What is the importance of dance? For Nancy Claire Houssels, it has simply shaped her life! Born on February 26, 1935 to Edith Darlene Wallace and William Edwin Wallace, Nancy grew up with three brothers in an athletic household in Piedmont, California. She began dancing at the early age of three and filled her childhood years with dance and synchronized swimming. After attaining a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre Arts from UCLA in 1957, Nancy went on the road with the Hollywood Bowl; soon meeting her future dance partner, Francois Szony. Already known as one of the most respected adagio dancers in the world, Szony would become Nancy’s dance partner for the next ten years. The Szony and Claire adagio team rehearsed in New York City before heading off to their first European engagement at the London Palladium. The team spent the next few years appearing in London, Copenhagen, Paris, Vienna, Rome, Turino, Milan, Barcelona, and even Beirut. Their physical ability to perform breath-taking spins and lifts appealed to broad audiences; even those with little or no appreciation of ballet. After returning to the states, Szony and Claire performed in Miami, Puerto Rico, and throughout New York; including Radio City Music Hall, the Ed Sullivan Show, Carnegie Hall, and Madison Square Garden. In 1966, the dance team headed to Las Vegas, Nevada to appear with the Casino de Paris at the Dunes Hotel. Shortly thereafter, in 1968, Szony and Claire joined the cast of the Folies Bergere at the Tropicana Hotel. In May 1970, Nancy married J. Kell Houssels, Jr., then the President of the Tropicana Hotel. As Nancy likes to retell this moment, “Well, my husband fired me and we got married!” After more than thirty years of dancing, Nancy felt ready to end her professional dance career and looked forward to starting a family. Nancy and Kell subsequently had two children: Kelly Clair and Eric Wallace, and Nancy happily ‘inherited’ three stepchildren: Josh, Jake, and Leslie. The adjustment of shifting from a career characterized by a grueling work schedule to that of domestic life proved challenging for Nancy. She soon began looking for ways to involve herself in the community. Since the early 1970s, Nancy has lent her time and support to such diverse entities as Child Haven, Children’s Service Guild of the Clark County Juvenile Court System, National Conference of Christians and Jews, PBS Friends of Channel 10, Nathan Adelson Hospice, Meadows School, United Campus Ministry, Las Vegas Metropolitan Beautification Committee, McCarran Airport Arts Advisory Committee and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Foundation. While Chair of the Nevada State Council of the Arts for seven years, she proved instrumental in establishing a Folk Arts program and expanding legislative funding for statewide arts programs. Nancy’s service to the community has been recognized with such awards as the 1985 Nevada Dance Theatre’s Woman of the Year, the 1988 Governor’s Arts Award - Distinguished Service to the Arts, the 1994 State of Nevada’s Women of Achievement, and the 1997 We Can, Inc.’s Chris Schaller Award for children’s advocacy. Although her days as a professional dancer had ended, Nancy never relinquished her love of dance. In 1972, Nancy joined Vassili Sulich in founding the Nevada Dance Theatre. As the principal dancer in the Folies Bergere, Sulich had organized a series of dance concerts for the Las Vegas community. Much to Nancy’s surprise, the Las Vegas community responded enthusiastically to the availability of ballet performances. Nancy quickly formed a volunteer board to raise the critically needed funding for this endeavor. She began with an evening fundraiser at her home, inviting a group of like-minded friends. This effort raised the initial fifteen thousand dollars that set the Nevada Dance Theatre on its way. In 1976, the company acquired its non-profit status and subsequently formed an academy to train children in dance. Nancy played an instrumental role in furthering the ballet company’s community outreach; creating such programs as Future Dance funded by the Lied Foundation. This program targets lower income children who attend at-risk elementary schools and provides them with free dance instruction…building self-esteem, confidence, and hope. In 1996, with a capital grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation and land donated by the Howard Hughes Corporation, the Nevada Dance Theatre began drawing their plans for a world-class facility in Summerlin. Completed in 1999, the company now had a visible home within the Las Vegas community. Here, students from the Las Vegas community trained alongside the company’s professional dancers. Renamed in 1998 as the Nevada Ballet Theatre and with a new Artistic Director, Bruce Steivel, the Company continues to serve not only as a leading force for live performing arts, but also as a source of community outreach programs for children. Nancy continues to remain involved with the Nevada Ballet Theatre and currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Company. She believes her life experience reflects both the viewpoint of the artist and that of the audience. Indeed, her visionary leadership and love of dance has not only shaped her life but has nurtured the development of the cultural arts in Southern Nevada.

Jarmilla McMillan-Arnold’s father, Dr. James B. McMillan, was the first black dentist in the state of Nevada. Dr. McMillan’s colleagues consisted of Dr. West, the first black medical doctor in the state, and Dr. Ice, the first black surgeon in Nevada. This interview highlights and archives the solid foundation upon which Nevada’s black community was built. Jarmilla recalls early memories of growing up as the daughter of Las Vegas NAACP president Dr. McMillan. She was born in Detroit, Michigan, to a Caucasian and Indian mother who was a professional dancer. Jarmilla’s parents separated when she was very young and as a result she was raised by her paternal grandmother who owned a restaurant in Pontiac, Michigan. Jarmilla describes her grandmother as being well-known and highly regarded in the community where she maintained her business. Jarmilla attended Catholic schools in Detroit, Pontiac, and Las Vegas. Having moved to Las Vegas with her father, Jarmilla’s narrative offers keen insigh

Jillian Hrushowy arrived in Las Vegas in 1959 as part of a company hired to appear at the El Rancho Vegas Hotel in a production called La Nouvelle Eve. She has remained here (other than three short-term contracts in Reno, Nevada) until present day. She is now the production manager for Legends in Concert at the Imperial Palace Hotel. She was an only child, born in Rhodesia to English parents and raised in a home with servants and tutors. Her mother exposed her to the arts at an early age. Jillian took dancing lessons from the age of three years until she began dancing professionally. When she was fifteen years old, both parents agreed it was time for her to leave Rhodesia and finish her education in England. Living alone was difficult and lonely, but it afforded her a wealth of opportunities otherwise unavailable. She worked as a dancer in small, local productions while still in high school. When only eighteen, she got a job dancing in La Nouvelle Eve in Paris which eventually came to Las Vegas. This interview focuses on the years from Jillian’s arrival in 1959 until she retired from dancing in 1979. It follows her transitions from dancer, to principal dancer to production manager. [The first twenty minutes of the tape is warped and the text is garbled. The transcriber has lightly edited the transcript.]

Dolly Kelepecz loves dance. Her entire life has been filled with the joy of movement. In this interview, Dolly begins with her life growing up in Covina, California and traveling with the Los Angeles Ballet Society as a young dancer. Eventually her career opportunities would have her traverse the globe as a dancer and as a circus entertainer. Her Las Vegas roots took hold in the mid-1970s when she was hired as a dancer in the Bluebells at a 19-year-old. She provides details of being a Las Vegas showgirl, crossing paths with Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, working with Fluff LeCoque, and becoming a dancer in Stardust's Lido show. Today Dolly is an instructor at UNLV, an important part of her legacy is working with young people. She also explains how she was integral in bringing Pilates to the valley, which continues to be a thriving studio here.

Betty [Rosenthal] Bunch began dancing as a child. By the time she was nine years old she decided she would have a dancing career. At 18 years she began to work in stock theatre productions. Within a short time, she had joined the Moro-Landis dancers. She landed her first job in Las Vegas in 1956 at the Sahara Hotel as part of the opening line for Donald O'Connor. Following the Sahara, she worked as a dancer at the Riveria, and then returned to the Moulin Rouge in Hollywood. In 1961 while vacationing in Las Vegas, she landed a job dancing at the Dunes. She continued to dance, sing and do comedy until after the birth of her second child. At that time, she retired from the Las Vegas showroom, but not from show business. Her involvement in both film and stage has remained rich and varied. This interview focuses on the time Betty spent performing on the Las Vegas strip, including her long involvement with the acclaimed afternoon show Bottoms Up. The interview provides information on workin

Patricia 'Pat' Merl plans for college did not materialized after graduation from a New Jersey high school in the late 1960s. Instead she took a receptionist job. The by the age of 19, it was her interest in dance classes that would lead her to audition to be a professional dancer for the Rockettes of Radio City Music Hall fame. Her days and weeks were filled with rigorous rehearsals and performances, but it was also an exciting time for a young and spirited girl. A side trip to Las Vegas in 1971 during her first ever vacation opened her to a new world of possibilities for a professional dancer. So without a job, she decides to remain in Las Vegas and explore the options. It became the beginning of a wide and varied career in the live entertainment industry. Pat's dancing resume includes working in many of the Las Vegas chorus lines of the 1970s, provides a flavor of what the work was like then and how it changed during the era. She includes the story of Frank Rosenthal and