Dancing through time

Charlotte.com

March 21, 2008

ime to pirouette.

Three budding ballerinas rise onto the balls of their left feet. Each girl's right leg stretches behind her, toe touching the floor. On cue, the dancers spin. They're shaky, but give them a break. They're maybe 10 years old.

Their right feet haven't done enough to launch the turn.

'Push down,' their teacher says. 'The floor is your friend.'

They try again. Better.

'Good girls,' the teacher responds. 'You can't just say, `I think I'll turn.' You have to do something to make yourself turn.'

Gay Porter has delivered another precept of ballet, just as she has for two generations of young dancers.

Since 1968, thousands of students have passed through her Charlotte School of Ballet. Since 1981, her Charlotte Youth Ballet troupe has enabled students to perform alongside professionals -- as they'll do next weekend when the company performs 'Cinderella.'

Those are just Porter's current roles. Before Charlotte had a full-time ballet company, Porter supplied dancers for the Charlotte Symphony and what is now Opera Carolina. She helped start dance classes at Central Piedmont Community College. When N.C. Dance Theatre came to town, her students were the children in its 'Nutcracker.'

All this from someone who never planned to leave her native England, never set foot in Charlotte until she was a young adult, never taught until she was prodded.

When Porter was trying her first pirouettes, as a girl in post-World War II England, 'I just wanted to go through a stage door every day,' she says. 'That was my dream.' But a dream can be transformed.

A childhood in England

Porter's parents owned a pub in Maidenhead, west of London. When she was 7, she wanted to take dance lessons. Her mother balked.'I had to beg for two years,' recalls Porter.

At the time, her goal was to perform in a school talent show. But her ambitions and independence grew. At 13, she entered an arts school in London. She spent her 15th birthday -- over the Christmas holiday -- in Stratford on Avon away from her family, performing a stage version of the children's classic 'The Wind in the Willows.'

After graduation, she left for nine months with a troupe touring Great Britain. Afterward, she settled in London, taking up the freelancer's round of classes, auditions and jobs. The most sought-after opportunities:

'Everybody wanted to work for Americans,' Porter says. Companies from across the Atlantic were known for treating dancers fairly. In 1953, emissaries from Broadway brought a plum: the British premiere of the new hit 'The King and I.'

Porter and scores of other dancers tried out. The hopefuls were winnowed down to 66, Porter recalls. When she was the first dancer pulled from that number to remain, everything looked good.

The choreographer picked more dancers, grouped them by height, and sent them to fill out hiring papers -- all but Porter.

'She looked at me and said, `I'm sorry,' ' Porter recalls. 'I said, `What do you mean?' She said, `I need three little ones, three medium ones and four tall ones. And you don't fit in.' '

'Everyone left. I was in the theater by myself. I just stood there on the stage. ... I couldn't believe I hadn't gotten that job.'

The next day, Porter returned for more auditions. The 'King and I' choreographer spotted her and delivered news: One of the other dancers hadn't taken the job. Porter was in after all.

Love and the piano player

Another touring job shipped Porter off for a three-month tour of Germany, with a company entertaining U.S. troops. As the group settled in together, she was intrigued by the pianist, Marvin Porter from Hendersonville, N.C.

'He was very quiet,' Porter says. 'All the other guys were trying to date you,' but he just minded his business playing the piano. She discovered that he was 'a very gentle person.'

The pair didn't see much of Germany, Porter says. They spent most of their time talking. By the end of the tour, they were engaged.

A few months later, when he was back in the United States, she phoned him from England to double-check his intentions. She told him that her mother didn't want her to marry.

His response: Hurry up with your immigration forms and get over here.

'I didn't really have second thoughts,' Porter says. 'But it was a big step -- to give up your country and your career and everything.'

From Los Angeles to Charlotte

The newlyweds set up housekeeping in Los Angeles. When the couple had a son, they decided they'd rather raise him in cozier North Carolina. So they moved to Charlotte, where Marvin had worked as an accountant before he was drafted.Yes, the bride had given up her country. But her

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