ADAMS, Mass. — It was supposed to be a small reunion of friends and students gathering to salute the influence of local dance icon Susan Hakes. 

 

It's snowballed into a celebration that's inspired the creative community to put Hakes' career on full display on Park Street. 

 

Thursday night marked the reveal of storefront windows in the Mausert Block exhibiting Hakes' 60-year career in conjunction with the Adams Theater event "Susan Hakes: From Russell Field to Las Vegas" in October. 

 

The four window installations were the creation of Gail Sellers, Greg Lafave, Tammy Marie Peltier and Barbara St. Pierre, who arranged costumes from performances Hakes was involved with along with documents and photographs from her career. 

 

The original idea was for Hakes to meet some of her former students in a coffee shop but as word spread, more people wanted to get involved and it has grown to include the window installation and a reunion event on Oct. 7 at 2 p.m., with a special drink by the Firehouse Café & Bistro that week.

 

The unveiling of the Susan Hakes Window Exhibit provided a glimpse into what to expect of the reunion.

 

The event at the Adams Theater will display thousands of student photos, video clips, newspaper clippings, ads and programs from 1962 through 2022.

 

Video clips from 50 shows include ballet, modern dance, lyrical, tap, jazz, improvisation, break dancing, ballroom, folk dance, and musical theater performances from Massachusetts, Vermont and Las Vegas. 

 

Many of Hakes' students are now grown, some with grandchildren. It will be a wonderful opportunity for the younger generation to see their grandparents dancing when they were young, said Hakes, who joined the unveiling via cell phone. 

 

Seeing how many people have stepped up to be part of the reunion has been overwhelming, she said. 

 

The dancer and choreographer founded the Brookfield School of Dance in 1962, with some of her first classes at Russell Field as part of the town's Parks and Recreation program. A decade later it became The Studio and, in 1982, Berkshire Dance Theater that she operated until about 2007. 

 

She's estimated to have taught dance to more than 30,000 students from ages 3 to 80 in Massachusetts, Vermont, New York and Nevada. Since 2012, the 1971 graduate of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts has run Kaleidoscope Productions, designing, directing and choreographing performances in Las Vegas. 

 

The few dozen attendees at Thursday's installation unveiling said Hakes had made an immense impact on the area and its community members.

 

Attending these classes gave them tools to succeed and resulted in wonderful opportunities like performing with big-name performers like Michael Jackson and Madonna, Sellers said. 

 

The classes also created lifelong friendships for many residents, St. Pierre added. Although she knew Hakes in high school, she really got to know her classmate when working backstage while her children attended the dance school. 

 

Hakes was not aware of the impact she had had on the community members, Sellers said, when she first reached out to her inquiring about organizing a gathering. But former students from around the nation are coming back to the area to participate.

 

Some residents became emotional when seeing their memories come to life in the installation. 

 

The four artists have spent the last three months creating the displays. Sellers is a local potter involved with the Adams arts community; Lafave, well-known for his life-size tableaus, provided the mannequins. St. Pierre contributed her knowledge of her friend's history and Peltier "brought the windows to life."

 

Also contributing were building owner Stephen Stenson who provided the space and Joey Girard of CW Construction who raised the floors; Jessica Gwozdz, who had archived costumes from the dance school; theater artist Bill Riley offered a backdrop for the "Russell Field Window"; and former Historical Society President Robert Norcross enlarged the archived photographs. 

 

Sellers, an Adams native, hopes that as people drive by the installation, they'll notice the Mother Town is a "happening place." Though the third largest community in the Berkshires, it's often overshadowed by the county's two cities, she said. 

 

"And having seen what Adams has gone through. I just feel like people have to be aware that great, great people have come out of this area and have gone on to be successful, and to bring them back and talk about it," she said.

 

"This is Adams' time to shine."

 

Tickets to the Oct. 7 event are free but priority seating is $10 and can be obtained at the theater's box office or here.