SHUTTLE SERVICE TO & FROM THE 2008 AUTO SHOW.

Since 1948

RESTAURANT OF DETROIT AND TROY

Stevie Wonder.
Detroit will be the debut city for
a new production of Tally Beatty's
dance The Road of the Phoebe Snow
as planned by dancer-choreographer
Masazumi Chaya. Set to music by
Duke Ellington, the piece, performed
Thursday and Saturday, communicates
feelings of young people living near
city railroad tracks.
"The company that's coming to
Detroit is our main company with 30
dancers;' Luckman explains. "There
also is a second company that per-
forms all over the United States with
12 dancers. They go to the smaller cit-
ies and college towns:'
Luckman, a New York City native
and former dance teacher following in
her mother's footsteps, also has man-
agement responsibilities for the Ailey
professional school, which attracts
international students; extension
classes, which are open to the general
public; and community outreach
programs, which sent four dancers
into metro schools a month before the
Detroit appearances.
Luckman readily describes how she
and the late Alvin Ailey (he died in
1989) launched their very distinctive
careers at New York City's 92nd Street
Y, previously known as the Young
Men's Hebrew Association.
"I was a dance teacher right out of
college, the University of Wisconsin
in Madison, and I taught in several
places;' says Luckman, who associates
herself with Reform Judaism.
"The Y is home to a lot of modern
dance companies, and it will be 50
years ago in March that Alvin Ailey
had his first performance there. I'm

working on an anniversary celebration
that will continue for 18 months."
While working at the Y, Luckman
transitioned from teacher to adminis-
trator. She became head of the dance
center and studied not-for-profit man-
agement at Columbia University.
Luckman successively moved on
to posts as development director and
executive director of the Twyla Tharp
Dance Foundation before serving
as executive director of Volunteer
Lawyers for the Arts.
"I was teaching baton twirling when
I was 13, and I collected the money
and publicized new classes;' she
recalls. "I was really doing administra-
tion throughout my life and I think it
relates to the type of person I am."
The Ailey executive director, who
has served on the executive commit-
tees of Columbia University's Institute
for Not-for-Profit Management and
the New York City Arts Coalition,
in recent years has received the
Arts Management Award for Career
Service, the Arts & Business Council's
Encore Award for Arts Management
Excellence and the Signature Award
for Community Leadership from
the National Association of Women
Business Owners.
Since joining the Ailey Foundation,
Luckman recalls her most dramatic
project as overseeing the construction
of the Joan Weill Center for Dance,
the largest building in the country
dedicated to her favorite art form. The
center holds a small theater, 12 studios
and administrative offices.
It would seem that Luckman never
tires of the activities enjoyed in the
building, which is named after the
dance troupe's board chairman.
Luckman and her husband, dentist
and entrepreneur Paul Shapiro, take
salsa lessons as part of the extension
program.
"My granddaughter, who is 5, has
been studying in the Ailey program
called First Steps," Luckman says.
"She's in her third year and takes les-
sons on Saturdays. I often work on
Saturdays when she's taking lessons. I
see her and I love it."

❑

The Alvin Ailey American Dance
Theater performs Jan. 31-Feb.
3 at the Detroit Opera House,
1526 Broadway, in Detroit.
Performance times are 7:30
p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2
and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m.
Sunday. $23-$73. (313) 237-
7464 or www.MichiganOpera.org .

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January 24 • 2008

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