The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • Page D3

Today The Sun Thursday, June 5, 2003: Page 3d Enchanted with dance and life at 13 W. Mount Vernon Place Muse, from Page Id nal Denishawn modern dance company in New York, Dennis left much of the studio's day-today responsibilities to Muse. After school, "the little girls from Grace and Saint Peter's school came over," remembers Judith Pringle, a former 13 West tenant who now lives in Houston. "When Estelle was still living, she'd beat on the drum made up with her bright red hair and lipstick, and Louise would pretty much teach all the classes." Muse "took care of everything," Pringle says. "From what I understand in the early days, she also helped take care of Estelle, who was pretty wild, dancing on tables at some of those clubs out in the valley." Muse allows that she had a lot of patience with her partner.

Maybe too much, she says. She recalls when Dennis arranged three dates for the same night. "Oh, it was terrible," she groans. And there was the time Dennis, Muse and their company traveled to Europe on a condemned freighter that began to sink. They were temporarily transferred in lifeboats to another boat while the freighter was repaired.

Dennis had been aware of that potential little problem all along, Muse says. But the two had a deep affection for one another. Muse called Dennis "Pav," for ballerina Anna Pavlova. For obscure reasons, Dennis called her "Henny Pen." She doesn't come across as a "sky is falling" kind of person. For years, Muse slept on the floor in the studio, returning to her family home in Dundalk on Saturday evenings.

Some time after Dennis died in 1996, Muse moved into the second-floor says Robin Inloes Hundley. She and her twin sister, April Inloes Smith, first studied with Muse at age 9 and continued through marriage, pregnancy and motherhood, until their instructor retired. Muse, who wouldn't reveal her age but is probably in her late 80s, currently lives at Keswick Multi-Care Center in North Baltimore. A stroke has made it difficult for Muse to be on her own. But she'd much rather return to her apartment, where a "life estate" provision in Dennis' will allows her to remain for the rest of her life.

Using a walker, Muse travels down a Keswick hallway. She wears a blue jumper with whimsical bird buttons. Her hair is arranged in a girlish pageboy. Muse is accompanied by caretakers and longtime friends Joan Shnipper and Michael Mullane, both health care executives at the University of Maryland Medical System. The couple once lived beneath the dance studio and recall awakening on Saturdays to the sound of prancing feet above.

Muse, herself, came to Estelle Dennis' dance studio as a young girl. Over the years, she moved seamlessly from student to partner in the dance school. "There wasn't any asking; it was just taken for granted," Muse says. She readily took to her role as comic foil to Dennis, who cut a colorful swath through Baltimore's nascent dance world with her flowing scarves and flamboyant manner. Dennis was "very old-fashioned, but when it came to the arts, she was quite bohemian," Smith says.

A former member of the semi KENNETH K. LAM Joan Shnipper (left) and Michael Mullane have fond memories of Louise Muse's enthusiasm for dance at the studio. Muse now lives at the Keswick Multi-Care Center in North Baltimore. Si I everal years ago, Muse was hit by a car while crossing Cathedral Street to mail a apartment, where she continued to sleep on the floor and seemed to subsist on candy and orange and onion sandwiches. April Inloes Smith remembers meeting Muse on the first day of dance class in the carriage house on East Monument Street, where Dennis first opened her studio: "The door flew open and there was Louise." "Well, greetings!" the teacher she moved to Keswick.

Muse still hopes to return to her apartment. Across the hall from the old studio, a gallery of photographs testifies to the dance school's lively past. In an image shot by A. Aubrey Bodine, Muse and troupe members jete in the surf as their scarves billow in the wind. In other photographs, Margot Fonteyn, George Balanchine, Melissa Hayden, Paula Lloyd and other dance luminaries pose.

Despite her absence, Muse's apartment still attests to her enthusiasms. It's filled with Beanie babies, ballerina figurines, scrapbooks, photographs, a large painting of Dennis. Perhaps her most prized possession is a signed toe shoe, preserved under a bell jar. It was a gift from her friend, the English ballerina Alicia Markova, now in her 90s and living in London. Dennis once told Smith that Markova was the only person Muse would leave her for.

Muse, a faithful correspondent, has saved letters from friends, former students and others who also lived at 13 West. Pringle, who qualifies as all of the above, wrote of how she enjoyed "a delicious orange and onion sandwich, so naturally we thought of you!" A note from Smith laments: "I miss class so much" The scrapbooks are filled with news of Dennis and her company, but here and there, reviews single out Muse's gifts. In 1950, one critic praised her "droll comic turn" in a piece called Teenagers. Another wrote of the same performance: "Miss Muse was very fine and extremely funny." Today, in Keswick's sunny chapel, Muse chats with Shnipper and Mullane about the exploits of Shnipper's late cats, Tarzan and Jane, who had the run of the studio at 13 West when they lived there in the 1980s. "Every morning, Louise would open the door and Tarzan and Jane would spend the day.

They took the class and walked on the ballet bars. When Louise would do a split and take a nap, the cats would stretch out, too," Shnipper says. The stately Mount Vernon address where Muse lived and worked has an intriguing history that dovetails with her own in consummate Baltimore fashion. In 1915, Mrs. Henry Barton Jacobs, the socialite who lived in the mansion next door, bought 13 West and demolished the rear so light could stream through her Tiffany glass windows.

In 1962, after falling into disrepair, the mansion, along with 13 West, was sold by the city to the Engineering Society of Maryland. Four years later, Dennis bought the home from the Society to use as her studio. Recently, the Society purchased the building back from her estate with possible plans to add office space and an elevator. The proceeds, as spelled out by Dennis' estate, will fund a scholarship for male dancers who wish to train in New York City. The closing date has not been scheduled yet.

One thing is certain: The new owner of 13 West must abide by Dennis' will and preserve Muse's apartment where she prefers to sleep on the floor, in a sleeping bag, with no pillow. After years of being friends, woman now looking for more Dear Abby letter. "She said she saw the flags of the nearby hotel on her way up in the air," Smith says. Later, Muse claimed that while aloft she twisted into a better landing position. "It's just like her to be so loose.

She came out of it better than you or I would," Smith says. Muse did suffer a broken leg and was forced to teach while wearing a huge cast. About four years ago, Robin Inloes Hundley rushed from her Baltimore County home to dance class. While chatting with Muse, she realized her teacher wasn't responding. "Then, all of a sudden I caught her," Hundley says.

She had had a stroke. "Louise loved dance. It was her first love and nothing else came close." Robin Inloes Hundley, Muse's dance student since age 9 Muse, then 83, recuperated, but the studio closed. After a short stay in an assisted living facility, she checked herself out and moved back to 13 West. "She was so determined and so independent," Shnipper says.

Still, Muse "wasn't ready for assisted living," Shnipper says. "When she recovered from the stroke, she just resumed taking charge of her life." With some help: Mullane did her grocery shopping, and Shnipper took her to the doctor. "We both did it gladly," Shnipper says. In a sense, they were returning many favors. When Shipper's mother died, Muse helped her through "very difficult times." After she and Mullane moved to Cross Keys, Muse would tend to her when she was sick.

"She was just very sweet, but she was always full of the devil and very fun. She wasn't a motherly type. She was very playful and you loved to make her laugh," Shnipper says. Last December, when it became too difficult to live alone, exclaimed in her cartoon character voice. The Inloes sisters followed as the dance school moved from the carriage house to a Towson studio and finally to 13 West, which Dennis purchased from the Engineering Society of Baltimore in 1966.

Throughout her career, Muse never stopped being one of the kids. Once, before a recital, Smith says, Muse whispered to her young companions waiting in the wings, "You know, I think my tights are falling down." Muse could be stern with her students, if need be. She may have come across as childlike and eccentric, but she was also "one tough cookie," Pringle says. The Dennis company danced in meadows and gardens, at Rusty Rocks in Roland Park and the 3 Arts Club of Homeland, at a school for the develop-mentally disabled and at the Baltimore Museum of Art. With a repertoire that included the Tambourine Dance, Mexican Fiesta, Ballet for Peace, the Can Can, and the hypnotic Orientate, performed in "nautch" costumes stitched from yards and yards of pleated fabric, Dennis brought a touch of global awareness to a somewhat provincial town.

Yet, she was also oblivious to change. As dance took hold at Peabody, Goucher, Towson and other venues, Dennis' choreography never evolved beyond what she had learned from her own classical and modern training. After a while, pieces such as the Apple Blossom Ballet, billed as a "classical ballet danced en pointe to the familiar music of Apple Blossom Time," drew muffled ridicule from the greater dance community. The Inloes sisters were well aware of the scorn but chose to ignore it out of loyalty to their teachers. Bravely and fatalistically, they and others went on with the show.

For more than a few alumni, the praise they received at the dance school has had a lasting impact. Pringle knows of one student, the daughter of a friend, who began class there as a "slightly pudgy, self-conscious person." She has grown into "this stunning, self-assured, fabulous girl. So much had to do with going to that class." Gradually, the studio's clientele dribbled down to the Inloes twins. Under Muse's tutelage, they would do the same bar routine they did as kids. But mostly, they kept company with their teacher.

She "loved to laugh and loved to joke. She just wanted to hear our stories of our lives and our husbands and our sons. Half the time, she didn't care if we danced," Hundley says. Her twin was married in the studio and today, Smith's husband rents the same space for his insurance business. Almanac June 5 1783: Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier publicly demonstrated their hot-air balloon in a 10-minute flight over Annonay, France.

1794: Congress passed the Neutrality Act, which prohibited Americans from enlisting in the service of a foreign power. 1933: The United States went off the gold standard. 1947: Secretary of State George C. Marshall gave a speech at Harvard University in which he outlined an aid program for Europe that came to be known as "The Marshall Plan." 1968: Sen. Robert F.

Kennedy was assassinated after claiming victory in California's Democratic presidential primary. Gunman Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was immediately arrested. 1981: The Centers for Disease Control reported that five homosexuals in Los Angeles had come down with a rare kind of pneumonia; they were the first recognized cases of what later became known as AIDS. 1993: In Somalia, militiamen loyal to Mohamed Farrah Aidid killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Country star Conway Twitty died in Springfield, at age 59.

1998: A strike at a General Motors parts factory near Detroit closed five assembly plants and idled workers nationwide; the walkout lasted seven weeks. 1999: Jazz and pop singer Mel Torme died in Los Angeles at age 73. 2002: Elizabeth Smart, 14, disappeared from her Salt Lake City home. She was found alive in a Salt Lake suburb the following March. Magic Johnson was introduced as a member of the 2002 class elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Dee Dee Ramone. bass player for the pioneer punk band the Ra-mones, died in Los Angeles at age 50. Associated Press Dear Abby: I am in my late 20s. For six years, I have been entangled in a strange and powerful relationship with "Bruce," a 38-year-old man who considers himself "only a friend." I am very much in love with him, and he knows it. He has never said he loves me.

In fact, whenever we get close, he steps back emotionally and reminds me that he's "just a friend." Bruce was hurt badly by a cheating wife and has been divorced for many years. I know there have been no other women in his life. Despite all this, Bruce treats me like a queen. Whatever I need, he is right there. He is the most generous, protective and responsive man I have ever met.

He calls me every morning to say hello and every night to wish me sweet dreams. We spend weekends together, and we're sexually active. We enjoy each other more than any couple I know married or unmarried. We're such a good match that people tell us we absolutely "glow" when we're together. I have finally reached the end of my rope.

I need some kind of recognition. At the very least, I would like to be considered his girlfriend. Please help me look at this relationship with clear eyes. "Only A Friend" in New York State Dear Only A Friend: It's time to face the fact that for whatever reason, Bruce is commitment-phobic. Up to now, your relationship has been entirely on his terms, and he likes it the way it is.

I'll give him marks for honesty. You must accept it or move on. (If it's marriage and a secure future you're after, I urge you to do the latter.) Dear Abby: I am a 15-year-old girl, and my parents split up a couple of weeks ago. I didn't see it coming because they always acted like they were happy together. My mom and dad have both talked to me about it, but I feel like they're trying to make me choose sides.

Mom is forever asking me if I'm OK, and I always say yes, but I'm not so sure. I can't talk to my father because we aren't as close we never were. Also, I don't see him as much anymore and he rarely calls. My grades have dropped, and I've been falling asleep in some of my classes. Dad thinks I'm depressed, but I don't agree.

I don't know how to explain what I'm going through. My parents don't understand. Abby, please help me because I don't know what to do. Lost and Confused in Stafford, Va. Dear Lost: Your father may have more insight than you have given him credit for.

The signs of depression can be subtle. Among them are sleep problems. Please level with both of your parents about your feelings. Your reaction to the divorce is normal. You should also speak to a counselor at school.

Help is available for you. Please don't try to go through this process alone. Trust me on this: You'll start to feel better as soon as you speak up and stop bottling up your feelings. Dear Abby: Back in 1963, your mother printed a great definition of "maturity." I clipped and saved it, and have referred to it many times. It's still relevant, and my copy has become worn and tattered.

Any chance you would print it again? Helen Rezendes in San Jose, Calif. Dear Helen: I'm pleased to print it again. My mother is a wise woman. "Maturity is: The ability to stick with a job until it's finished. The ability to do a job without being supervised.

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