Theatre of Bermuda (NDTB) have brought in a consultant to advise them.

Joan Meyers-Brown, founder and artistic director of the Philadelphia-based modern dance company Philadanco, explained that she is here to help the NDTB with their business side.

"I'm here to help administratively and to offer guidance to the board on development,'' she said. "Running a dance company is like running any business, you have to learn how to do it.'' Mrs. Meyers-Brown began the International Association of Blacks in Dance back in 1988 to offer a venue for dancers to showcase and network. The Association hold a convention yearly which has mushroomed into an event where not only are performances given, but classes on dance and dance administration are offered.

"We offer a lot of classes,'' she said, "and have panel discussions for administrators.'' A fellow dance student with Louise Jackson, of the Jackson School of Dance, Mrs. Meyers-Brown has kept close ties with her. In fact it was through Mrs.

Jackson that Mrs. Meyers-Brown was introduced to the NDTB several years ago.

"Every year since we've started they've come to our conference,'' she noted.

"And last year Suzette Harvey attended with some of her dancers.'' "When you are in a small community like Bermuda you feel very isolated and tend to think that you are alone in the problems you are experiencing,'' she said. "But the problems are universal.

"The dance community is fragmented and the NDTB want to bring it together.

There are very talented dancers here and I see no reason why there shouldn't be a national dance company. Jamaica has its own national company and so do other Caribbean islands. I don't see why Bermuda should be different.'' "There is distress in the NDTB that Bermudian dancers go overseas,'' she noted. "But if you don't want youngsters to leave the island, you have to have something to offer to make them want to stay.

"We have the same problems in the United States. You build your company and you have a group of wonderful dancers, then some decide to leave, to join other companies. It is distressing.'' Fund raising, public relations, marketing and salaries for dancers are some of the areas of concern the NDTB will be looking for Mrs. Meyers-Brown to advise them on. Conchita Ming, of the NDTB, noted that they want to move forward and be formally recognised as the "national repository of the best dancers and choreographers on the Island''.

While she admitted that she cannot envisage in the foreseeable future, a Bermuda able to support full-time dance performers, Mrs. Ming said she believed that the time had come for dancers to be paid for their performances.

"We do perform at a professional level and the Company has been paid, but our dancers never have,'' she said.

Mrs. Meyers-Brown stressed the importance of community support for dance.

"You know dance, at least in the United States, is often looked upon as the stepchild of the arts,'' she said.

"We need for people to know it needs community support, and more than simply sending your children to dance class. It means, making contributions, behind the scenes and word of mouth support.'' The NDTB have a permanent home at the Bermuda College and will hold a gala fund raising event tonight (MON) at the Ruth Seaton James Auditorium.

Kim Bears, assistant artistic director of Philadanco, is currently teaching the Horton technique at the NDTB studio. She holds two classes daily, the first for teens 12 to 16 and the second for company members.

Ms Bears has choreographed a piece for tonight's event entitled "Who's Watching Who'' and will perform a solo as well.

For more information on tonight's gala call 295-1727.

Dance ambassadors: Kim Bears and Joan Meyers-Brown, artistic directors of Philandanco Dance Company.