• 11/23/2004
  • Norfolk, VA
  • Warren Warsaw
  • The Virginian-Pilot

For 12 young dancers, with their glittered faces and glitzy costumes, Saturday’s performance at the Jeanne & George Roper Performing Arts Center will be like any other. On the surface. For all their outward smiles and athletic routines, they will dance with heavy hearts for someone who’s missing from the stage.

Pappou.

That’s Greek for “grandfather” and that’s the only name some of the dancers knew for Arthur Kotarides who died in August 2003 from oral cancer. Kotarides was the real father of Hero “Ro” Kotarides Barker, a 40-year-old Wards Corner resident who owns the 7Movements in Dance studio at 7930-C Chesapeake Blvd.

But “Pappou” was the surrogate grandfather for many of the girls at the 7Movements in dance since the studio opened in 1995. The fun-loving prankster who attended every performance and competition built more than just the sets and props. He built relationships.

So when Pappou died on a Saturday – a day before a dance competition -several of the girls panicked. “I didn’t know what to say to anyone,” said Kayla Lovett, a 14-year-old dancer from Bayview who knew Pappou since she was r. “I just performed and stayed away from everyone.” When words faild to express their sorrow and love, these teens who knew Pappou since they were toddlers, turned to dance. And over the past year, the core group of 12 dancers known as the Smooth Movers Performing Company, has worked 6 to 12 hours a week choreographing their own numbers. Every dance is dedicated to the man who made them laugh, including: “The Face,” created to honor Pappou’s battle with oral cancer.

But dedications weren’t enough. The girls wanted to do something more tangible. Studio ownder Ro Kotarides had an idea. Why not create a performance and donate the money raised to the Oral Cancer Foundation?

Over the past month, the dancers worked on raising money and awareness for oral cancer, sold tickets to the Roper show and created their own dances for “At the Mall,” the dance recital that will take place at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

In addition to the Smooth Movers, 40 high school cheerleaders from Chesapeake have solicited funds in honor of their sponsor, Minnie Ashworth, who had the same surgery as Pappou to cure her oral cancer.

Brian Hill, president of Oral Cancer Foundation, a Newport Beach, Calif., organization promoting awareness of the disease, is ecstatic. “Hero’s dancers saw Pappou at a very painful and distressing time in his life. This performance is a way of making sense of that scary time for them,” said Hill, a five-year survivor of oral cancer. Hill also said that since more people die of oral cancer than prostate and cervical cancers, public awareness is key to lowering the number of victims.

After a recent rehearsal of a jazz dance routine called “Estrada,” Angel Haugen, a 15-year-old Bayview resident, remembered how Pappou would dance behind his daughter Hero without her knowledge, infusing some levity to some intense rehearsals. “Even if he had only three minutes to stop by the studio, he would do it, just to say ‘hi’,” said Angel, who didn’t know that Papou’s real name was Arthur until she was 8. Kayla Lovett agreed. She used to wake up in the morning knowing that she would see Pappou that day.

Still too young to comprehend the gesture of their generoistiy, both girls understand that the troupe is helping others they do not know.
“I think Pappou would like that,” said his daughter, Hero. “I think he’s watching over us. Our rehearsals are smoother than usual and everything is falling into place.”

For tickets or show information, call 480-2225. Those unable to attend the performance also may donate to the Oral Cancer Foundation through the studio. All proceeds will go to the Oral Cancer Foundation.

Copyright (c) 2004, The Virginian-Pilot, reprinted with permission