Local Students Help Eisenhower Dance Ensemble Mark 20 Years

Laurie Eisenhower, founder and artistic director for the famed Detroit-area dance troupe, Eisenhower Dance Ensemble (EDE), has big plans for the program's 20th anniversary.

Now, advanced students from the EDE Center for Dance in Birmingham and Rochester will have the chance to perform Dec. 10 in Beverly Hills before eight dancers from the professional ensemble.

The 8 p.m. event at Seligman Performing Arts Center at Detroit Country Day School is part of a year-long "20/20" series of celebrations. The anniversary theme represents a focus on past highlights and a vision of the future. Bookings include shows in New York, Illinois, Minnesota and Ohio, as well as around Michigan.

"It's exciting to reach this landmark year," said Eisenhower, an Oakland University dance professor who started the company in Pontiac in 1991 with four dancers. "I'm proud that we've built an audience and evolved with the times, without getting stuck in a rut of presenting a limited style of dance. I'm also proud that we're able to pay dancers a living wage to develop and present their art."

The 55-year-old founder recalls early shows two decades ago "when we had 25 people in the audience, mainly friends and family members." On a brighter note, she remembers that in 1999 "we were jumping for joy the first time we sold out Macomb Center for the Performing Arts–and they have 1,200 seats."

Esteemed reputation

The ensemble is widely seen in the arts community as Michigan's premier contemporary dance company. In addition to Eisenhower's original works, the ensemble of five women and three men presents dances by guest choreographers including Oakland Associate Professor Gregory Patterson and Daniel Gwirtzman, a 1992 University of Michigan graduate now working in New York City. His latest dance, Encore, premieres at the Dec. 10 program. 

Eisenhower has received three creative artist grants from state arts foundations, as well as festival awards and an Outstanding Michigan Artist Award in 2003 from Governor Jennifer Granholm

The financial foundation is reinforced by all-ages instruction at a pair of centers, including one at 2171 Cole St. that opened in 2007.

"It was natural to come here because we have a large donor base in Birmingham," Eisenhower said.

is the setting for an annual fund-raising performance, scheduled April 8 next year.

The Cole Street center has two studios for classes in ballet, hip-hop, jazz and other dance styles, offered on weekdays and Saturdays in the Rail District neighborhood on Birmingham's east side.

Professional instructors

"I like coming here because it's convenient and I've made new friends," said Shannon Wright, 13, of Beverly Hills. She's studying advanced ballet technique with Meghann Hazelton, who graduated from Oakland's dance program last spring and is a trainee with the professional ensemble.

Other instructors at the center include ensemble members or experienced dancers whose lessons include anatomy knowledge as part of safe movement awareness. "We focus on technique and the expressive art of dance," said Eisenhower, "not competition like on TV. I never watch those shows, though they do bring a new audience to dance."

Barbara Schoen, a paid apprentice in the current ensemble, trained at EDE as a youngster.    

She and the seven other members will join alumni from around the country at an anniversary season gala April 16 at the Macomb Center, where several former members will be back on stage.

"I love my dancers," Eisenhower said. "It'll be great to see them again, and it's exciting to be here 20 years later."      

Earlier next spring, the company will be at the Detroit Opera House to present Motown in Motion on March 20.

"EDE is very much a Metro Detroit dance company," Eisenhower said, "and it will be fun to take dance inspired by the city's music to the heart of downtown."