Erick Hawkins Dance Company - Review

Dance Magazine, June, 1999 by Don Mcdonagh

ERICK HAWKINS DANCE COMPANY 92ND STREET Y'S PLAYHOUSE 91 MARCH 23-25, 27-28, 1999

The unanswered question among modern dance audiences for many years was whether any of the major companies could survive the deaths of their founders. Since the triumphant survival of Jose Limon's company for a quarter century, the answer has been an increasingly loud affirmative from various quarters. Lucia Dlugoszewski, the Erick Hawkins Dance Company's current artistic director, is the latest long-time associate to take up the reins of the departed and steer the company in a positive direction.

Known for her musical contributions to the repertory until now, she has added choreographic skills to her list of accomplishments. The two premieres presented during the company's season as part of the 92nd Street Y's Harkness Dance Project were hers. Stylistically, Taking Time to Be Vulnerable and Radical Ardent could have issued from Hawkins's own hands. They used the easy athleticism that lay at the heart of his aesthetic to build mood quietly, firmly, and very successfully.

As a young dancer, Hawkins studied ballet, and early in his career he was a member of the company that eventually became New York City Ballet. His strong, rugged, handsome face can be seen in many company photographs from that time. As it unfolds, Vulnerable brings to mind that period.

The striking pose of a man lying flat on his back, one leg arched over his head to touch the stage, the other pointed exuberantly skyward, is an earthy aspiration image that one is reminded of frequently throughout the piece. Briefly offered images of bodily configurations suggest the ballet training that Hawkins abandoned, swiftly followed by the new shapes that he developed into his own movement vocabulary. It is the resume of a choreographer's development, always vulnerable and always aspiring.

Radical Ardent is personal in another way. It is a suite of duets exploring personal relationships of the tenderest and toughest sorts. Periodically the entire company sweeps across the stage in a wave of motion, leaving an isolated pair to explore a friendly or fractious moment before the next sweep deposits another pair to work through its relationship. The concept is imaginatively and firmly handled, but went on a bit too long for full effectiveness. Its punch would benefit from modest trimming.

Cantilever Two, a 1988 follow-up to the original Cantilever of 1963, found the company in full command of the Hawkins style and dynamics. Dlugoszewski has wisely surrounded herself with former company members Gloria McLean and Cynthia Reynolds to oversee repertory and technique. The Hawkins legacy is in good hands.