By Kevin Lee Associate Editor

For some of us, lines and categories don’t matter. Barriers are made to be broken and classifications bridged. For Mobile dancer and teacher Lea Herndon-Fox nothing else presents a greater challenge or better pursuit.

“I don’t see why things have to be done a certain way just because that’s the traditional method,” she explained. It’s evident in her work.

The coordinator of the Dance Center in Mobile, she arrived at that perspective from a lifetime immersed in the art form. Lea’s mother, Pamela Herndon, founded the center 35 years ago, and it practically insured that the young girl would meet success in similar endeavors. It apparently worked.

She moved from the usual gamut of childhood holiday appearances in Mobile Ballet’s “Nutcracker” to scholarships with Joseph Holmes’ and Gus Giordano’s troupes in Chicago. Herndon-Fox also studied in Alvin Ailey’s and Martha Graham’s respective companies in New York City before becoming the guest artist with Frank Hatchett at the The Broadway Dance Center. With East Coast accomplishments under her belt, Lea headed westward to Los Angeles to study in a pair of studios, one under the direction of Serge Rodunsky.

But her home called to her and Herndon-Fox returned southward to spread her love to younger generations. She taught in a variety of programs, was director of dance for the Futures Program (a federally funded curriculum in the Mobile County School System), an instructor with Mobile Ballet and a founding member and resident choreographer of Parapluie Dance Company.

Her journey home wasn’t complete, though. Herndon-Fox parted ways with Parapluie in 1996 to assume her mother’s duties at the helm of the Dance Center. It was the beginning of a fresh approach for the local institution.

Her feats with students at the Center have earned her local notoriety through shows combining elements of ballet and contemporary dance with less traditional musical pieces. Presentations can find her students moving to the strains of Ella Fitzgerald’s “Blues In the Night,” or Crosby, Stills and Nash’s “Helplessly Hoping,” Miles Davis’ “So What” or blues, bluegrass and other American musical forms. The presentations are amazingly professional, the dancers fluid among a wash of color and flowing fabric, striving to create a purity of beauty from human movement.

She’s obviously doing something right as the Center has former students performing professionally on Broadway and others who received scholarships to the Joffrey Ballet, the Boston Ballet and a variety of troupes in major markets across the nation.

Last Christmas, Herndon-Fox filled historic Murphy High School’s auditorium with folks who witnessed the first Mobile presentation this writer can ever recall of Duke Ellington’s oft-overlooked interpretation of “The Nutcracker.”

In addition, Herndon-Fox is helping to coordinate a drive to help the New Orleans Ballet Association and dancers affected by Hurricane Katrina. She will also be serving as local ambassador for National Dance Week, April 21-30.

However, her latest work seems tantalizing in possibility. “I want people to see things in new ways, to experience art with new eyes,” Herndon-Fox said.

She is presently busy combining disciplines perhaps never experienced by patrons. Lea has been working with local musicians, in particular guitarist Corky Hughes and percussionist John Milham, on something they have tentatively named “The Amalgamation Project.” The aim is to mix live contemporary music with dance.

“It’s something I’ve done before,” Herndon-Fox explained. “We won’t be doing as much improvisation as we would maybe with professional dancers, but it’ll still be live music as opposed to the recorded stuff so many people are used to.”

Lea hopes to mix other artistic mediums as well. “What I’d love to do,” she said, “is find a way to do it in a gallery somewhere. The trick would be finding one big enough to house a performance.”

Funding will undoubtedly be another feat. The dance instructor and Hughes are exploring non-profit status and possible avenues for monetary resources. It won’t be easy in a realm that is becoming increasingly tight-fisted under shrinking budgetary allocations from customary sources.

However, if Herndon-Fox’s record of resilience and drive are any indicator, she’ll find a way to fuse ideals with pragmatism and bring a dream to fruition.

Kevin Lee is Lagniappe associate editor. Contact him at klee@lagniappemobile.com.

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