Republic file photo Alma Wiley is shown inside Dancers Studio Inc. in Columbus just before her 2018 retirement.
One of Alma Wiley’s favorite dance pieces she ever choreographed 20 years ago featured local artist Paul Neufelder’s sheer, backlit, 10-foot wings attached to performers in a grand, lyrical work titled “Of Heaven and Earth.”
The longtime dancer, choreographer and co-founder of Columbus’ Dancers Studio Inc. always explained that the effort, known to some simply as “Wings,” highlighted in part what she saw as the glorious light within all.
On Sunday, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Columbus’ Jewell-Rittman Funeral Home at 3855 25th St., Wiley’s family, friends, students, arts supporters and others will gather to remember the light in her — especially while she operated the studio for 27 years and led hundreds of youngsters and students in sometimes delicate steps through not only shows, but life itself. She died March 21 at the age of 66.
“She wanted her students to be much more than good dancers,” said studio costume designer Susannah Lipinski, who worked alongside Wiley for 18 years. “She wanted them to be good people.”
One could say that earned her wings amid such a role in which much of her time in between studio classes was spent like a surrogate mom or a cool aunt, serving as a listening ear to young people’s hopes and happenings.
Sure, a number of her charges went on to perform professionally. But she regularly mentioned that never was the goal when she and ex-Columbus resident Georgeanna Dent opened the studio in 1991. The woman who exuberantly swirled youngsters in wheelchairs during disability-oriented Very Special Arts events locally opened her classes to participants of all abilities, celebrating whatever movement they could muster.
She mentioned in a Republic interview years ago the paralyzing fear of perhaps being excluded from dance after a serious knee injury while a student at George Mason University. She underwent surgery and a slow recuperation — and never forgot to find ways to include others in the art form. Toward that same end, she regularly extended care and compassion to former dancers who had fallen ill, sharing well wishes, encouragement and sometimes books with them.
Former longtime dance student and instructor Katie Bridgeman Muckley, who became a physical therapist partly because of her experience with dance and Wiley, considered her a lifelong friend.
“Something I loved about her is how seriously she always took children,” Muckley said. “She really listened when I had an idea, and asked me more about those ideas. We talked about dance, sure, but also about life, spirituality, and so many other things.
“And whether I was 11 or 29, I knew she took me seriously, respected me, and was intrigued by what I might say. And then she’d share what she thought. We could talk for hours, and often did.”
When Wiley retired from the studio four years ago, former dancer Kim Lingeman, who began lessons at the studio at age 7, mentioned that the venue and Wiley had “a lifelong impact” on her. Lingeman even briefly followed Wiley as the studio’s executive director.
Wiley’s resume included impressive success in the dance world, including performing professionally with the Claudia Murphy Dance Company, Lesa McLaughlin and Dancers, and CoDa Dance Company. Plus, she earned the Jaffe Hall Emerging Choreography Award from Dance Kaleidoscope in Indianapolis in 1990.
Further, she brought dance into everyday life here, more than once choreographing or performing appropriately themed works at events such as the annual veterans Memorial Day event at the Bartholomew County Veterans Memorial. She did her best to encourage boys in dance, too. One of her prize pupils for years was Grant Jackson, who enjoyed key roles in productions such as “The Nutcracker.”
Ben Jackson, the dancer’s father, has long admired Wiley’s work — and her professional eye.
“Alma Wiley was one of Grant’s biggest influences as he grew up,” the dad said. “She saw Grant’s potential as a performer long before we did.”
When Wiley retired from the studio in 2018, she continued pouring herself into young people, becoming a volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate in Jennings County for the local nonprofit Advocates For Children, protecting those in cases of abuse and neglect. Plus, she began leading some of the Columbus Area Visitors Center’s small bus tours, showing off the city’s architecture that she loved.
She saw buildings as something like dance — speaking to people in a slightly different language. Besides, she sometimes would tell people, “When words fail, dance speaks.”
People such as current Dancers Studio Inc. Artistic Director Stacie Woempner mourns Wiley’s passing. But Woempner believes the late leader’s presence remains in some measure at the studio at 2158 Cottage Ave.
“I know she is proud,” Woempner said, “and will forever be our guardian angel watching over us.”
