Mesha Millington is the founder and artistic director of The Gloria Eve Performing Arts Foundation, Inc. (TGEPAF), itself a rarity in the area: a female-run, minority-operated, not-for-profit that provides Hempstead and the surrounding area with affordable performing arts classes. Mesha hopes to instill in her students values of discipline and self-esteem in conjunction with community service and spirit. She is committed to enriching the lives of others through her foundation to ensure that live music, dance and theater continue to flourish in new and interesting ways.

A multi-talented performer who grew up in Queens, Mesha has been singing and dancing since she was a young girl. At the age of 5, she began lessons at the renowned Gloria Jackson School of Dance in Jamaica and continued there through her college years while she was a music major at Adelphi University. She is a composer of R&B music; as an actress she has appeared in more than 100 commercials and her television credits include Star Search and appearances on many popular soap operas. “The only thing I [wasn’t taught] was gymnastics,” Mesha laughs.

Her mentors and inspiration to create TGEPAF were Gloria Jackson and her aunt, Evelyn Cooper, an opera singer, who taught Mesha how to play the piano. “They both had a huge impact on my life,” Mesha says. She recalls using her aunt’s sheet music at auditions and credits that music with helping advance her career. Sadly, both women were stricken with terminal cancer and Mesha vowed to not let their names die in vain and named her foundation in their honor.

Under Mesha’s guidance, TGEPAF has evolved and grown since it became a non-profit in 2003. The foundation now has an enrollment of almost 200 students from Brooklyn to Bay Shore, and includes four dance studios and a music studio offering more than a dozen different disciplines like African dance and drums, ballet, hip-hop, capoeira (an Afro-Brazilian art form influenced by martial arts, acrobatics, dance and games), tap, modern dance, break-dancing and voice.

Classes are very reasonable at $10 an hour, and the rates are based on a sliding scale with additional classes as low as $5. “People can’t believe that you can take 20 classes for only $100,” Mesha says. “I wanted to keep the tuition affordable and be able to access grants to help the middle class.” TGEPAF also offers a work study program for students who need tuition assistance who are 13 and older.

“We don’t consider ourselves a dance school,” Mesha explains. TGEPAF doesn’t have a typical year-end recital, but instead the staff of seven, led by Mesha, creates a theatrical production. “We teach performance ethics. My students ask me what their role is. There is always a story [involved]. Our year- end production is what makes our programs different.”

Mesha’s passion has given hundreds of students the opportunity to learn and enjoy the magic of interacting with music and theater. Her students range in age from 3 to 65 and include an award-winning dance troupe that performs at events and dance competitions throughout the nation. Mesha wants to expand the company and is trying to secure the funding. “It’s learning a skill on another level. We have about 60 students that compete,” she says and adds that those in the company don’t pay anything additional to participate, but must have a willingness to push themselves beyond normal expectations. To be on the competitive team, dancing must come first.

Mesha is proud of that fact that many people come to her school saying that they’ve heard how disciplined and structured the classes are. Her goal is to make The Gloria Eve Performing Arts Foundation a household name, like Alvin Ailey, on Long Island, she says.

“The dynamics of my staff is what makes us unique,” Mesha says. “We are a family.”

For more information, go to www.gloriaeve.com or call 516-478-6060.

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