New frontier in Houston - Regional Dance America festival

Dance Magazine, Dec, 1997 by Doris Hering

Vineland Regional Dance Company (Vineland, New Jersey) is a relatively strong company with an image problem. Director Maxine Chapman cannot decide between a jazz ensemble and a more profound approach. Cocoon, by Kimberly Chapman, reflected this dichotomy. It began provocatively with the dancers hovering on a structure resembling a jungle gym. As they descended, the action thinned into a jazz routine. Allegheny Ballet (Altoona), directed by Deborah Anthony, more than met the demands of Paul Gibson's Danse Macabre. Soloist Erin Long added a special radiance.

Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet (Carlisle), guided by Marcia Dale Weary, has in recent years been the Northeast's flagship company. Rehearsal, rather than spontaneity, is its rule. The dancers are clone-precise; they are always beautifully groomed; and yet the motivation for this laudable perfection does not appear to come from within each dancer, but to be superimposed.

The matinees also produced strong ensembles. There was an intriguing pungency in Andrew Kuharsky's Impulse, staged for the promising Capital City Ballet (Atlanta). Dayton's Ballet de Jeunesse also has incipient flair, and Wil Turner's Conjunction and Opposition was a well-chosen challenge for its dancers. Merilyn Boyle's costumes contributed a touch of grandeur to Canton Ballet's The Promise of Hope, by Paul Abrahamson. The well-prepared dancers might have responded more openly to this thoughtful paean. A similar mood permeated Charles Maple's vibrantly danced Lachtro Dorm for Petaluma (California) City Ballet.

The dancing did not end with the performances. A block party found the young people cavorting to a disc jockey's choices and demolishing 450 pizzas. There was more dancing during a closing-night rodeo. This turned out to be the week's least meaningful event; after the calf roping, more than half of the dancers walked out.

Regional companies are a distinct and productive aspect of American performing arts, just as regional theaters and community orchestras are. They are even more important now than in the strongest days of the National Endowment for the Arts and its Dance Touring Program. With the arts virtually absent from elementary and high schools, and with national and regional touring so drastically diminished, the country at large is dependent on regional companies, professional and nonprofessional, for stimulation an inspiration. This national festival should not be viewed as a climax but as the harbinger of a new era. Pioneering is again in order.