problem. If you look at the list of cities, you will find that there isn’t one city that is not affected.”

In an effort to help ACTION, the dance department at Orange Coast College will present concerts Friday and Saturday nights, with proceeds to go to the 4-year-old grass-roots organization.

Participants will include Rhapsody in Taps (formerly LTD/Unlimited), the Gloria Newman Dance Theatre, Ecos de Espana, Middle Eastern dancer Angelika Nemeth and instructor and composer Lisbeth Woodies, who will perform her own compositions.

Among the works will be several premieres, including Alvin Mayes’ “Rings and Doublings.” Mayes is a former OCC faculty member who now teaches at the University of Maryland.

“All of us have friends in the arts who have already been diagnosed with AIDS or have acquaintances who died,” said Karen Shanley, OCC dance department chairwoman.

“I certainly have friends in New York who have been heavily impacted by it,” Shanley said of the epidemic. “If that is any indication of what we have to look forward to, I think it’s time we got moving.”

Orange Coast College is making its move with AIDS Awareness Week, which begins with the dance concerts. Among other events scheduled will be two talks by San Francisco Chronicle reporter Randy Shilts, author of “And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic.” Shilts will give a talk entitled “The History of AIDS” at 11 a.m. Monday at the Robert B. Moore Theatre, and at noon on Monday he will talk about “Investigative Journalism” at the Student Center Lounge. Both talks are free and open to the public.

As for the dance concerts, Shanley said that she is hoping they will raise “at least” $5,000. (ACTION has raised about $8,000 in donations so far this year, according to Jemison-Smith.) The group provides educational services and coordinates informational meetings for the public in general and for those affected by AIDS in particular. It also lobbies on behalf of AIDS patients before government agencies.

“We would be happy if it goes above that,” she said. “We have kept our expenses to a minimum. The performers are all donating their time. The costumes are from pieces already performed, so we didn’t have to do a lot of investing there. And people have been very generous in not giving us bills to pay.

“We didn’t want to focus the concert on the negative aspects of AIDS. “There are definitely enough of those. We hope that by dancing, we could bring people’s attention to the situation. . . . It is our way of exciting interest in the idea of life and love and to show our support for those people who have AIDS.”

But Shanley said she also hopes that the concerts will be educational, an important priority for her. She believes that many college students regard AIDS as “definitely a gay disease that won’t affect them.”

“I have a daughter who is 20. I’m concerned that she and her age group are not paying attention because they think it’s not relevant to them. It has not hit them because so often there is that waiting period--5 years, or whatever. They’re now people. They are not concerned about what is down the road for them. . . . A lot of people don’t even consider that some HIV-infected babies are being born or even that people have gotten the disease through blood transfusion.” Jemison-Smith said her involvement with ACTION grew out of her job as infection control nurse at UCI Medical Center.

“I was . . . lecturing on hepatitis,” she said. “It was a sort of a logical progression to (involvement with) AIDS. It sort of just happened.

“The purpose of the organization is to network and to determine what the needs are in the community. We’re just trying to put out the fires as they arise.

“One thing about this epidemic: It wears you out. There is no end. You have to take care of yourself or there is the tendency to burn out. The dance concerts will be a way to celebrate rather than just to have negative thoughts about AIDS.”

ACTION coordinates regular information meetings from noon to 2 p.m. on the fourth Wednesday of the month at the American Red Cross, 600 N. Parkcenter Drive, Santa Ana. The meetings are open to the public.

Asked her opinion of the response to the AIDS crisis in Orange County, Jemison-Smith said: “Schizophrenic is probably the best way to describe it. We see certain areas and groups of people who are very responsive, warm and caring. Then we have the exact opposite. . . .”

Jemison-Smith, who described herself a “grandmother twice over,” said, “I do worry. I am concerned. I want to get this kind of thing under control.”

The Orange Coast College dance department concerts to benefit ACTION (AIDS Coalition to Identify Orange County Needs) will be at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Robert B. Moore Theatre on the campus, 27801 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. Tickets are $25, reserved; $10, general; $8, students. For information, call (714) 432-5880.