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NORWALK NEWS, Thursday, January 14, 1993 15Pan ArkasParent refiites dance teacher’s background claimsBy FRANK REAGANOne day, Margee Rogers tookher 12-year-old daughter to the library to read about the wonderful career of Michel Renault, the premier danseur etoile, or superstar, of the Paris Opera Ballet.Rogers said that her daughter, who loves ballet, was excited when she saw that the book contained a photograph of Renault as a young performer. “She made a copy of the page in the book for her scrapbook,” Rogers said. “She was thrilled.”The reason: She was taking lessons in Norwalk at Vacker Studio, from the man she believed wasWhat can parents do to select the right school and dance teacher? Angela Tobias, a Norwalk teacher and a professional dancer for 18 years, says the easiest step is to inspect the credentials.“Most parents never ask,” she said. “But this should be a common practice.”There are about a dozen ballet schools in the Norwalk area that teach hundreds of students each year. Area professions say that Pan Arkas, because he is being sued and charged with falsifying his credentials and using imnproper teaching methods, has hurt them by casting a shadow over all of them. He claims that they are jealous of him.Tobias is one of the local teachers with impressive credentials. They include tours of the United States Canada and Mexico as a rima ballerina, dancing on roadway in shows including “Gypsy,” and choreographing for Children’s Theater and television.She began training for a professional career at 16 in New YorkContinued on page 17that same famous ballet master and teacher.Except that this was not true. Rogers says that Pan Arkas, founder and artistic director of Vacker Studio on Wall Street, had convinced her daughter and others in the class that his real name was Renault.“The photograph even resembled him,” Rogers said.Recently, Arkas admitted that he has never danced with the Paris Opera Ballet and used Renault’s credentials for advertising purposes. But he denied that he had claimed to be Renaultby name.In September 1992, eight par-City at schools that included the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet.Before opening her Norwalk studio 11 years ago, she was on the staff of the International Dance School at Carengie Hall. Credentials such as these can be traced through reviews, photo-ents pulled their children out of the Vacker Studio. In October, Michael Goodman of Westport filed suit against Arkas in Bridgeport Superior Court, charging that Arkas had schemed to defraud him by misrepresenting his identity and teaching credentials, that he used methods “at variance with accepted practices,” and for “exerting undue influence” over his son, who had been a student at the studio.Goodman is in the process of filing a motion with the court to have the damages sought in the suit - in excess of $ 15,000 - paid because of default. Arkas had not answered the complaint in court as of last week.Rick Samuels, Rogers’ husband, said that the “prime motivation” under which the couple is speaking out against Arkas is to “expose the man for what he is.”Samuels said, “He is dangerous for kids on two levels.” He said, “On the physical level, for his teaching methods, and he also tries to develop too strong a mental relationship with the kids. They are too fragile to be subjected to this type of indoctrination.”Rogers said her daughter was crushed when she learned that the teacher had lied to her. “We felt abused and vulnerable by the whole affair,” Rogers said.She said the experience included “bizarre” happenings.At one point, Rogers said, Arkas told her that a patron of the ballet, who had to remain anonymous for awhile, had seen her daughter perform, and was so impressed that he was awarding her a scholarship so she could continue her training until she became a professional.“He said that the scholarship included the lessons as well as the pointe shoes,” Rogers said. “He promised to introduce me to the sponsor when the time was right. How could I say no?”She said that Arkas then asked for a check for $250 to draw up the paperwork required for the scholarship. “He told me to write the check to Florin Luball,” she said. “I never knew that was one of his aliases until I read [a newspaper report! about the suit.” From then on, the free scholarship became costly, in the form of extra fees, Rogers said. “Wenever did get the paperwork on the scholarship,” she said.On top of “always asking for money,” Rogers said, it became apparent that he was telling “lies to the girls” about famous people who supposedly were watching them, the performing company he was going to begin, and his own contacts and achievements.“At one point he read a glowing letter to the class from a former student who was now at the New York City Ballet,” Rogers said. “The only problem was that my daughter was standing in back of him and could see that the paper he was reading from did not have those words at all.”During this period, she said, a teacher in Mexico where Rogers’ daughter spent part of the summer questioned where she was being trained.She said that the lower part of my daughter’s body was being built up but not the upper part,” Rogers said. “I didn’t realize how serious this was until several other teachers gave the same evaluation. You need upper-body strength to go up on pointe.”V.V-Jfmv V. e* v-.y- -M p I #• c t fi m mlostChoosing the right teacher means asking questions
Newspaper Details
Norwalk News
Norwalk, Connecticut, US
Thu, Jan 14, 1993
Page 15
Full Page
Clipped by
Kim S.
CT, USA 26 May 2020
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