Lewitzky Dance Company, Harriet & Charles Luckman Fine Arts Complex, California State University, Los Angeles, May 17-18, 1997.

There were no diva turns, no goddess goodbyes, and not a touch of queenly regalia ending the Lewitzky Dance Company's farewell gala. Why not? Because even though Bella Lewitzky is the beloved grande dame of California dance, and its most widely known international export, she has never acted the part.

As founder of the thirty-one-year-old troupe, Lewitzky stayed in character for its valedictory performance by calling up -- one by one -- all those who contributed to its presence. No, Bella-watchers were not surprised when she quietly stepped before them and began reading off her list of staff personnel, dancers, designers, and others. At roll call's end, with the stage filled with people, came her only flourish. "This," she said, waving an arm toward the throng, "is what it took to create a company."

At no time throughout the evening could Lewitzky be seen basking in glory or turning the spotlight on herself. Inevitably, however, presenters from all over the city gave tributes -- citing her roles as arts activist, civil liberties advocate, community lightning rod, and all-purpose humanitarian. She has been all these, as well as an educator and teacher, striving to bring art to the neighborhood and the neighborhood to art.

The gala performances -- Four Women in Time, inspired by Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party, and Nos Duraturi -- signaled the final time that these or other Lewitzky dances would be seen live, and certainly raised the evening's emotional ante. From her three-decade repertory that spans bright, whimsical conceptual pieces to those dealing in metaphors of human quest and conflict, Lewitzky focused the program on feminine heroism. What dominated, whether through walking-on-land mines maneuvers or all-out sweeping movement with long hair swirling, was the sense of Woman as stalwart and a symbol of the life process.

Four Women conferred a quartet of fabulous solos on a stately, sacrificial Lori McWilliams, a gorgeously supple and articulate Yolande Yorke-Edgell, a vulnerable Karen Woo, and a fey Heather Harrington, all danced to a typically stellar Larry A. Attaway score notable for its suggestion of a haunted, slowed-down carousel, and clocks ticking and gonging toward a schizoid eternity. Four Women was the last work Lewitzky created for her company. But in the 1984 Nos Duraturi, set to Stravinsky's wondrous Symphony of Psalms, there's a sense of journey through tribulation that results in peace.

Next, tantalizing film clips showed Lewitzky as she demonstrated Lester Horton technique at Mills College in 1938; danced the dramatic lead role in his The Beloved; and performed her own flinty, quicker-than-the-eye-can-see piece of magic, On the Brink of Time.

Afterward, Lewitzky urged her public to action -- raising funds for an archive. "The arts are under threat more than ever before," she said. "What legacy I have left here will die unless you become responsible for keeping it alive."