FAYETTEVILLE — FAYETTEVILLE - Broadway dance star and Arkansas native Bill Hastings may be 62, but he has the moves and physique of a 22-year-old.

Hastings was in Fayetteville this weekend to teach two modern-dance classes and one Broadway-style dance class at the Fayetteville Dance Center, a ballet studio that was once a church on East South Street. The classes were open for dancers ages 16 and up, from beginners to those with at least three years of experience. Slots remained available for his Broadway class, which is set for 2 p.m. today.

During Saturday’s modern-dance class for advanced students, the eight in attendance - ranging from their teens to their 30s - struggled at times to keep up with Hastings as he twisted and contorted his body and rolled around in controlled moves on the studio’s hardwood floor.

As the women mimicked his ad-libbed choreography, he worked his way around the room, adjusting their limbs and joints to get the moves just right. He was generous with compliments, especially for those who train in ballet and aren’t quite used to the liberties of movement with modern dance.

“I’ve taken modern [dance] before but [Hastings’] class allowed me to really express myself,” Katie Radewald, 27, said after class. The high school English teacher is a ballet student atthe studio.

Hastings said the students interpreted his moves with ease and that he saw noticeable improvement by the end of the nearly two-hour class.

“I always feel honored to be able to come into the room and to give a bit of my experience and my point of view - whether they agree with it or not - but it’s always a joy to be able to do that,” he said.

Hastings knows well that a teacher’s influence can last a lifetime.

He was heavily influenced by one of his early dance instructors, famed New Orleans classical ballet teacher and choreographer Harvey Hysell. Over the course of a year of intense instruction, Hysell became Hastings’“greatest inspiration.”

Hastings celebrates Hysell’s memory by quietly dedicating each class to his late mentor.

“When I walk into a classroom, I recognize Harvey. I thank him,” he said.

For years Hastings has been returning to Fayetteville to teach at the behest of the Thea Foundation, the Arkansas Dance Network and the Dance Coalition, but this is his first time to strut his stuff as a teacher at the Fayetteville Dance Center. He has, in the past, been a student of the studio’s owner, Roselyn Cicerone.

This trip to Fayetteville was actually more personal than professional. His family has lived in Northwest Arkansas more than 35 years,with most of his relatives now living in Bella Vista. He offered to teach some classes while he was in town, and the Fayetteville Dance Center was happy to oblige, offering him the space and publicity for the event at no cost.

“A good deal of my adult life, ‘going home’ was going to Fayetteville,” Hastings said.

He started college on music and scholastic scholarships at the University of Arkansas and finished at what was then Louisiana State University in New Orleans, now New Orleans University, with a degree in theater.

While in school in New Orleans, an actor friend encouraged him to take dance classes.

“She said, ‘you know you’ll have to eventually do musicals,’” recalled Hastings.

After a few weeks, the dance instructor introduced Hastings to her teacher, who was Hysell.

From New Orleans, Hastings moved to Houston, where he auditioned and won a part in Oklahoma! at Theatre Under the Stars, a year-round, professional musical theater production company. The organization became another source ofmentoring for Hastings, as the proprietors allowed him to practice in their studio and put him to work assisting the choreographer in their productions. They also allowed him to teach some beginner adult classes and eventually some more advanced classes.

“They were kind enough to see someone who was ... struggling but wanting to move forward,” Hastings said.

Over the course of his career, Hastings has performed in many productions, including Broadway and national tours of A Chorus Line, Bob Fosse’s Dancin’, Sweet Charity, The Most Happy Fella, Rags and Cabaret. He also was involved in the Tony Award-winning musical Fosse.

Hastings, who now lives in Ridgewood, N.J., recently was named professor emeritus by the Norwegian government for his ongoing contributions to the arts andeducation in that country. After his trip to Arkansas, he’ll go to Paris, Norway and Italy, spending up to seven weeks in Norway. Hastings also has taught in Tokyo, Los Angeles, Madrid, Rome and at a host of universities and private schools throughout the United States.

The Thea Foundation, an organization that connects children with the arts, also invites Hastings to central Arkansas for classes each October.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 15 on 02/24/2013