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Lucy Bowen McCauleychoreographs with a wink and a tweak. It's no surprise; as a member of Eric Hampton Dance she's absorbed some of Hampton's ease with humor and with quirky blends of modern dance and ballet. Saturday at Arlington's Gunston Theater, Bowen McCauley Dance appeared with a raft of recent works and a premiere.
One sensed immediately the impish wit that characterizes Bowen McCauley's own dancing. In "Brahms Trio," to Op. 70, No. 2, a little rivalry crops up among the three dancers -- Alison Crosby, Mane Rebelo-Plaut and Ingrid Zimmer -- and the piece ends with one chasing the others into the wings. There was a lovely conciliatory moment when the three dancers took a deep breath together and sank on spongy knees. But the mix of pedestrian gestures -- crawling on all fours, or loudly slapping the thighs -- with soft balletic turns and leaps didn't work. The effect was jarring when the music (played robustly by pianist Laurie Bunn) demanded a brisk whip of singular force. "Tete-a-Tete," to an excerpt from Delibes' opera "Lakme," paired Crosby and Zimmer in trim red pantsuits. There was much to admire here -- the easy partnership, springy footwork, high-swinging extensions. But it was not without snags: As Crosby whirled lightly about the stage like a feather in a draft, Zimmer had the unenviable task of rolling around at her feet. While the eye so wanted to follow the airborne dancer, it was distracted by the other. Not every piece needs a gag, and thankfully, "At Last," to Cesar Franck's Sonata in A, had none. A duet for Washington Ballet dancer Roger Plaut and his wife, Rebelo-Plaut, it delicately explores romantic attraction. Both dancers are seated on chairs; he makes advances with increasing courage, yet she doesn't see him -- she's doing her own dance, still seated, with darting legs and outstretched arms, seeming to luxuriate in her spacious solitude. Finally, they touch, and then she's off again, the flighty thing, dancing on her own. He catches her by the arm, they push and pull at each other, dance grandly together, until finally she's on his lap, encircled by his arms. Perhaps it was the dancers' serene rapport, perhaps it was Bowen McCauley caught in a reflective moment, but this piece simply glowed with purpose and understated eloquence. Here, she revealed what a considerable statement she can make with highly charged, economical gestures. Plaut was also featured in the premiere of "Between Two Worlds." Bowen McCauley again chose her music well -- Erich Korngold's Op. 34, No. 3 -- though the angry rub and slice of strings evoked a drama the movement couldn't match. Not that Plaut didn't try -- he inflected every stiff-legged jump and frozen gesture with tension -- but he couldn't elevate the tired premise of an overworked businessman dreaming of relief. Also in the darker mode was "Fracture Zone," a piece that clung oppressively to an ominous fugue by Benjamin Britten and in which Bowen McCauley appeared with Beverly Prahl, Robert Sidney and Peter Stark. The program closed on a high note with "What'll Ya 'ave, Luv?," a fairly straightforward dance number to drinking songs by Henry Purcell, sung in highbrow operatic style. There were a few comic moments among the three dancers -- Jennifer Olin, Prahl and Zimmer -- who seemed tipsier as the piece wore on, but Bowen McCauley couldn't seem to make up her mind whether to play it straight or for laughs. Guest choreographer Juan Carlos Rincones, of DC Dance Theater, contributed "Gibraltar," an unusually poignant duet for two men -- Charles Anthony Peters and Sidney -- to an Andrew Lloyd Webber score. Special mention must be made of Martha Mountain's lush lighting design and of Judy Hansen's costumes; in every instance they were neat, flattering and made to move. © Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company |