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11 AM News
December 19, 2001
KELLY: For many children, dance lessons are a part of childhood
along with music lessons
and trips to the zoo, but some children cannot afford the extras, and that's where a program
called "Everybody Dance" comes in. Our guest today is Liza Bercovici, who founded the
group, and Liza, thanks so much for being here
LIZA: Thank you.
KELLY: I know that the program, its genesis, is based on a really terrible tragedy. Tell me
about that.
LIZA: I lost my daughter, Gabriella, when she was 13 1/2...
KELLY: We have some pictures of her here.
LIZA: Yes, thank you. We were on a family bicycling vacation in Grand Teton National Park
and she was hit by a car while riding her bike, and after she died...I had been a practicing
lawyer...I just did not feel like going on practicing law.A friend sent me a series of articles
that had run in the Los Angeles Times about a dance program in Santa Ana that had been
started by a former nun for underprivileged children in that neighborhood, in that community,
and I began to wonder if something similar could be done in Los Angeles. My daughter and
been a wonderful dancer, and dance had done a lot of good for her and I just thought it
might be some way of perpetuating her memory and salvaging my own life actually. So, as it
happened, a friend of mine, who was actually a former client, was a developer and had taken
a beautiful old historic building in Los Angeles, the former Sheraton Town House Hotel and
converted it into a really model low income housing project and I'd sometimes visit him there
because the courthouse is right across the street. I noticed that the old banquet hall of the
hotel, which is a beautiful room, was basically unused because it was now a low income
housing project, and so I asked him whether or not it would be possible to start a community
dance program in that location. It happened to be a community...it's the Wilshire Center area
of Los Angeles just a little bit west of downtown...where there's a huge number of kids - it's
a very densely populated area.
KELLY: We're showing right now some video tape of what has come from this idea. It's just a
terrific opportunity for kids who otherwise wouldn't have it. Tell me, there's hundreds of
children who've now become involved with this.
LIZA: Yes, it's just mushroomed out of all proportion. I cannot explain it myself, except that
a lot of people put a lot of time and effort into making it happen. I always end up getting the
credit, but the fact is, it was a group effort which started with 12 classes a week back in
May of 2000 with, I think, 50 kids. By September, we were up to 33 classes a week.
KELLY: Wow.
LIZA: We're up to 72 classes a week in two locations and we have 750 kids now. It's great.
KELLY: That is great. Tell me, these are still pictures of some of the kids who take part in
the program. Now, students have to be a certain age to begin?
LIZA: Well. they have to be 4 years of age, and if they're 4, they start in our Saturday
program in pre ballet normally, or creative dance, but most of the kids you see there are
between 7 and 12 years old. Right there, they're dancing at the University of Southern
California.
KELLY: Okay, wow.
LIZA: Yes, they were invited to perform there.
KELLY: That's terrific. And boys, I notice. Boys are involved as well?
LIZA: Yes, a lot of boys. My own son who's 10 years old has been dancing there for a year
and half. It's been great for him.
KELLY: Tell us quickly, if people want to get involved in the program, whether it's getting
their own children involved or they want to donate time, how can they do that?
LIZA: Thanks for asking...they can check our web site at www.everybodydance.org. They
can give us a telephone call at 213–/365–0065. That would probably be the best ways to
reach us.
KELLY: I think you're daughter would be very proud of what you've done, and we think it's
absolutely amazing what you've done in such a short time.
LIZA: Thank you.
KELLY: Liza, thanks for being our guest today.
LIZA: Thanks for having me.
--Kelly Mack (NBC Reporter)
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