Issue: Monday, August 7, 1995 - page 7
A day in the life of a professional dancer
By Chad Fasca
Staff Writer

While most people go to work in an office, a few hold office within themselves—artists. The daubs and flecks of a painter employ mind, arms and senses. The poet orders mind, voice and language into the business of a poem. Unlike any other artist, however, the dancer heads a vast corporation of muscle and bone, similiar to Time-Warner in scope, which produces a momentary manuscript of human capability for a consumer, the audience.
   Few people understand the business of the body. There is a tendency to separate the two, business from body. For Davis Robertson, a dancer in the Chautauqua Dance Company, every day requires total organization as a body and a business.


In my first year at the Chautauquan Daily, I covered Art and Dance. The institution has its own art school and its own dance company (it also has its own opera company, theatre company, symphony orchestra, literary society and other groups all of which are too numerous to mention). As part of my dance beat, I wrote preview articles for all dance performances and interview articles with choreographers and dancers. This article was a specia case. I approached the editor-in-chief about the idea of doing an article with accompanying photo essay depicting a professional dancer's day. Here is the article sans photos.

   He cited several successes of the United Nations in the six years since the Cold War including Cambodia, Rwanda, the Liberian Civil War and Haiti. These events are the result of the United Nations achieving a much more significant role in the world.
   Vorontsov pointed out the recent failures in Somalia, where the United Nations did not stop the civil war or serve to unify the government. But Vorontsov added that the United Nations did succeed in supplying food to several hundred thousand people, keeping them alive.
   As for the United Nations' involvement in Bosnia, he explained that "we cannot solve the problem for them, but we can sit them down in a room and not let them out until they solve the problems," Vorontsov said.
   And while he admitted the United Nations has not achieved peace in Bosnia, the convoys of humanitarian aid and protection of civilian lives represented a good result.
   As for the future of the United Nations, Vorontsov remains optimistic. The present actions represent "only the beginning of the United Nations along new lines—all the lines of the charter," Vorontsov said.
   While he expressed optimism, Vorontsov also spoke of the pressing realities in the United Nations. He addressed the poor financial state of the United Nations as a problem of the United States and Russia not paying their share ($1 billion owed by the U.S. and $500 million by Russia).
   He pointed out the need to rethink the structure of the United Nations, namely the Trusteeship Council. "We don't need an empty hall and we don't need an empty charter," he said. He felt a good response would be a Council on Social Affairs to fill this hall.
On the other hand, he expressed enthusiasm in the common training missions of United States and Russian soldiers. He also pointed out the need for both countries to recognize each other as neighbors. In addition to Canada and Mexico, Vorontsov explained that the United States has a third neighbor by common border, Russia, by way of the Bering Strait near Alaska.
He closed by emphasizing a view of the world from space, "from up there, earth is small and fragile," Vorontsov said.