DANCE MAKERS COOK UP NEW WORK IN LAB.

In the years to come, the National Dance Lab, a $250,000 choreographic initiative launched in October by the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, may become a haven for choreographers who want to recharge their batteries. The Lab, launched in San Francisco, is a collaborative effort of the National Dance Project; the New England Foundation for the Arts; the University of California, Berkeley; and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

The idea behind the project, according to Jenkins, who is also NDL's first beneficiary, is to provide choreographers with a non-pressured environment in which to experiment and try out new ideas. NDL "emphasizes process over product and the inherent necessity of pure research and development." Away from deadlines or the exigencies of a specific project, Jenkins believes, choreographer and dancers develop a sense of play that "encourages things to emerge naturally and not fit into something prescribed."

Participating artists can structure these residencies according to individual needs, with the one requirement that they share their findings, in whatever way they choose, with the public. Jenkins decided on a six-week workshop environment, for which she auditioned nine dancers, and a public performance held November 17, either of a piece that might have begun to emerge or as a simple presentation of the material on which the artists collaborated.

She also planned three open rehearsal/lecture demonstrations titled "Ways of Seeing and Talking About Dance" for which she did extensive outreach to the dance departments of San Francisco high schools. "It's very hard in this economy to get people excited about becoming an artist," she said, "so this may help the one person who has the gift."

The first of these open rehearsals took place in the gym at UC Berkeley Extension campus in San Francisco on October 18. Jenkins took a mixed crowd of UC extension and rather awestruck high school students, local dance professionals and members of the general public through the process of generating, developing and editing material. The ensuing discussion touched on such subjects as composition, creativity, structure and inspiration.

NDL's budget was raised from individual donors and foundations including the California Arts Council, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, Koret Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and San Francisco Foundation.

The second NDL artist will be Elizabeth Streb, who will conduct her lab, the format of which has not yet been established, at UC Berkeley this spring.