Natalie Skelton fell in love with dance at 8 Ð and sheÕs been enchanted every since.
ÒIt gets in your blood,Ó she says. ÒYou canÕt get rid of it.Ó
That passion has driven her life. In high school, she scheduled her classes in the morning, skipping a study period and lunch to free her afternoons for dance. When noted teachers passed through town, she ensured that she was on hand for their classes. She even traveled to Chicago for private lessons with Gene Kelly, who introduced her to dance forms unimagined in Dallas.
ÒHe was so far ahead of his time,Ó she recalls, while Dallas in the Õ20s and Õ30s was a dance backwater. There were only three studios in town, and Òwe were desperate for instruction.Ó
To improve DallasÕ dance culture, Skelton devoted much of her career to promoting dance in Dallas and throughout Texas. She was instrumental in the formation of the old Dallas Civic Ballet and the Southwestern Regional Ballet Association, and she has served on a number of local and statewide organizations.
In her 37 years as owner, director and teacher of the Natalie School of Dance in Pleasant Grove, she brought in world-class talent such as ballet dancers Natalie Krassovska and Bill Atkinson and character dancer Jurgen Pagels. Many of her students have gone to professional careers in dance, but Skelton believes every child benefits from dance instruction even if they do not pursue it as professionally.
ÒI gave away a lot of lessons, but dance can be an introduction to so many different things, to a love not only of dance but of the arts.
ÒIt gives them something to enjoy all their lives.Ó
SkeltonÕs most lasting contribution to dance in Dallas may have begun in 1973 when she and Mary Bywaters, another dance teacher, founded the Dallas Dance Council. Now a 300-member organization, the Council promotes dance in all its aspects through activities such as providing mailing lists and volunteers for special events and scholarships for dancers. It also sponsors special classes, publishes a quarterly newsletter and hosts its own production, ÒDance for the Planet,Ó where some 80 local companies perform international varieties of dance.
Such activities help bring dancers from all disciplines together.
ÒDance is a language all its own,Ó Skelton says. ÒDancers have always got something to talk about, it doesnÕt matter their age or nationality.Ó
Each year the Council presents the Mary Award (named after co-founder Bywaters) to recognize an individualÕs lifetime contribution to dance. Skelton received this recognition in 1989.
Now 81, Skelton works with the Art District Friends, the Dallas Morning News Dance Festival and the Southwest Regional Ballet Association, along with the Dallas Dance Council. Her daughter encourages her to slow down, to pick only a few projects that hold special meaning to her, Òbut I donÕt want to give anything up.Ó
ÒAll my life IÕve loved what IÕve done, and itÕs all been with dance.Ó
