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Arts Council Taps Couple For Tribute

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By GEORGE WILKENS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 3, 2008

PLANT CITY - The Arts Council of Plant City will honor a local couple this month for a half-century dedicated to teaching dance to several generations of youngsters.

The tribute to Jackie and Buddy Everidge of Jackie's Dance Theatre & Gym as "champions of the arts" will be 6 p.m. Sept. 14 at the Red Rose Inn & Suites' Red Rose Ballroom, 2011 N. Wheeler St.

"We're encouraging alumni of Miss Jackie's to come" to the event, which will include dinner and professional performances, as well as a celebration of Broadway, council president Cheryl Worsham said.

The school's countless students of jazz, tap, ballet and other forms of dance include some who continued their studies and entertain professionally, including on Broadway and members of the casts of Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center productions. Many plan to attend the appreciation dinner, said Worsham, who is interested in hearing from former students.

"Miss Jackie," as she is affectionately known, bought the business in 1958, taking over the studio Ann Barr Gibbs operated in the Lee Building downtown. The theater moved to its current location, 507 N. Wheeler St., in 1976.

Jackie and Buddy married the following year. He retired after 40 years as a U.S. Postal Service worker and handles the business end of the artistic enterprise.

Since 1984, Jackie Everidge has also been director of the Plant City Children's Theatre, a nonprofit boasting a long list of alumni with professional credits in the arts.

Miss Jackie was director of choreography for many of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Swash-Buc-lers in preparation for the cheerleaders' performance at the first Bucs game in 1976.

She and many of her local dancers were invited to perform at dedication ceremonies during the 1971 opening of Walt Disney World. She also was a choreographer for the Magic Kingdom's Main Street parade, said the Everidges' daughter, Sharon Everidge. Sharon, age 10 at the time, was among the many Plant City dancers who performed in the Disney procession.

"That was a big deal," Sharon Everidge said. "They brought buses to Plant City and loaded us up, and we practiced for the grand opening. We have some home movies of that. We thought we were pure stardom."

Sharon, who joined the family business full time in 1984 after earning fine arts degrees from Florida State University and the University of South Florida, said former students who turned professional include performers at Busch Gardens, Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland and one who last year was in the cast of the traveling production of "Wicked."

Floridian David Chernault, an actor, singer and director who taught at Plant City Children's Theatre for two years before leaving to pursue his acting career, is expected to attend the tribute, Sharon Everidge said. His credits include the Daddy Warbucks role in the 30th anniversary tours of "Annie," filling in for an ailing Conrad John Schuck.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: The Arts Council of Plant City's tribute to Jackie and Buddy Everidge

WHEN: 6 p.m. Sept. 14

WHERE: Red Rose Inn & Suites' Red Rose Ballroom, 2011 N. Wheeler St., Plant City

COST: $40 for arts council members, $45 for others; event includes dinner and entertainment.

RESERVATIONS: Call (813) 973-1770 by Sept. 12.

Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at (813) 865-4433 or gwilkens@tampatrib.com.

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