The Enduring Qualities of Dance

By Rita Kohn

September 20-27, 2001
page 30
NUVO
Indianapolis, IN
Arts Weekly

"Sorrowful and great is the artist’s destiny."

This observation by Franz Liszt, the 19th century composer, came to mind as I sat alone in the darkened Lilly Theatre on the Park Tudor campus on Sept. 15. Throughout the afternoon’s three-hour run-through rehearsal of the Bowen McCauley Dance company, still absorbing the tragic events of Sept. 11, I was struck by the discipline and dedication of the dancers and crew, onstage and at their technical posts almost immediately after arriving in Indianapolis from Virginia. The cross-country motor trip, arranged only "by Lucy Bowen moving heaven and earth," according to Lisa Hendrickson, Park Tudor spokesperson, enabled the school’s benefit program to go on that evening.

Across town, at Pike Performing Arts Center, the same scenario of getting it all together, even after a wrong turn onto I-465, was underway. The New York City-based Swing Dance, America troupe and George Gee’s Jump, Jive & Wailers swing band were preparing to open PPAC’s fifth season. At 8 p.m. that same day, I was at Pike, surrounded by an overflow audience. Swing Dance America’s company hoofed through 27 numbers ranging across five generations of big band and pop group fame.

In both programs, crisp, challenging choreography was executed with deft fluidity and precision by dancers who dared and double-dared each other.

Opening the Park Tudor program, Eric Hampton’s setting to excerpts of Beethoven’s Bagatells (Trifles) is an amazingly fluid work whose tension spirals out of serenity. Danced by Bowen McCauley, Alison Crosby and Ingrid Zimmer, it became apparent I was in the presence of extraordinary talent.

Lucy Bowen McCauley’s intricate choreography echoes Hampton’s, stripped of superfluous movement while engaging every part of the body. "Matre’s Dance," set to music by John Psathas, who was inspired by Frank Herbert’s Dune books, is brutally athletic. Even without dancing full-out in rehearsal, I was left breathless by soloist Robert Sidney’s prowess. The surprise ending, springing back larger than life after seemingly being gunned down, seemed especially poignant.

Totally changing mood with "At Last," Bowen McCauley matches Cesar Frank’s calm romanticism for a love duet pushing past adversity to a happy ending. The composer’s violin and piano interchanges are echoed in the lyrical, amorous encounter danced by Alison Crosby and Olivier Munoz.

"Rapture," set to Brahms’ Opus 15. Number 1, has the earmarks of a classic. Punctuated with sudden changes, interspersed with repetitions and surprises, Bowen McCauley carries Brahms’ warm-hearted music across an ever-changing dance landscape, like tributaries determinedly swelling a mighty river on its rush into a great ocean.