In Studio F Classes, the Movement’s Toward Greater Discipline in Dance

Among the old movie posters and stills that cover the walls at the Debbie Reynolds Rehearsal Studio in North Hollywood there is a sign that reads, “Without Knowledge of Dance History We Are Creating a Bunch of Brainless Technical Wizards.”

Standing near the sign, dance veterans Rosemarie Rand and Joe Bennett say that message explains why they decided to lease space in the North Hollywood facility for their own “back to basics” dance school, Studio F.

“Kids today are raised on videos,” said choreographer/director Bennett, who was in the original cast of “A Chorus Line” on Broadway. “They don’t know good dance from bad, and we wanted to do something about that.”

“We get calls from kids who pick up on the latest video dance crazes and they don’t even know what to ask us for,” said Rand, former administrative director of the Roland Dupree Academy in Los Angeles, whose background is in classical ballet.

The phone rang, as if on cue. “Yes,” Rand answered patiently, “we teach dance. What kind of dance do Madonna and Michael Jackson do? That’s called jazz dance. Yes, we have jazz classes. What do you wear to dance class? Why, appropriate dance attire.” She hung up the phone, shaking her head. “They’re just not educated about dance.”

Bennett added: “A lot of teaching is second-rate because a lot of teachers are poorly trained and their students make mistakes that don’t get corrected. Often there’s no warm-up and that leads to dance injuries. The kids take a year of class, get work in a video and think they’re performers.

“We’re trying to interrupt that cycle by perpetuating the work of master teachers, people like Martha Graham, Lester Horton, Jack Cole, Matt Mattox and Eugene Loring. We’re a hands-on school here. Class stops dead in its tracks while we move or manipulate a body to make it artistically correct.”

Studio F came about as an offshoot of a conversation between Rand and Bennett nearly two years ago. “It was just this chance remark that came out of my face,” Bennett said. “We were talking about the state of dance education and I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if. . . ?’ It was one of those strange sillinesses, a laugh at the moment, but as we sat there and talked about a school and about our dream faculty, the idea began to snowball.

“We both understand so well the dance background we’ve come from. We agree about the importance of bringing dance back to the classic, the history, the discipline, back to things people don’t think are important and have ceased to teach.”

According to Rand, it took just one phone call to each prospective teacher for them to agree to join the new venture. Arrangements were made to lease a room at the Reynolds studio, a schedule was worked out and, within four months, in August, 1987, the school was open for business. Classes--including jazz, ballet, tap and modern--range in price from $6.50 for a single session to $81 for a 12-class series.

“We opened on the first day with no pre-enrollment and little advertising,” Rand said. “We didn’t know how many students would show up. We even brought a Scrabble set along, in case things were slow, but we never had time to use it. People just kept coming in.”

Since that first-day turnout of 50 students for eight classes, Studio F has kept growing. It is at maximum capacity with 47 classes a week, 16 teachers and an average class size of 10 to 15--small enough to provide an ambience of intimacy, according to ballet teacher Patrick Frantz, guest choreographer for the Los Angeles Chamber Ballet.

“Elsewhere the classes are larger and you use your time differently--you give more general criticism,” said Frantz, who teaches at two other Los Angeles schools. “Here there are fewer students, and teachers have more personal contact. You can suit the work to each student, like a private class.

“I find that people come to Studio F to have an overview of dance and they’re not hung up on any one style. It’s much less frustrating for the teacher because they don’t have that prima ballerina attitude. They’re here because they enjoy it, not to put on an act. We’re all here to serve dance, not the other way around.”

Rand said: “We don’t do aerobics or Jazzercise here. Our faculty members must know how to teach dance history, where it all came from. We have to hack the competition of all the other dance schools.”

Studio F must also deal with staff members who are successful in the entertainment industry. “If you have a really professional staff, you have to expect that they’ll sometimes go off for months to work on a movie, for example,” Rand said.

Another element that shapes Studio F’s atmosphere is its location in the Reynolds theatrical complex, which has long been home to acting, singing and dancing classes, auditions and rehearsals. Touring dancers from all over the world rehearse there, and many of them take classes at Studio F. “When the gypsies--the ‘survivors’--are around, they pass something on to the younger kids,” Rand said.

Modern dance teacher Doug Caldwell, who has taught at several local schools, said: “The whole building has a special aura because there’s so much going on. Our students are exposed to the auditions and to stars and shows rehearsing, and then they have this little world within a world, Studio F. In a way, it’s like an Old World environment. There’s an ‘anything goes’ quality. These people are open to allowing teachers to do what they want. There’s no pressure to do a certain style. You can create or experiment with something new.”

Studio F students respond positively to this artistic freedom. Suzanne Harrer says her jazz teacher, Alex Magno, gives “solid ballet technique combined with modern, flamenco and funk along with the jazz. His background is diverse and his floor work is unique--I’ve never seen that done before.”

Janet Rothermel, who dances in television commercials and industrial shows, and works out in other studios, said: “It’s convenient to come here. You don’t usually find this many different dance styles in one place. Besides that, Rosemarie and Joe know everyone’s names--that’s nice in such an impersonal business. It’s like coming home to be here.”

Tap teacher Jamie M. Pisano agrees with that assessment. Pisano, who danced in the movie “Tap” and has taught master classes throughout the country, says: “There’s a real closeness with the students. It’s a family feeling that reminds me of olden days in New York when I took class in tiny studios where you had to get along because you were sharing that space. That kind of warmth has gone out of the dancing school scene, but I still find it here.”