dance by Michele Pekovich Dancers For Life I h e benefit for A I D S . Dancers For Life, will enlisl the "who's who" of Canadian dance. Maj -7th marks Vancouver's second annual Dancers For Life benefit and the return of Canadian dance legends Karen Kain. Evelyn Harl and Margie Gillis to the Vancouver Playhouse. Local dancer Susan Elliott, in her first appearance at the gala, is thrilled to be sharing the spotlight with some of the nation's greatest dancers and choreographers. Making a double appearance, she will perform in works by dynamic, young choreographers Pipo Damiano and Crystal Pile. Elliott's early dance career began on the North Shore with Highland dancing lessons, taught by Nan Wilson, and ballet with Diane Miller. She graduated from Hillside Secondary School, where she participated in musical theatre productions directed by her father Bill Elliott. In 1987. Elliott began her modern dance training at Vancouver's Main Dance Place. Over the years she has performed in the dance creations of such prominent choreographers as Linda Rabin. Judith Marcuse and John Alleyne. Currently. Elliott is coartistic director of Frozen Eye along with choreographer Pipo Damiano. For the Dancers For Life program. Elliott, along with Pipo Damiano. Kathleen McDonagh and Tonja Livingstone will perform Damiano's piece Pictures @ platform. a work which chronicles passers-by on a train station platform. "The characters are more a catalogue of impressions, portraits, or snapshots of all the people who have at some point waited on a platform than actual people with a narrative attached to themselves." Elliott says. Damiano's creation won the Producer's Award at the Dancing on the Edge Festival in 1995 and will be performed at the Canadian Dance Festival in Ottawa this June. In addition to Pictures @ platform. Elliott will dance with Kathleen M c D o n a g h in Crystal Pite's Inside Passage. Pite's piece, a freewheeling pas-de-deux. was a hit at the 1995 Kiss Project. This special evening, celebrating life and dance, was born out of the care and concern of local artists, administrators and the community for those living with A I D S . The event offers Vancouver audiences the opportunity to not only see the finest dancers and choreographers in Canada on one stage but also to help raise money for the Diamond Centre for Living (Weeks House). Former Royal Winnipeg Ballet tour director and co-chair of the gala. Mark Porteous. reflects upon the spirit of the evening. "Dancers really want to do something--they want to express their support for their friends and colleagues who have HIV. and the only way they can do that is by contributing Iheir talent to help fight AIDS." Thanks to the generosity of the artists and patrons, last year's sold-out benefit raised $35.000 and. as a result, Vancouver's Dancers For Life has now become an annual event Miche/e Pekovich is a volunteer for Dancers For Life. Dancers For Life is May 27,8 p.m., Vancouver Playhouse.Tickets: $125 Dancers in Pictures @ platform, to be performed at the Dancers For Life benefit, l-r:Tonja Livingstone, Kathleen McDonagh, Susan Damiano. Photo: David Cooper. Dancer: Margie Gillis (who will perform at this year's Dancers For Life benefit at the Vancouver Playhouse, May 27. Title: Torn Roots, Borken Branches. Choreography: Margie Gillis Photo: Annie Leibovitz. (includes pre- and post-show receptions and D/iotr and Pipo a tax oeducoWe recent) & $60 findbdes post-show recepoonl Cat 280-3311.