Dance Facility Gets Assist From L.A. : Dance: Community Development Department grants a $176,000 loan to save the repair-needy South-Central L.A. studio.

Lucky for L.A. Contemporary Dance Theatre, the company was on the verge of losing its studio.

In 1989, Lula Washington, artistic director of the modern dance company, and her husband and company executive director, Erwin Washington, purchased the building--a crumbling former Masonic Lodge on Adams Boulevard in South-Central Los Angeles that they had rented since 1982--to save it from the wrecker’s ball. But by the end of 1990, the center once again faced possible extinction because balloon mortgage payments of $50,000 were coming due--money the struggling company didn’t have.

And the city was demanding that the Washingtons, who had mortgaged their home and put their personal finances in jeopardy to buy the $225,000 facility, come up with the $200,000 or more needed to bring the building up to city earthquake reinforcement and safety standards.

But immediate mortgage debts and structural deficiencies actually worked in the company’s favor. The fact that the building--not just the dance troupe itself--was threatened has allowed the company to tap into an unusual source of funds to save the dance center: the City of Los Angeles Community Development Department, which granted the company a $176,000 loan to save the studio.

The Community Development Department usually concerns itself with buildings, not art. For an arts organization to get a loan from the community development department--rather than the city’s traditional source of arts funding, the cultural affairs department--it must compete with community centers, youth and child care services and senior citizens’ programs. Like those organizations, to qualify for such funds, the building must be owned by a nonprofit organization.

Because of that competition, L.A. Contemporary Dance Theatre was at first turned down for the loan. But that was before Councilman Robert Farrell of the 8th District, chairman of the city’s grant committee, pushed for a facilities matching loan on the grounds that it represented not only an arts organization, but also a neighborhood community center (the center is in the 10th District, but draws students from all over the city).

“The point to its survival is that it’s a black institution in town, and those organizations need watching out for,” Farrell said. “It was a worthy project . . . did I intervene to make this one happen? Yes.”

Gloria Clark, director of human services and neighborhood development within the community development department, said that the dance facility’s location in a neighborhood with at least 51% low-to-moderate-income households, its low-cost after-school dance programs for “latchkey” kids (“I Do Dance, Not Drugs”) and the Washingtons’ willingness to make studio space available to other dance companies and local theater groups gave it an edge in getting the grant. She added the need for structural repairs helped solidify the company’s need.

Now, with two anniversary concerts coming up this weekend at Southwest College, L.A. Contemporary Dance Theatre will be celebrating more than the company’s 11th birthday. The cash infusion will allow the Washingtons to retire all mortgages on the building--providing they continue to serve as a community resource for the next 20 years. The $176,000 from the city represents a $100,000 cash grant plus a $76,000 loan to be paid in monthly installments.

“We’re going to tear up the mortgage,” said a jubilant Lula Washington at a recent conversation at the center, a two-story storefront building with two run-down but usable wood-floored dance studios upstairs and two cavernous empty spaces downstairs just waiting to become theaters, performance areas, and storage rooms. “Since we’ve never really celebrated it, we thought this would be a good time to do that (with the performances).”

Despite the loan, money remains a problem in the dance community, the Washingtons said. Dancers in their company still receive only $150 per concert and a $20-a-week stipend, leading many to succumb to the lure of Hollywood. “They rehearse about 20 hours a week--that’s about a dollar an hour,” Erwin Washington said ruefully.

L.A. Contemporary Dance Theatre performs at 8 p.m. tonight and at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Southwest College--Little Theater, 1600 W. Imperial Highway. Information (213) 932-8500.