The Dance gallery Foundation records measure 5.25 linear feet, including oversized materials, and date from, 1980 to 2008, with the majority of the records from the period 1993-2007. The records are primarily comprised of press clippings, programs, promotional materials, administrative files, photographs, and video, and are arranged into ten series: Administrative; Bookings; Dance Gallery Studio; Development; Press Clippings; Productions; Programs; Promotional Materials; Audio-Visual Materials, and Website.
The Dance Gallery Foundation began in 1984 and served as the umbrella organization for three modern dance companies in its twenty-four year history; J Parker Copley Dance Company (1986-1990); Dance Gallery with Alan Lommasson (1990-1991), and the Peter Sparling Dance Company with Artistic Director Peter Sparling (1993-2008).
Sparling began the Peter Sparling Dance Company (PSDC) as a nonprofit company, and the Dance Gallery Studio as a not-for-profit dance studio, under the auspices of the Dance Gallery Foundation in 1993. Sparling, Professor and Chair in the University of Michigan Dance Department, danced with the Jose Limon and Martha Graham Dance Companies and is experienced in dance instruction and choreography. Sparling has borrowed from Graham and Limon to create his own innovative and sensuous style of choreography.
The Company's productions included text and musical scores, as well as classical and popular music. The PSDC sought to use modern dance to express "human experience from the comic, tragic, and sublime, to the ecstatic, ethereal, and extraordinary." During Sparling's tenure as Artistic Director, the PSDC repertory included newly choreographed dances to classical works such as Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, Schubert's Nacht und Traume, Handel's "Ombra mai fu" from Serse and "Lascia ch'io pianga" from Rinaldo, Chopin's Nocturnes and Bach's Sonata No. 3 in C Major for Unaccompanied Violin. The Company also featured contemporary works choreographed by Sparling, including productions such as Dances to Ives, The End of Shame, Possible Dances, Traffic!, Peninsula, and Chronicles and Small Comforts.
In addition to supporting the Peter Sparling Dance Company, the Dance Gallery Foundation ran and funded the Dance Gallery Studio. The studio offered adult and children's classes and workshops in modern, ballet, jazz, creative movement, contact, improvisation, hip-hop, Pilates, yoga, Tai Chi, Eurythmy, Brazilian dance, Alexander Technique, and Feldenkrais. Originally housed in Ann Arbor's Technology Center, the Dance Gallery Foundation moved to the former Ann Arbor Ball Bearing Factory in 2003, converting the former industrial space into a 5,000 square foot studio designed to accommodate dance classes, dance company rehearsals, and community outreach programming.
In addition to promoting its own company and studio, the Dance Gallery Foundation partnered with community groups and educational organizations (from elementary and high schools, to community colleges and universities) to host free or low cost workshops, educational outreach programs, lectures, and master classes.
The Dance Gallery Foundation sought financial support from a variety of sources including class fees, gifts, performance booking fees, residencies, lecture demonstrations, master classes, and grants and awards. Over the years, the Foundation also hosted a number of benefit performances and receptions in Ann Arbor, such as a series at the Earle Restaurant, designed to support the Dance Company and the Foundation. However, in August 2008, due to inadequate funding, the Dance Gallery Studio closed and the Peter Sparling Dance Company lost its permanent home. In the wake of the Studio's closing, the Dance Company planned to operate on a case-by-case basis.
