Laurie P. Byrd is the artistic director of The Florida Ballet.
WHAT IS AN ARTISTIC DIRECTOR?
“In contemporary times, an artistic director’s hours are split between the office and the studio. I am responsible for how the production looks on stage. Sometimes it’s ballets that I choreographed, sometimes it’s work by a guest choreographer. I know who’s going to be cast, what they’re dancing, what they’re wearing, how they’re doing it, how it’s lit and I make up the dancers rehearsal schedules. On this end, I work with the board on fundraising, write grants with Susan [Adams, the administrative director] and handle budget development.” Resident choreographer is another of her titles. She teaches the daily company classes, sews costumes, hammers scenery or adjusts the lighting.
HOW LONG HAS
SHE BEEN DIRECTOR?
“My late husband and I started the company in 1979. We met at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. He was dancing there. I was a freelance choreographer and teacher.” Michael Byrd died in 1996 after a five-year battle with cancer. They have one son, Christopher.
HOW OLD IS THE FACILITY?
“The first part of the building was built in 1903; it was a dry cleaners. The whole building was completed in 1919. They were resident apartments at one time. We moved here at the end of 1982 after it had been empty four or five years. When we first moved in, the floors were absolutely black. But they were wooden floors with 17-foot ceilings, which is perfect for a ballet studio.”
WHAT IS YOUR LONG-TERM GOAL?
“We just finished our windows project. After that, we have plans to improve the front of the building. We’re taking it one project at a time, waiting to see what happens with the economy and the war.”
IS SHE FROM AN ARTISTIC FAMILY?
“My mother was a dancer and my father a musician. I had a talent for music, but this is more challenging. I’ve always gone down the road less traveled.”
WHAT TYPES OF ACTIVITIES?
“We have professional dancers, an ensemble of pre-professional dancers [most are in college], a professional training program — a school for serious students ages 8-18, a six-week summer intensive program, open Pilates classes, young people’s creative movement classes, brown bag concerts in April that offer sneak previews of shows and educational programs at schools.”
TALK ABOUT YOUR CLASSES
“Every student in the pre-professional group has me once a week. The more advanced students see me almost every day. It’s not only as a performing dancer — some of them want to go into choreography, some of them want to go into arts administration — there are a whole bunch of careers they are preparing for. Some of them I’m developing to be seen by potential companies in auditions, some of them I’m developing to go towards universities. Our programs have an 100 percent acceptance rate at universities.”
WHAT IS HER NO. 1 CHALLENGE?
“In today’s economy, the thing is to get the message out that funding the arts is an investment. When people give to the Florida Ballet, little goes to administration. We’re working to preserve this building, which is part of Jacksonville’s history. It could be funding a talented, inner city child to give their future a boost or it could be buying point shoes for the dancers or paying a teacher’s salary or buying a can of paint. It goes in so many different areas. The arts reflect what’s going on in society. CNN bombards you with one harsh reality after another. The arts give you the opportunity to touch what’s good about humanity.”
WHAT IS MOST
GRATIFYING FOR HER?
“I love the process, the actual process of creating the work and training the students. That’s where I enjoy myself. I’m energizing by that.”
HER INSPIRATION?
“Everything around me is a stimulus. Sometimes it’s a song, maybe a story or emotion. I believe everybody, in their own way, is a dancer. Every movement is part of the dance of life.”
A LITTLE BACKGROUND?
“I was brought up in the New York/New Jersey area. I trained at the Joffrey School and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet.” Later, Byrd returned to school for a bachelor’s degree in dance and history from Jacksonville University.
HER CAREER AS A DANCER
She has performed with Jacob’s Pillow Dancers, the Classic Ballet Company of New Jersey and with dance companies in New York and Bogota, Colombia. While with Classic Ballet, she served for six years as ballet mistress and choreographer.
HOW DOES SHE
SPEND HER SPARE TIME?
Decorating her Ponte Vedra Beach home, painting, stenciling and creative writing are her pastimes.
— by Monica Chamness