The late Alma Wiley is pictured at Dancers Studio Inc. in 2018.
The Republic file photo
Alma Wiley was nothing if not colorful, including the natural, white lighting bolt streak that marked her dark, artsy hair for years. And she was nontraditional from the start.
She once confessed that she fell in love with dance via an episode of television’s long-running Western “Bonanza.”
“You would never think of dance when you think of ‘Bonanza,’ but there was an episode that featured a ballerina that danced in a saloon,” she said in a 2006 Republic interview. “It was the beauty that caught me.”
Wiley, who co-founded the local nonprofit Dancers Studio Inc. and led it for 27 years, died March 21, 2022. But studio leaders will tell you that the beauty of her student nurturing, her choreography and creativity live on. And Dancers Studio Inc. will celebrate that with the show “Mixed Up Fairy Tales and Other Works” spotlighting some of her best-known and whimsical pieces at 7 p.m. Saturday at Judson Erne Auditorium, 1400 25th St. in Columbus.
One of her most popular works, “Of Heaven and Earth,” features dancers fitted with hugely oversized wings.
Proceeds will benefit the Alma Wiley Scholarship Fund established at The Heritage Fund — the Community Foundation of Bartholomew County.
The studio last focused on Wiley, a native and longtime resident of Elizabethtown, when it presented something of a retrospective of her work April 14, 2018, just before her retirement.
That show included her own explanations about her inspiration for various steps.
“I’m breaking a (dance) rule by telling people what I was thinking about at the time,” she said before the show.
Her choreography has been a part of Memorial Day events on the lawn of the Bartholomew County Courthouse, orchestral concerts, and a range of other gatherings. She created dances about everything from women’s roles in war to the local 1913 fl0od.
“My ideas come from dreams, music and needs,” she once said. “I like figuring out how I am going to bring dance to life. I’m drawn to the creativity of it.”
About the show
Who: Dancers Studio Inc. presenting the late Alma Wiley’s “Mixed Up Fairy Tale Ballet and Other Works” to honor her legacy and to raise money for the Alma Wiley Scholarship Fund
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Judson Erne Auditorium, 1400 25th St. in Columbus
Tickets: At the door and also at Dancers Studio Inc., 2158 Cottage Ave. in Columbus, or at Viewpoint Books at 548 Washington St. in Columbus
