Nona Baker

Nona Baker was born Miriam Winoni Jerde in 1928, and grew up Pomona, Los Angeles County, California. She began dancing at the age of 3 and was in the Professional Meglin Kiddies Ensemble (Meglin Kiddies ie. Shirley Temple, Mickey Roonie, etc.). During her teen years, concentration was in tap and jazz with Ray Paralto in the LA area, and later with Vickie McCabe Studios in Hollywood, affiliated with Warner Bros. Studios. She continued studying and teaching with the Joann Warner Dance Arts Studio in Pomona, CA. From there she took a position with the Totten Linkletter Studios teaching “Talent Units” in five of the Art Linkletter’s Studios in Hollywood, studying at the Linkletter Teacher Center in Hollywood.

Nona first came to Anchorage to visit her father who owned a catering business. Later she returned in 1959 and, in June of 1963, she opened Nona’s School of Dance in Spenard. The first recital was held at AMU in May of 1964 as a benefit for the Alaska Crippled Children Center. Soon, she met Jack Baker, who was from Anchorage, but visiting from California where he owned a dance studio. In 1967 they were married, and he joined Nona in the business. Since coming to Alaska, the NADAA Dance Association was a means of continued study, as was modern with 5 x 2 Dance Co, and Chicago Dance Co. Great importance in her original choreography was given to arm and body stylizing. When teaching performance-oriented classes, she felt students should be encouraged to develop their individual creativity. She would say, “the show must go on” and “gotta dance.”

In 1973 the school moved to Athenian Village on Tudor Road and was re-named The Dance Den. Nona and Jack taught ballroom, and, Nona also taught tap, yoga and Modern Ballet. Nona and Jack were involved in many charity benefit performances. In 1978, one of the shows was the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon. In the late 1970’s Nona choreographed a group number called “Pipeline Jazz” that was very popular and reflected the oil boom in Alaska. The Dance Den also had another studio in Anchorage called The Annex where some classes, rehearsals and events were held, and people would enjoy practicing disco and ballroom late into the evenings.

Nona closed her school after the summer of 1981 to move back to CA, passing her students and instructors on to join the newly formed Youth Dance Spectrum with Donna Brandstrom as Artistic Director, under the auspices of the Conservatory of Dance. Nona continued to teach and was inducted into a Tap Hall of Fame in California in her later years. Nona passed away in 1993 in California. Nona had four children; Shirley, Karen, Rick and Jackie. Her daughter Shirley also performed and taught.