34A | august 02-09, 2006 | SEVEN DAYS
“CONSERVATORY” CLASS IN THE CIVIC CENTER
<DANCE>
Rouses Pointe Norte Maar asks the North Country, “Shall we dance?”
R STORY & IMAGES
PAULA ROUTLY
ouses Point has seen better days. Last fall the town’s number-one employer, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, announced its impending departure; the drug company employs a tenth of Rouses Point’s 2350 residents and, until recently, ranked as the largest private employer in the North Country. In a recent New York Times article the mayor described the potential impact of the job losses as “Rouses Point’s 9/11.” Even at the peak of summer boating season, the place has a “bridge to nowhere” feel about it. About a halfdozen empty storefronts, including the downtown Save-A-Lot supermarket, mar the charming but dated business district that runs for several blocks along the west side of Lake Champlain. Yellow caution tape encircles a corner lot piled high with burned wood and rubble — the remains of the landmark Holland Hotel. Last weekend, a group of listless teens walked north past the abandoned stores, toward Canada. No, wait — they were headed for the Rouses Point Civic Center, a large, industrial-looking building next to the marina across the street from Chazy Hardware. A life-sized ballerina cutout on the side of the road indicated something other than hockey was happening that night. The occasion? The annual Fete de Danse — a performing-arts spectacle produced by Rouses Point’s own dedicated cultural ambassador. It’s Rouses Point, not Rouses Pointe, but don’t tell Jason Andrew that. Since he moved north from New York City with his partner three years ago, the 34-year-old balletomane has made this border burg a more expressive — and less depressing — place. Under the organization-
al name of Norte Maar, he’s produced summertime art exhibits, twoweek student conservatories, film screenings and dance shows in collaboration with London-based choreographer Julia Gleich — his former ballet teacher at the University of Utah, where he majored in studio art and art history.
The only place less likely to host world-class dance? The Plattsburgh Wal-Mart. Two nights after the Fete, Norte Maar’s annual “Wal-Mart Ballet” played out in the big-box store’s asphalt parking lot. Growing up in rural Utah, Andrew only saw dance on television; he appears to be comfortable with the
challenges of being openly gay in small-town America and bringing art to out-of-the-way places. He wisely chose the partnership of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers as the “theme” of this year’s Fete and accompanying photo exhibit. On the surface, the subject is fun, straight and seniorfriendly. But there may be a subtler
Like the rest of the performance, the community curtain call was a perfect pairing of big-city sensibilities and church-supper charm. NORMAN JABAUT (LEFT) AND JASON ANDREW