When Suzette Harvey goes to Government House today to receive the Queen's Certificate and Badge of Honour in recognition of her years of service to dance it will be a high point in the life of a young woman who job description reads "artist, teacher, dancer, and artistic director/founder of United Dance Productions and the Bermuda Dance Company".

Miss Harvey cannot remember a time in her life when she was not interested in dance, but it was a school counsellor who actually recommended that she parlay her considerable artistic talents into a career.

Today, she not only dances herself, but also is a source of inspiration to local dancers of both sexes and all ages as she strives to instill in them the requisite skills to reach their fullest potential as amateurs or professionals.

Coming from what she describes as "an entertainment family", Suzette Harvey attributes her passion for dance to God and her genes.

"I was born to dance," she says. "It is a gift that God gave to me, and it is what I have been doing for as long as I can remember. My maternal grandmother, Irene (Girlie) Trott is creative and was a tap dancer in her younger days, and my paternal grandmother, Lucille Zuill, was an actress/singer."

Small wonder, then, that she began dance instruction at a very early age, and has been "on her feet" ever since. She studied traditional dance at the Jackson School of Dance, and during the break dancing craze of the 1980s was one of very few females who took it up.

"We used to tape cardboard boxes together, put them on the ground at City Hall car park, and kids would compete informally," she remembers. "There were about 15-20 break dance groups, and we would go there and show off our stuff. The traditional dance training along with that street dancing helped to make me what I am today."

And what she is today represents the culmination of many years of dedication, hard work, intensive formal training, and the will to succeed.

If her story begins as a tiny tot whirling around at home, it is but one chapter in a book with many blank pages yet to fill.

By age 13 the Bermuda High School student was already showing a growing aptitude for choreography, and voluntarily spent her lunch hours teaching a small group of like-minded students her routines.

"Choreography and teaching really interested me, and even at a very early age I wanted to make up steps and put things together. Little did I realise at age 13 that this was where I was going to end up. It was just something I did naturally," she says. "In fact, in my teens I formed a group called the Sharon Pretty Dancers, which was named in honour of one of the BHS physical education teachers who gave up her lunch hours to hang out with us students."

The dancers were so good, in fact, that they not only performed at all the beauty parents, including Miss Queen of Bermuda, but also at various community events.

With graduation from the BHS looming, Miss Harvey imagined she would follow her father, John, into the hotel industry, but such was her talent that the school counsellor persuaded her to pursue dance as a career. It was the first time she knew colleges offered the appropriate tuition, and she duly enrolled in Pennsylvania's University of the Arts, where she majored in modern dance with a minor in ballet.

In 1990 she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in ?? and two of the university's top prizes: the Four-year Achievement Award for the student who ? the most achievement, and the Student Teacher Award.

"That's the track I'm on now, I guess they saw that early," Miss Harvey says. "In our graduating class of several hundred only ten received one award, so for me to get two was an even bigger achievement."

For a time she lived in New York, attending auditions and taking further classes, but when the opportunity arose to become the dance teacher at Devonshire Academy, she took it. Two years later she moved on to St. George's Secondary School, where she remained for five years before deciding to

erience under her belt, Miss Harvey decided to step back, collect herself and focus on her dance school and its direction. When CedarBridge Academy opened, however, she joined among the faculty, but a year later decided to concentrate all her energies on the United Dance Productions (UDP) school which she founded in 1992.

Today, she is not only the artistic director of UDP but also of the Bermuda Dance Company, which she also founded.

Miss Harvey's choice of the name 'United Dance Productions' reflects her profound desire to see an end to what she views as a distressingly segregated cultural community.

"I liked the name because I felt united by it. We were all colours and we all loved to dance," she says. "It is so sad that Bermuda's dance schools are segregated. The majority of kids who come to me are black, whereas the majority of white kids go to the Jackson School, and Portuguese kids go to the In Motion School of Dance. Children are suffering because we are being narrow-minded about colour. We should be a diverse community, but I don't let it affect me. I just say it is too bad people aren't educated about the arts, because respect comes with understanding. That is why we have a community that just stays in their respective corners. It is my hope that we will work together more as a community."

Meanwhile, UDP will celebrate its tenth birthday with a major recital in June, and the students will also perform in the Bermuda Dance Company (BDC) production in October.

BDC, founded in 1990, is the Island's first touring dance company, and has performed with great success in Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Trinidad, St. Kitts and Malaysia. Since Miss Harvey insists on high standards, only dancers with the requisite calibre of professionalism may join.

"It is not about which school you came from," she says. "We are going to be ambitious and represent Bermuda under the same umbrella. When we go to the studio we are all on the same page, and we all have a common goal."

Despite lofty ideals and international successes, however, a lack of funds is hampering fulfilment of the artistic director's goal of providing opportunities and vehicles for young Bermudians to have full-time employment for Bermudian professional dancers.

"We need funding, because at present UDP is financing a major part of keeping the BDC afloat, but that is how Alvin Ailey started too. The dance schools support the companies," Miss Harvey says. "It is going to take some time but we are not giving up the fight."

Like the rest of the artistic community, a lack of financial support from Government is a major bone of contention - particularly when compared to what it expends on sport.

"I think funding for the arts is poor. Government needs to stop fussing and asking 'why this?' and 'why that?' and put their money where they know it should be. Bermuda is a rich country and there is no reason why we should not have some endorsement of the arts umbrella organisations.. The Bermuda Dance Company is here for cultural, social and economic reasons."

Meanwhile, Miss Harvey continues to train all of her students to exacting standards, and where the UDP junior company for 12 to 16-year-olds is concerned, she brooks no nonsense, for it is these youngsters whom she would particularly like to see being able to have the choice of becoming professional dancers in the future.

"I am very hard on my students," she admits. "I train them to be the best - not just in Bermuda but the best in the world. I let them know that as they walk up UDP steps they need to be on New York pace. There is no tolerance for nonsense. They either want to learn or they don't. I don't accept low standards from anyone, and I don't accept 'can't' or 'tired.' My kids know not to bring negatives to me because I will turn them into positives anyway. As long as I have the parents' support in what I am trying to do for their children then I can start to take the dancers to another level. Being strict and setting standards will set them up for life."

It is an approach she believes should be universal for all local dance students, and says that her own are now beginning to appreciate the value of hard work and its reward.

"Bermudian children are too pampered, and quite honestly the dance level for students here is unacceptable. We really cannot accept that because it is not being accepted elsewhere," she says. "We have to be honest and real with our kids because the reality check will come one day, so while they are young enough to adapt or change we should be straight up with them about what is going on. I think children need more discipline, so if anything I have to be extra hard because we are losing it.

"I hope I can inspire them and give them as much knowledge, time and truth as possible regarding the reality of the dance world. That is why I cannot be a babysitter and treat them lightly. Otherwise, if they leave Bermuda they will be back in a year because they couldn't handle the pressure."

It is hardly surprising, therefore that, when asked what advice she has for young dancers, Miss Harvey responds: "Be aggressive and positive about the things you want to accomplish, stay focussed, and then make it happen. It is hard work and you need to stay motivated, particularly in Bermuda which is very complacent, in order to reach some of your goals because no one is going to give you anything."

As for her own future as a dancer, teacher and businesswoman, Miss Harvey's is equally clear-sighted.

"I know where the school is going now, and it can only get better," she says. "I stay current, travel, and am still learning myself. I am in contact with dancers, choreographers and teachers who are teaching at higher levels, and I feel very confident and pleased that I have been around people who have helped me to continue to grow and remain exposed to what is going on, because dance is changing all the time."

Finally, when asked what her biggest wish for the future of dance in Bermuda might be, Miss Harvey does not hesitate: "I would like to see a performing arts high school here. I want to have dancers make it professionally. That would make me really, really happy - knowing that my work was not in vain."