INDIAN DANCE MEETS THE WILD FRONTIER.

DANCE ISN'T usually the first thing people associate with McCarthy, a former mining boom town located on the edge of Alaska's Wrangell Mountains. But that may be changing. This year, dancer Meg Hunt and her company, Porphyry Productions, will stage odissi Indian folk dance here as part of the annual McCarthy-Kennicott Summer Arts and Lectures Series, which is managed and co-produced by the National Park Service, and begins this month. [See Indian dance in the U.S.]

McCarthy lies in the shadow of Mt. Blackburn, a 16,000-foot-high volcanic peak overlooking historic Kennicott, home to the once-productive Kennicott copper mines. It's a 300-mile trip from Anchorage, sixty miles of which is gravel road. To reach town, visitors must cross a stout footbridge across the raging Kennicott River. The town itself lies at the terminus of the Kennicott Glacier. Though it's not easy to reach, few places rival McCarthy's scenic beauty, one of the area's main attractions.

Hunt, who first performed with the series two years ago and has been involved ever since, studied modern dance with Senta Driver at Ohio State University, and odissi Indian dance with Guru Ramani Ranjan Jena in India. Following her 1998 odissi dance performance in McCarthy, Hunt and partner Ed LaChapelle formed Porphyry Productions (named for a nearby mountain) to attract more performing artists.

The series' performing space, in a building leased by the Park Service, is a little small--30 feet by 30 feet--and the facilities are somewhat primitive. There is electricity but no plumbing, and dressing rooms are located in a separate building. And yet, Hunt said, "Alaskan artists are accustomed to this sort of arrangement, and the enthusiasm of audiences makes up for the lack of amenities." Despite its unassuming profile, the series has increased its number of programs by 25 percent.

The 2000 season will include Hunt's performance of odissi storytelling pieces, plus theater and classical and folk music. Hunt's program features pieces she hasn't danced here before: Dekhiba Pora Asore (Come Look and See), about a gift smitten with a young man who is really the god Krishna, and Yahi Madhava (Go Away Madhava), about a misunderstanding between Krishna and his beloved Radha.

"While our current space is small, it allows good audience contact," Hunt said. "I can still remember the first thrill of performing odissi here in my hometown. Everyone turned out to see it. I am looking forward to moving into larger quarters, where we can feature larger dance events."

Nancy Cook, a National Park Service ranger who started the Arts and Lectures series several years ago in an upstairs room of the Kennicott Glacier Lodge, said the series came about because, "Basically, I wanted to create a forum for all the talented folks in our community to share their special knowledge. And the response from the people in McCarthy [was] great! Our park is supposed to preserve a lifestyle as well as a landscape.

"[Hunt's] classical dance performance in 1998 was a huge success--100 folks turned out for that event, and that's in a town with only fifty mailboxes. Their [Hunt's and LaChapelle's] efforts through Porphyry Productions have been enormously generous. They've both put so much time into making the space at the new building beautiful and welcoming. The setting is truly amazing ... it's a surreal blend of culture and wilderness."