DANCE'S Mother & Daughter act

Dance Magazine, Dec, 1999 by Susan Reiter

"It's been such a rich experience," she says. "I've done such a range of things in his work, including some speaking and singing onstage. I was in the original Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude. I enjoy the intellectual stimulation, the analytical approach. As cerebral as people find his work, it always ends up having really intense emotional content. I feel he really is an original. Frankfurt Ballet is my artistic home, but after growing up in New York and having an understanding of different cultures, it was really difficult--even after eight years--adjusting to Germany. I loved the fact of living in Europe, but I missed home"

Taking a leave of absence was a difficult decision. "The reason I did it is to see if these various projects I've been talking about and trying to do in my free time would really start happening," Harper explains. She'd begun choreographing in recent years, presenting a full evening of work at the Holland Dance Festival, and had also won a prize at a videodance competition.

"I love the creative process of choreography. As a dancer, it's so speechless sometimes. Choreography gave me the chance to express and communicate with people, to talk about ideas and have an exchange."

For three intensely hot, humid weeks in July, Harper worked with the young dancers of the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, creating Sensory Feast, a work for eight dancers set to a score by German techno-pop composer Rolf Ellmer. Authoritative and enthusiastic, Harper seemed like a seasoned choreographer as she shaped the complex, tightly energetic movement. AARE is presenting the piece during its current touring season.

Her recent projects have included taking part in several workshops and the Los Angeles performances of Anna Deveare Smith's House Arrest, participating in a workshop of an off-Broadway musical, and performing a new solo dance-theater work in Belgium. This spring, she expects to be part of Donald Byrd's new take on The Sleeping Beauty.

"I want to take this year and fly with it," Harper states, sitting outside at Lincoln Center just before going to rehearse her Ailey piece. "It's important to go out on my own, and I wanted to be based more in New York. I'm always going to be connected to Frankfurt Ballet--I'm already guesting this year--and we've talked about my going back on a project-by-project basis."

"I call her `the tank,'" Jefferson observes admiringly. "If she wants to do something, I have to back off. She's really determined, and will persevere to make it happen, which is wonderful." Spoken like a proud mother, indeed.

Susan Reiter is a contributing editor of Dance Magazine.