Lucy Bowen McCauley is the Artistic Director, choreographer and creative energy behind Bowen McCauley Dance. McCauley’s enduring love for dance moved her to form the company in 1996. Since founding BMD, McCauley has created over 50 works ranging from lyrical ballets to highly physical contemporary pieces set to muscular rock music. Her repertoire offers an unconventional array of genres; her choreography demonstrates a fluent outpouring of dance blending balletic lines, quirky gestures and modern dance’s earthiness that uniquely explores the interplay between music and dance. In October 2008, Washingtonian named McCauley among those “who have helped transform Washington into one of the nation’s liveliest centers for the performing arts.”

A dancer since childhood, McCauley’s early training at the Jordan School of Music & Dance (Indianapolis, Ind.) and the Interlochen Center for the Arts (Traverse City, Mich.) provided her with a profound appreciation for both music and musicians that is so striking in her critically acclaimed work. At age 18, McCauley was offered a scholarship to the Joffrey School in New York City where she performed with the Joffrey Concert Group. She also danced with the Maryland Ballet, the Virginia State Ballet, DC Contemporary Dance Theatre and Daniel West Dancers. She was a founding member of Eric Hampton Dance.
McCauley has been awarded the Alumni Path of Inspiration award from the Interlochen Center for the Arts and the STAR Award for Artistic Excellence from the Arlington Commission for the Arts. She is a recipient of the Elizabeth Campbell Award for the Advancement of the Arts in Arlington from the American Association of University Women. McCauley is a 2008 graduate of Leadership Arlington.

Over the years McCauley has taught at The George Washington University, The Washington Ballet and has been a guest teacher at ABT, the Orlando Ballet, The John F. Kennedy Center, Georgetown University and the Escuela Superior de Música y Danza in Monterrey, Mexico. She is currently on the faculty at the Maryland Youth Ballet, The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Washington Ballet@THEARC and Studio Body Logic. McCauley has pioneered a unique stretch technique, Bowen McCauley Stretch, which has been featured in USA Today, Dance Teacher, and The Washington Post.

In a desire to bring the joy and beauty of dance to new audiences, McCauley has created outreach programs that touch underserved communities throughout the Metropolitan area. She enjoys teaching dance and stretch to people of all ages. In partnership with the Parkinson Foundation of the National Capital Area, McCauley is teaching free weekly dance classes to people with Parkinson Disease and their care-partners.

BMD is supported in part by Arlington County through the Cultural Affairs Division of the Arlington County Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources and the Arlington Commission for the Arts. Partial funding also provided by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.