Bowen McCauley Dance.

DANCE PLACE, WASHINGTON, D.C. JUNE 29-30, 1996 REVIEWED BY ALEXANDRA TOMALONIS

Lucy Bowen McCauley has been a part of the Washington dance scene as both a dancer and a choreographer for over a decade, but until now her always thoughtful and often witty dances have been part of someone else's show. This summer she stepped out on her own, presenting a whole evening of her choreography, danced by friends and colleagues, including several from Eric Hampton's company (where McCauley also dances) and two men borrowed from the Washington Ballet. Trained in both ballet and modern dance, McCauley blends the two more successfully than most. Her choreography mixes modern dance's inventiveness of movement with ballet's delight in order and style.

The six pieces presented were created, mostly for other area troupes, during the past two years and complement one another well. In a sense, much of what McCauley does concerns how things work in concert or juxtaposition: how different men and women look while performing the same movements in the duet At Last, for example (and how such a kinetic idea can be used as metaphor for a relationship). She also plays with ambiguity. A recurring motif of What'll Ya 'aye, Luv?, a dance for three women that aptly matches the sweet lewdness of Henry Purcell's Tavern Songs, is a plie that turns into a squat, making the dancer seem both vulnerable and vulgar within the blink of an eye.

To make such subtleties vivid requires fine dancing, and McCauley enjoys the services of some of D.C.'s best. Jennifer Olin led the sophisticated revels of Luv. Other standouts included the extremely gifted Alison Crosby (a former classmate of ABT's Julie Kent at Maryland Youth Ballet), who has a rich, clear way of moving that admirably suih McCauley's style; and Karen J. Peedy, small and fleet, another clarion dancer. Another pleasure was McCauley's choice of music--works by Delibes, Eranck, Brahms, Bruch, and Britten, in addition to Purcell--and the care with which she treats it. In all, an evening danced by and for adults.