Alaska Tour (feb 1, 1975 – mar 1, 1975)

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A month-long tour of Alaska occurred in February 1972, sponsored by the Alaska Arts Council. In most communities on the tour this was their first exposure to modern dance. An Alaskan Arts Council official reported, "It’s hard to imagine how the tour could have been more successful. Massive technical problems were overcome, the company braved minus thirty degree temperatures, giving stunning performances to widely enthusiastic audiences. "

Touring in Alaska in the winter was an adventure. The company performed in Glenallen, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Ketchikan Skagway, Audiences provided the warmth. Formal performances and Lecture Demonstration and classes for schools kept two modules of RDT dancers busy. Linda Smith remembers:

In 1975, RDT toured Alaska in February. It was 50 degrees below. We were booked to perform in the school gym of a very small, remote town of Glennallen, with a population of about 350 people. We didn’t expect a large audience but over 400 people attended.

Some surprise guests… a large group of “pipe liners” attended. (they were laborers building the Trans Alaska oil and gas pipe-line outside of Anchorage.) They came in a group and looked like giants. They all had bushy beards and wore huge white “bunny suits” and parkas. We dancers looked out at the audience before the show and said…”They are going to hate us.”

But after the performance, practically the entire audience stayed to talk…even the pipe-liners stayed. One woman came up to me and said, “We know how difficult it must have been for you to get here. Thank you for performing for us and thank you for not dancing “down” to us. Just because we live in a small town doesn’t mean that we have small minds.”

Read details of the tour in the attachments below.

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