Type: Dance Work / Piece · Class / Teaching
Date: 6 February 1981 – 24 April 1981
Time-span: February–April 1981
Context: Scholarship study / work-study programme in dance training
Location: 400 Lafayette Street, New York, USA
Institution / Organisation: DANCERSCHOOL — Dennis Wayne, Artistic Director
Role: Dancer · Student
Participants: Dennis Wayne; Alyce Katayama; Ernie Pagnano; Marcus Schulkind; other teachers and students — further names to be reconstructed
Status: Historical Record — incomplete / ongoing archival reconstruction
DANCERSCHOOL This page documents Ricardo Viviani’s scholarship study at DANCERSCHOOL, located at 400 Lafayette Street in New York City, from 6 February to 24 April 1981. The scholarship combined full-time dance study with daily work duties and became an important period in Viviani’s artistic formation and subsequent international trajectory.
The Work / Creation
This record does not document a choreographic work but a period of intensive dance training. DANCERSCHOOL provided Ricardo Viviani with a scholarship that enabled him to study dance full-time in New York while contributing daily work duties to the school.
In later reflection, Viviani has described the experience as particularly enriching because of its variety of teachers, the intensity of the daily schedule and the opportunity to encounter different approaches to dance training within one environment.
Production
Not applicable as a production record. This entry documents an educational and artistic formation period rather than a staged production.
Performance History
Not applicable as a performance record. The significance of this entry lies in the daily training and work-study structure rather than in a specific performance.
Primary Source / Documentation
Format: Correspondence / Recommendation Letter / Verification Letter / Press Clipping
Provenance: Ricardo Viviani Personal Archive
Status: Original / Archival scan / Documentary source
A letter dated 24 April 1981, signed by Alyce Katayama on behalf of Dennis Wayne, verifies that Ricardo Viviani was a full-time scholarship student at DANCERSCHOOL from 6 February 1981 to 24 April 1981. The letter states that he attended dance classes daily and also performed daily work duties.
A recommendation dated 30 March 1981 from DANCERSCHOOL, addressed to Liz Thompson at Jacob’s Pillow, states that Viviani had been taking class with Dennis Wayne since September 1980 and describes him as responsible, open and responsive to correction.
A further recommendation dated 13 March 1981 identifies Viviani as a scholarship student at DANCERSCHOOL and describes him as a talented and dedicated young man who worked consistently in class and was dependable and responsible in his scholarship duties.
Research
The surviving documents establish the scholarship period and the combination of daily dance classes with daily work duties. Further research may establish the complete teaching faculty, the structure of the scholarship programme, the history of the DANCERSCHOOL premises at 400 Lafayette Street, and the relationship between the school and other New York dance institutions and programmes.
Personal Reflection
Ricardo Viviani remembers the scholarship as a work-study arrangement. He recalls arriving early in the morning, from approximately 7:00 to 9:00, to carry out cleaning and maintenance duties before taking dance classes throughout the day. He remembers cleaning the mirrors and floors of the newly renovated studio at 400 Lafayette Street, which he recalls as approximately 400 square metres.
This description of the daily routine is preserved as personal recollection. The surviving April 1981 letter independently confirms the existence of daily work duties but does not specify the hours, the precise cleaning tasks or the dimensions of the studio.
Viviani remembers the training as a varied and very enriching experience. Among the teachers who became particularly important to him was Ernie Pagnano. He also remembers other teachers whose names will be added to this record progressively as they are recalled and, where possible, documented.
The later significance of the school’s name and motto also remained with Viviani. The memory of DANCERSCHOOL and its simple identification with “Dancers” became a point of reflection many years later in his presentation Just Call Us Dancers.
Relationship
The relationship with Ernie Pagnano became particularly significant within Viviani’s training at DANCERSCHOOL. Pagnano’s teaching remained an important reference in Viviani’s memory of his New York formation.
Viviani’s later archive record on Pagnano describes his teaching approach and identifies the importance Viviani attributes to him as a teacher. The relationship should be understood as part of the broader network of teachers and artistic encounters that shaped this period of training.
Place / Context
DANCERSCHOOL was located at 400 Lafayette Street in New York City. Viviani remembers the studio as newly renovated at the time of his scholarship and recalls its large studio space as an important physical environment for his daily training.
The address also places this period within the wider New York dance environment in which Viviani was studying, taking classes and developing professional relationships. The experience became a foundation for subsequent opportunities, including his connection with Jacob’s Pillow.
Archival Material
Archival Material:
DANCERSCHOOL scholarship verification letter, 24 April 1981, signed by Alyce Katayama for Dennis Wayne, DANCERSCHOOL; DANCERSCHOOL recommendation letter, 30 March 1981, to Liz Thompson at Jacob’s Pillow; DANCERSCHOOL scholarship recommendation, 13 March 1981; In-Step, April 1981, article on Ernie Pagnano; Dance Magazine, June 1981, article on Musawwir and Toby Towson; In-Step, May 1981, article on Marcus Schulkind; further DANCERSCHOOL material to be identified and added
Post Scriptum — 4 September 2026
This record is being reconstructed as part of the continuing Ricardo Viviani archive. The documentary evidence establishes the scholarship period from 6 February to 24 April 1981 and confirms that the scholarship involved both daily dance classes and daily work duties.
The more detailed account of the work-study routine — including the approximate 7:00–9:00 morning schedule, cleaning the mirrors and floors, and the recollection of a newly renovated approximately 400-square-metre studio — comes from Viviani’s present memory and is therefore deliberately distinguished from the surviving documentary evidence.
The list of teachers is also intentionally incomplete. Additional names and documentation can be incorporated as they are remembered or located. Ernie Pagnano is presently the teacher most strongly documented in the associated archive material.
The scholarship period appears retrospectively as a significant stepping stone toward Viviani’s subsequent professional development in New York and his connection with Jacob’s Pillow. The precise relationship between the DANCERSCHOOL scholarship and the subsequent Jacob’s Pillow engagement should be documented through the surviving 1981 correspondence and related records rather than inferred beyond the evidence.
Contribution / Ertrag:
The DANCERSCHOOL scholarship provided Ricardo Viviani with an intensive period of daily dance training in New York while allowing him to participate through a work-study arrangement. It exposed him to a varied group of teachers and approaches and contributed to the development of his technical, artistic and professional formation.
Assessment / Relevanz:
This period is significant within Ricardo Viviani’s biography because it represents an early sustained period of formal dance study in New York and a transition from his earlier Brazilian formation into a broader international dance environment. The importance of particular teachers, especially Ernie Pagnano, can be documented further as the archive develops.
Keywords:
DANCERSCHOOL; Dance Training; Scholarship; Work-Study; Dennis Wayne; Ernie Pagnano; Marcus Schulkind; 400 Lafayette Street; New York; Dance Education; Dance Classes; Student; Dancer; Jacob’s Pillow; 1981; Artistic Formation; Professional Development
External Links
Jacob’s Pillow
Dance Magazine
Internal Links
Ernie Pagnano
Just Call Us Dancers
Jacob’s Pillow Dancers 1981
Archival Note: This page forms part of an ongoing personal archive documenting Ricardo Viviani’s professional work and activities over more than four decades. Names and other personal information appear where relevant to the documented work or collaboration. If you believe that information concerning you has been published incorrectly or should be reconsidered, please contact me.