Bowen McCauley's Hampton RoadsBy Sarah Kaufman Monday, October 4 1999
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If ever it could be said that there are blessings in the cruelest tragedy, that splinters of light can pierce even the darkest veil, the proof would be in Saturday's performance of Bowen McCauley Dance at Arlington's Gunston Theater 1
The program did more than reveal examples of fine craftsmanship and pleasing dancing. What was truly remarkable—and deeply moving on many levels—was the union of a choreographer whose work has been halted by illness, the dancers who brought one of his most poetic works to life and a woman determined not to let the creation die. The poignant story of choreographer Eric Hampton is well known in the local dance community. The former teacher and director of his own highly respected company, Eric Hampton Dance, has the paralyzing Lou Gehrig's disease and can commu-nicate only by blinking his eyes. Lucy Bowen McCauley, who had been a founding member of Hampton's company before launching her own, recently acquired the rights to his "Beethoven Bits," a piece that had not been performed since his disease began to progress more than two years ago. The work for three dancers, accompanied by excerpts from Beethoven's Bagatelles Op. 126, formed the centerpiece of Saturday's program. It's a gem of a dance, full of wit and playfulness and moments of arresting beauty. McCauley performed Hampton's pensive solo a shade more broadly than the choreographer had; Hampton was a nuanced and extremely light dancer. But her interpretation nevertheless served the work well. Alison Crosby and Ingrid Zimmer wisely understated thetouches of humor and seemed to breath a quiet strength It was a polished and richly satisfying performance. It was also evidence of how enmeshed and self-sustaining the Washington dance community is, and how one man's gifts can have an ongoing ripple effect Hampton mentored McCauley and helped train Crosby, also a founding member of his company. (And he himself branched off from the Washington Ballet, where he was once a resident choreographer.) While Hampton has become physically incapacitated, his influence continues to be felt The program also included Peter Stark's impassioned but un-focused meditation on Native American culture, "Lost Plains," and McCauley's bold but inconclusive "Prelude to Battery" It ended on a high note with the world premiere of "Rapture," McCauley's most ambitious work to date. A full 2O minutes long, "Rapture" is set to excerpts from Brahms's fluid Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No.1, Op. 15. With clarity and unpredictable musicality, McCauley explores various colorations of the ardent feeling described in the title—dreamy solitude, desperation, sublime silliness and the slow burn of love. In a work of this length, building momentum and maintaining conceptual cohesiveness are key and McCauley doesn't falter. Mostly, the tone is light There is an especially rich moment when a reclining Crosby, towed by Robert Sidney, blithely sails across the revolving bodies of the other three women, who are rolling log-like across the stage. At another point, the dancers wheel onstage one by one, arms held out as if searching for an embrace. When they next emerge, they've all hooked up, grasp-ing each other in a conga line for the lovelorn. There are intro-spective episodes as well, including a creamy-smooth solo for Crosby, which takes full advantage of her calm, majestic arms and shoulders. The piece ends tenderly with each dancer in the arms of another—life's sweet reward. |