Lucy Bowen McCauley at Gunston Arts CenterBy Lisa Traiger Monday, September 21 1998
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When Lucy Bowen McCauley choreographs, she's not embarrassed to mix classical steps and forms with contemporary phrasing and movement. What resulted at the Saturday evening concert at Arlington's Gunston Arts Center was mature and literate dancing with a few oddball quirks thrown in now and again. Bowen McCauley's troupe is just three years old, but her carefully chosen dancers, many with rather illustrious ballet pedigrees, add luster and experience to this still fledgling local company.
The evening's two premieres took divergent paths yet both ended in satisfying outcomes. Former New York City Ballet soloist and Washington Ballet alumnus Peter Stark whipped up a sweet confection with his premiere, "Under My Skin," set to mid-century big-band and pop standards. The five dancers, in maraschino-pink ruffled skirts for the women and sleek unitards for the men, mixed and matched as pairs, trios and groups. Lively interplay highlighted sex roles, especially a tongue-in-cheek duet for Stark and Austin St. John, which winked at ballet's dramatic pas de deux form. Bowen McCauley's "It's About Time" chose a more restrained and elegant approach. Using Ottorino Respighi's Suite in G for Strings and Organ was a risk, for the work is large, dense and complex, but she managed her six dancers expertly to convey the forceful grandeur of the piece. They braided themselves in interlocking patterns, circling, spinning or leaping in space-engulfing gusts. The quieter moments -- stillnesses and group formations -- were built like architectural quotations: a pyramid, columns, arabesques and backbend arches. As the curtain closed, the dancers suspended time, their motion cut short only by the music's ending notes. "Between Two Worlds," a muscular, psychological study for six, featured Roger Plaut, aformer Joffrey Ballet dancer who maintained his lightness even amid the grounded, earthly pull of the choreography. Live music by pianist Laurie Bunn and soprano Susan Bender accompanied Bowen McCauley in her solo, "Tempered Beauty." To a Franz Schubert lieder, Bowen McCauley's movement choices -- wiggles, scoots, flat-footed turns -- bestowed an unconventional air on the work, which ended with the dancer's uplifting appreciation for the musicians. |