Maria DuBois Genné first described Ida Arbeit as a “99-year-old dancer.” Then she changed her mind, saying Arbeit is “a dancer who happens to be 99.”
Genné is the artistic director of Kairos Dance Theatre, a 16-member intergenerational modern dance company in St. Paul, Minn.
When Arbeit moved from New York to St. Paul nearly two years ago, she and her family learned about KDT and Arbeit began attending rehearsals.
Last month, Arbeit joined Genné and four others to work on “Dancing with Ida,” which was performed June 7 at the St. Paul JCC.
“I’m back to where I was when I first started dancing,” Arbeit said. “For me, it’s just like going back again. It’s just giving back to me what I gave to others.”
Arbeit was born into a Jewish family on Dec. 7, 1909, in New York City. And from an early age, she knew she wanted to be a dancer.
“If you want to do something badly enough, you’ll climb mountains to do it,” Arbeit said. “That’s what I had to do.”
In the first half of the 20th century, she wanted to dance with a new group that had been created under the Federal Theatre Project (a New Deal initiative to fund theater and other live artistic performances during the Great Depression).
It was one of five Federal One projects sponsored by the Works Projects Administration , and the FTP’s primary goal was to employ out-of-work artists, writers and directors.
Arbeit changed her name, address and entire life story to appear unemployed and destitute in order to get a job with the group.
“I wasn’t ashamed of what I did because I wanted to dance so badly that I made up a story of my life that changed my whole life,” Arbeit said. “So I lied. So what if I lied? I gave something to the world. I danced.”
Arbeit auditioned for legendary choreographer Helen Tamiris (originally Helen Becker), who was also Jewish, and she danced with Tamiris’ company for 12 years under the name Ida Little.
“They used to called me little Ida because there was a bigger Ida, so I reversed the name,” Arbeit said. “I loved every moment of it.”
When Arbeit began working with KDT, Genné originally wanted to recreate an old piece.
But “Ida has always said to me, ‘I am not about the past, I am about the future,’ ” Genné said. “So I said, ‘Ida, how about we make something new together?’ And that’s how this all started.”
“I’ve lived a long time and I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” Arbeit said. “And if I laugh enough, I’ll laugh myself into 100.”