Sharron Miller and Kristen Weaver

Recorded July 20, 2021 Archived July 20, 2021 38:44 minutes
0:00 / 0:00
Id: ddv001017

Description

Friends Sharron Miller (76) and Kristen Weaver [no age given] discuss Sharron's life and their work at the Sharron Miller Academy for Performing Arts.

Subject Log / Time Code

Kristen Weaver (K) and Sharron Miller (S) recall how they met through K’s mother. S says she met K’s mother through a show they did together.
S shares a bit about her early life, from being born in Washington, DC and then moving to Montclair, NJ. S talks about why she started taking ballet lessons.
S remembers the freedom she felt when learning modern dance.
S discusses moving to New York City and shares how she joined the Alvin Ailey dance company.
S talks about performing on Broadway, her life in New York, and how starting a family caused her to move back to Montclair, NJ.
S remembers how she started teaching dance lessons at the YWCA and then starting her own program, Sharron Miller’s Academy for Performing Arts (SMAPA).
S and K discuss how K got involved in SMAPA as an acting teacher. They also discuss how the program moved around the community in Montclair, until they were able to get their own location.
S remembers seeing the SMAPA logo on their storefront window: “It was almost as good as seeing my name on the marquee.”
K and S consider the impact of SMAPA on their community and on K and her family.
S consider the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on SMAPA and thanks its supporters and funders.

Participants

  • Sharron Miller
  • Kristen Weaver

Partnership Type

Fee for Service

Initiatives


Transcript

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00:00 Hi, my name is Sharon Miller. And yes, I'm 76. All 76 years of that. Today is Tuesday, July 20th, 2021. I am sitting here kinda, with my partner.

00:21 Kristen Weaver, and she is an amazing person who will introduce herself and I am sitting here in the same Studio space, and Sharon is across the hall. It is Tuesday, and I've known her forever. Well with me being 76, it's probably really forever because I've known you just about all your life. So that was going to be. My first question was when when did we actually meet?

01:02 I think you were about seven years old, maybe younger because you are. As I know, one of three children. I was dear friends with your mom and we were actors together in New York City and your mother dressed you all like you were all three little Laura, Ashley children. And I just remember you being the middle child and your baby sister was probably about 4, so you must have been about six or seven, right? I remember your mom saying that you were the dancer, which meant that I was obviously attracted to you, as a potential student or potential whatever. But at the time, interesting Lee enough, I didn't even have teaching in my head.

02:02 What time, you know that? That's the interesting thing is that you never know the direction your career will take you, but when you're young actress, singer dancer, in New York City, essentially you see your life.

02:21 As being that actress, singer, dancer who Edition and continues to hopefully get a job and

02:32 It doesn't, you don't really have a plan when your plan as a performer. And particularly in New York City is just about being ready for the next edition. If you're a dancer, you have to take classes, the unfortunate part about that part. Is that in order to take class. You have to have money. You don't have a job, you can take class. But if you have a job, you also can't take less because it takes place. During the time that you could take me to class. Yes. It's very hard. It's very hard to balance all. So your mother and I

03:14 But both of us fell into commercials right on television commercials where the the thing that allowed us to have what would be called a normal life, where you can pay your rent, and take your classes and do your thing.

03:34 And I was very fortunate. That was your mother. And I remember you both doing very well and she did something with a cane there was issue. So has that came with the silver handle and I owe my goodness. That was a hundred years ago. And I think the, what is the name of the hotel and look at the Paris Theater or the the

04:04 I can't get the name of the theater. But the theater was within the hotel. What is the name of the hotel condos and Socrates book of your moment? That's what's happening.

04:28 So we were in New York City then but now you're in Montclair, New Jersey and I can do the funny thing is, I really at 76. I feel like I really have come full circle because when I was 6, my mother remarried and I was born in DC, Washington, DC.

04:55 And the person that she married was from New Jersey. So we moved to Montclair, New Jersey. And I had no idea where Montclair New Jersey was, but I was six years old, and

05:16 I'm going to backtrack a little bit.

05:19 When I was four and living in DC.

05:24 I walk with a knock-kneed, pigeon-toed way walking and my mother took me to an orthopedic doctor who said we can either break her arches and reset them because she's totally flat-footed and she's pronated and rolling in and to correct that we could break her arches and reset them, or you can wait until she's about six or seven and give her ballet lessons, which will strengthen her arches and probably straighten her legs. So my mother. Luckily remarried when I was six, move me to New Jersey and I started tasty ballet and goodness.

06:09 And I had no idea that somebody would consider me talented as a ballet dancer, especially a little black girl doing ballet Israelite school, but it didn't matter because I was fixing my Arch. The idea of being

06:37 A therapeutic, I think was more in my mind. Then. This is a career place, right? Right. As the discipline happen and the joy came out.

06:53 It was that that was it. And so ending up in Montclair to answer. Your question was because my mother and we blame it on her mother's. We blame everything, cuz my mother remarried and my mother had been told that you know, I have the option of breaking my arches or taking ballet lessons. So I ended up at Garden State ballet and I commuted every just about every day from the time. I was 7 or 8 years old.

07:30 To Newark, New Jersey, and took my ballet classes until I was about 12 when that also included modern, but you take off your pointe shoes and you take off your ballet slippers, and you dance Barefoot, and it was freedom.

07:47 An end when you loved modern like so. Immediately did you, did you know of other great modern dancers? Well, ironically, I had it. I went to school that I was trained. It was Garden, State ballet. And when I was about twelve, mr. Danieli, Fred danieli was the founder and director. Of course, he decided to integrate his curriculum, which was totally Russian ballet training with modern dance training. And he chose joist wrestler and Penny price. Not Joyce trisler was formerly with Alvin Ailey, American dance theater, and Penny. Frank was with graham company, so I was trying to Graham and

08:39 Graham and Horton.

08:42 And that's how I got to Modern is that it just felt, right? It felt right in my body, right? On my feet. That's awesome. So yeah, cuz I was not introduced to modern dance so young. So that's very cool that you were.

09:03 So after so then you pursued your career as a dancer? And

09:09 What led you to Alvin Ailey?

09:12 Well, when I was 18.

09:17 I graduated from high school and my mom was an educated. So as an educator and raising an African American child, education was for most utmost. That was your

09:35 You're way too cheap through education, but I wanted to do. And so what happened was and I always make this sound so mundane, but it was really a gift.

09:51 What happened when I got into Juilliard, which was sort of what one would call the compromise. My mother wanted me to go through an academic college and I wanted to dance. So the compromise was Julia, which in most cases people would say, I'll provide that's wonderful for me. It was how I got my mother to understand. I had to do and I was so fortunate to get scholarship.

10:19 Which put me in New York City and when you're in New York City, all be at going to college, you have access to all the fabulous schools, the Graham School, a b, t, s a b o.

10:38 And you also have a Julia which is wonderful. You have access to teachers that are currently performing with companies were in Broadway shows or whatever. So I had that kind of access and the Graham company had a teacher whose name was, Mikhail, Mikhail was one of the few if not, the only African-American male dancer with Graham.

11:11 And he was part of the faculty at Julia. So I had a link into what became down on the kills, And so that was actually the first company that I belong to.

11:30 Then I always aspired to Alvin Ailey Dance Company because Joyce trisler for my Mansion before was the teacher that I got when I was twelve and she had said she was

11:47 She was, I think, at this point, grooming me to be an alias company, but I didn't know that she was trying to toughen me up and trying to give me the technique that she knew would would serve me well, and

12:07 So after I got into Donna McHale's company,

12:11 What happened was Alvin Ailey and Donna McKellar offer tours, why was tarasha one was to Europe and Africa? And I had a choice because I audition for Alvin's company at the same time. Ready? When got in.

12:33 Do I want to go to rush hour? Do I want to go to Europe and Africa? So I chose Europe and Africa and I think it was the choice. That was how I got into the company and that's how I also got to travel the world and

12:54 Broaden my Horizon. I mean, I was raised in New Jersey, even though I was born in DC go by comparison to the world and when you get to travel the world, it really does open you up to a lot of wonderful things and people

13:18 Right now, travel is amazing. So you sent Sydney all over the world dancing and then you had a whole career in the city as an actress after you are a dancer and then you did all those Broadway shows and then you came all the way back around with a whole, New Jersey.

13:49 Well, the the thing is

13:53 I think most people do what it's called to see if I can remember what it's called. It's called a a plant.

14:03 What business plan most people do things like that, you know to do things like that. It's sort of more. Yes you following.

14:20 What happened was? I did television? I did Broadway. I was, I think in 1974. I was fortunate enough to get the Carol Haney part, which is the title of her name isn't show is Gladys, but the show is the pajama game. And it was the first Revival of the pajama game.

14:52 With what they called back. Then non-traditional casting. So I play Cab Calloway's, girlfriend how Linden's girlfriend. I'm so there was a black and black female. Me coquettish with an old man by Cab Calloway and the beautiful black woman, Barbara McNair with a handsome white man. And that was. So now I'm traditional all my God, but it was a wonderful show and had a wonderful time doing it and all together. I guess I did. Seven Broadway shows fell into television commercials.

15:42 That they were a lucrative. I came from Montclair, New Jersey in New York city, so I considered myself.

15:59 York in New York, so I have children or child and you wonder where can you really effectively raise a child with all the values and accessibility in the opportunities that you think they deserve?

16:31 Unbeknownst to me. It ended up being Montclair, New Jersey. You have a we'll get to that in a minute. That's my fault. You can't blame your mother for that one.

16:52 Well, she was.

16:54 About you. That is true. When I ended up in Montclair was basically because I mean,

17:03 People have events that happened.

17:07 Way back then, which was probably in the 80s.

17:11 Well, it was definitely in the I got stuck coming home to pick up my daughter, right? It was in the tunnel. I was in on a DeCamp bus and this was much before cell phones or texting or anything. I mean you had a cell phone, but it was so big. You had to hold it with two.

17:38 So, I meant now you can't use a cell phone on the bus anyway, but the point was, I was panicked and I started to re-evaluate what in the world can I do so that I don't have to keep going back and forth across the Hudson River? Whether it be on a train or on the bus or in the car was still, my daughter was so much more important than the audition that I was coming from and that's how I ended up rethinking. What should have been a business plan? But wasn't

18:21 I ended up thinking about what do I know how to do where I could make a living? I'm not, but I always want to say rather than making a living. I want to make a life.

18:36 But I couldn't, I couldn't see past the obstacles of making a life in Montclair. I just couldn't see how I could afford it. I couldn't build anything. I couldn't be Alvin Ailey. I couldn't be down on the kale.

18:59 I didn't know what to do. And then my daughter was a nursery school.

19:06 On the nursery school teacher said, can you teach a little class that you can do?

19:14 I got this seed and that was like 33 years 30 years ago. Well, you know you want to ask me about it. So, how do you spell begin? Aaron Miller's Academy for the performing?

19:43 I in all of my 76 years would never have thought that there would be something called, Snapper or should I fix the cademy for the Performing Arts?

19:58 What happened was that? I started that little class in Over the Rainbow Nursery School in the way of growing up. So I started when my daughter was four.

20:17 Here you go to kindergarten at 5. I'm so 4-year this little class and people said where can we go after they leave here? And I didn't know and someone told me that the YWCA.

20:43 So, I went to the Y.

20:46 Where I met a woman who was a head of programming, who's paying the rent from the why, which was what my intention. I was renting the studio. I was asked to please start a program.

21:07 What was the furthest from my mind? I could not have conceived of starting a program.

21:19 The funny thing is I did and it turned out to be really successful and it expanded. And I ended up needing a bigger space where upon one of the board members of the Y ended up saying, you know, I think we can find you a space.

21:45 And so they started looking for a space for my program because it still would be part of the what? Well ultimately that happened.

21:57 They found a space but in finding the spins, they also wanted to own the program and then I suddenly became a business person. Like, what do you mean, you know, you cannot do that. That is broken.

22:14 So, the parents of some of the students are smarter than I was, and I said, I just wanted to be at the Y, so that this would be kind of even playing field. So that all children could afford it right now is to be diverse. That's, that's what my vision was always to have a diverse programme for gender diversity, economic diversity, racial diversity. So everybody was on the same level, right? Altimate Lee.

22:54 These parents came together saying, you know, you can be your own little why.

23:02 And I I didn't know what they meant that you could be coming up for profit. You can become a 501, c, 3. You can become an organization.

23:15 And I, I can.

23:19 And before I knew it, everything was turning and becoming evolving. And I really only plan to two speed.

23:32 And there it was and it grew. It grew amazingly. And here we are. 26 years later and it's this amazing organization, but I want to share something with you. So as this thing became the organization with a board of directors, we cut back to my relationship with your mother in this theater, but I think she would be a wonderful teacher and I was really

24:16 Will tell her to come to Montclair whereupon. I think you got on a bus because you gave me very specific directions and you ended up teaching here in Montclair, but we didn't have an actual Studio then, who is the park house? And we, we had gone to the town. Well, actually the town came to me and said, is there something that you can do with preschoolers and, of course, my idea of what had started out as teaching at my daughter's preschool.

25:04 Just carried over into teaching for the town in what was a field house that used to be called the warming house because it was in that had upon a winter, the pain would freeze over their house and get hot. Chocolate, and one is a wonderful place to grow up. But at this point, it wasn't being used for that. And the town manager said, this is something you can do with that. And I went, yes, and once I got you coming to Montclair, we started with a program for 18 months to two years or something like that. Was that what we do? I think maybe three years old. I think I did 18 months later. I think we started with a creative movement.

26:04 In the Edgemont Fieldhouse.

26:09 And you would you became this Christmas still and I still teach three-year-old. You have a waiting list for three year olds. And then again, we we were offered Hillside School, right? It was during a time where I'm fortunately a case. We are tend to be the first thing to go in the last thing to come back but the Arts have been cut in the schools and there was a dance studio in Hillside School, which the town said was not being used, right? And we were able to access it and

27:01 Start programming that included. Now. We were up to seven eight, nine year old. Right, right. We were also including things like ballet modern hat. We had the creative movement. We had three dance. We had all these things.

27:20 And you were there. You're still here and Joyce. Carey, the whole school in a tote bag.

27:30 Why do when you, when you don't have an office in control of everything went in her tote bag? This is when this is probably in the early 90s, but probably women who helped me to at least have some order in terms of the administration of Snapper had what is called, what was called a station wagon and the station where I had to drop down back whatever. All of our business was held outside in parking lot at the station wagon. I don't know what we would have done. Now. It's interesting. We finally started shredding.

28:29 Attendance cards that she used to keep every child. Had an attendance record and they had a tuition record and it was all handwritten and carbon copy. Like we say CC carbon copy on a computer. Real carbon, you had to get the black paper guest, which we we wrote on, on the back of the station wagon, cuz we didn't have an office in office, but then the school group and continue to grow and you got a wonderful space on Bloomfield Avenue.

29:09 You're not a long time that we've been 26 years. We've had two spaces, one was for 10 years. And now the third one is 16, but I remember.

29:20 When we got the first one, it was basically a storefront so our logo which was a flying dancer right with the word Sharon Miller's, brother. Flying dancer was put onto, we had some, signage person who put it on the window of the storefront now, Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair on Bloomfield Avenue goes from Newark all the way through to Caldwell, which is probably about 15 miles.

30:09 So it's considered the main drag. I don't like Broadway in New York City. But anyway, I just remember what I was driving my car for the first time that Bloomfield Avenue and I saw our logo on the front window. It was like, it was almost as good, if not better. Then when I saw my name on the Marquee of the lunt-fontanne, theater.

30:40 Pajama game. So I saw Sharon Miller Cab Calloway. That is forming arts and I want. All right. Now, that's special. That is special. I really think.

31:01 I think that was a turning point in my life.

31:06 Because I no longer wanted that New York experience.

31:12 Isn't it look like it was the beginning of a new jersey experience? Right? And I was just going to say cuz we're running out of time. I think, but you've had a huge impact on the community here in in Montclair. And not just Montclair but the surrounding areas because your school has tremendous Outreach. So what is the thing? You're most proud of in terms of your achievement with your school? What, I think the the thing that I'm most proud of is that

31:47 The Outreach has been primarily supported by the foundation's Grants. New Jersey state, Council on the Arts National Endowment for the Arts, which has allowed us to go into underserved communities where these kids would not have gotten the opportunity to be exposed to the Arts, in general, but specifically dance, which is what my major concern has always been.

32:19 Dance is so,

32:23 It informs you Spirit. It also informs you as far as your own ability to manage or self-control self-discipline self-esteem, and it allows you to have a voice that would.

32:41 Be unique because we're all uniquely created. So therefore, what we have to offer creatively artistically, whether it be dance, or singing or drama Visual Arts.

32:56 Its unique to you and it's an expression of you giving back to the world, and it sounds dramatic. But I really believe that when we are allowed to find our own voice and share it. I think the world becomes a better place. So my pride at this point is that over 26 years, the number of children, and teens, and adults, and seniors whose lives we have touched.

33:31 Hopefully, and to a degree is being proven, they come back and they say, thank you. And in some cases, they are professional dancers. In some cases. They are doctors or lawyers or teachers, or at the apologist. They, they can take what they learned about themselves through dance, through the Arts, into the world and share.

34:02 That I think is the thing. I'm most proud of that is a wonderful thing to be proud of and you should be very, very proud of that and thank you for sharing. The journey has been the greatest pleasure of my life to be here working for you working at the school because it is such a nurturing, wonderful place and her child is I have to say your child.

34:30 Is taking what she learned from 3 years old to 18 years old to University, where she's becoming an animal behavioral. And she is outspoken. She is confident and I'm going to take a little bit of credit provide, a lot of credit. She just applied to do a semester abroad and Donna and she always find some way to refer back to and she just had a thing happen at the zoo, where she's doing an internship where she just works in sync with this other person working. And she said, you know what, it goes back to Mike, the fact that my parents are in theater. I studied theater, I said he danced. And so I just know how to work with people. We just met, but she said, it was her second dance. Moving around the zoo and moving with these birds of prey, getting them in and out, and stepping up on their arms and putting them down and all these things. And she said Mama, it's because I'm a dancer that I knew how to move so well with

35:30 Its other guy handling the animals. She said, that's what it was. And I told him that and he laughed and she said, but mama, I know it's true. And I do too. I mean, Tuesday, and because dance does work that way and she left who have been raised in this atmosphere. So that's what we we hope to share with all the children in the young people who access really, hopefully which is again, our acronym Napa is that you really do make dance available to anyone and everyone young old. This has been for years with covid.

36:20 Where we weren't sure that we would make it through because lack of accessibility, but thanks to our state government home. Thank goodness believes in the value of the Arts and National Endowment for the Arts Pictoria Foundation. The Dodge Foundation, the Charro fun. These are the stone foundation. These are companies foundations organizations that have supported us. So it's not just you. And I who believe in the value fortunately. There are a lot of people out there who believe in, not just what we do.

37:01 And I'm happy that we do it. But in general the value of Arts education. Not just m, a c science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. Put it in there. It's can we keep going? As we have just a few minutes left off, which happens in many Zoom calls and talking to my mom and said, maybe I'd rather thank you for your time. And so wonderful to have you share your history. And remember, all those fun stories. Thank you for bringing up some of them that were a hundred years ago.

37:56 But it's okay. You know what? I'm glad to still be alive and doing what I love doing and people say to me, are you going to retire when I go to do what people retired to do? What they want to do that? What makes them happy. I'm doing what I want to do, what I love to do in and make me happy. So you going to have to see me around for a while. So you can retired for many many years, 26 years ago, at least graduations to stop and Kristen and contribution to the community, and it's my pleasure.