THE ARTS

Big Range to offer a vast expanse of modern dance

Dancers will take to the stage and sky in Austin this month.

By Clare Croft
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Thursday, June 05, 2008

Ellen Bartel can't keep her arms still as she describes the Big Range Dance Festival. Again and again her arms stretch out from the sides of her body and scoop down. Her hands cup air and then swim out in front of her.

"I've been trying to dig up the dirt in town and get new ideas flowing," Bartel says. "I want to give people the chance to make new work and get that work out to a wider public."

Big Range, produced by Bartel's Spank Dance Company, runs Friday through June 15 and includes four programs of dance and workshops, ranging from butoh to salsa. Although the festival's focus is on local artists, dancers from other Texas cities, Virginia, New York and New Jersey will also perform and teach.

Big Range is the latest stage in Bartel's five-year mission to build Austin's dance community. She founded the Austin Independent Choreographers in 2003, creating an e-mail list to connect local choreographers with opportunities to take classes, present work and find dancers. The e-mail list grew into community showcases, like Dance Carousel. Three years ago Bartel began the month-long dance series Hot September Flurries, where she began envisioning her next step, Big Range.

"Hot September was handpicked by me artist-wise; I didn't have a machine behind me," Bartel says. "Big Range will reach more diverse artists and a broader audience."

Through four curated evenings, Bartel says she hopes to lead audiences toward modern dance in an accessible way.

"Sometimes modern is really hard to grab onto, but with some evenings based around themes, we hope audiences can walk into the theater already knowing one thing about the dance," Bartel says.

The clearest theme is Program B, in which five choreographers have set work to the same pieces of music. Mary Chase and Chell Garcia Trias bring dance to Andy Hadaway's music. Christina Houle, Michelle Nance and Mackenzie Rosales Dance & Company have made work to Laura Phelan's composition.

Program C, which follows Program B at Salvage Vanguard's Second Stage, features local improvisers. Program A, at Ballet Austin's Austin Ventures Studio Theater, features low-tech, modern dance. Program D at the Off Center emphasizes collaboration, combining dance, film and video.

Artists chose the evening they felt fit best when they submitted applications to Bartel and the Big Range Advisory Board. One artist selected for Program A was Austin newcomer Leah Tubbs. Her piece "Ignorance Bliss" showcases the parallels between the American civil rights movement and the South African struggle against apartheid.

A recent transplant from Los Angeles, Tubbs said the festival has provided her a path into Austin's somewhat insular dance community. "You have to be proactive in searching for the dance community here," Tubbs says. "But once you find the doors, all these possibilities start to present themselves."

The festival schedule allows artists to network, but it also takes artistic pressure off independent, often young choreographers, says Louie Saletan, coordinator of Big Range Houston, the 3-year-old festival that is Big Range Austin's sister organization and namesake. "Sometimes when artists produce their own work, they're conscious of wanting a good review or good word of mouth, and they wind up creating an evening that appeals to the least common denominator," Saletan says.

Bartel and Saletan say they hope the two festivals' collaboration will expand, allowing participants from each festival to present at the other. Touring can be an expensive and unwieldy proposition for dance, but since the festival takes care of promotion and production expenses, artists can focus on making work and the festival can make sure the lights come on and audiences show up.

Dancers take to the stage and sky this month

The mayor could proclaim June official dance month in Austin. The Big Range Festival is the newest addition to the June dance calendar, but three Austin dance stalwarts also perform this month: Sally Jacques/Blue Lapis Light, Tapestry Dance Company and Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance.

Jacques' aerial dance company takes over the Federal Plaza on Eighth Street today through June 14 to reprise last summer's hit "Constellation." She says the two buildings and plaza between, where audience members can sit or lay down to watch the performance, compelled her return.

"It's interesting to be able to be on two buildings that are really different," Jacques says. "They have a history for the city — LBJ landed his helicopter on the roof, but what's more interesting to me are the honeycombed windows, the architecture."

Tapestry's Saturday performance is part of the company's eighth annual Soul to Sole Festival, which continues Tapestry's commitment to linking younger generations of tappers to tap's long legacy. This year's performance honors vaudevillian Harold "Stumpy" Cromer and one of the first African American women to get a Hollywood film contract, Jeni LeGon.

Dunn Hamrick takes a somber turn with new piece "Mountains, Ships and Lives," which premieres with four other premieres. Three sources inspired the piece: recent photographs of a barren Mount Kilimanjaro, a story of a cruise liner that sank because of a fist-sized hole and stories of soldiers' returns from Iraq.

"I kept thinking about how the mountain, the ship and the soldiers — all once so strong — have been shown to be impermanent and fragile," Dunn Hamrick says.

The program will also include work by Kate Warren, Lisa Nicks and Cheryl Chaddick.

— Clare Croft

Big Range Dance Festival

When: Program A: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; Program B: 8 p.m. June 9, 10, 11; Program C: 9:30 p.m. June 9, 10, 11; and Program D: 8 p.m. June 13, 14 and 6 p.m. June 15.

Where:Austin Ventures Studio Theater, 501 W. Third St.; Salvage Vanguard Theater Second Stage, 2803 Manor Road; the Off Center, 2211-A Hidalgo St.

Cost:$10-15. Available at www.bigrange.austin.org or at the door.

Constellation

• Blue Lapis Light performs 'Constellation' at 8 p.m. today, Sunday, June 12 and June 15 and at 10 p.m. today, Friday, Saturday and June 13-14 at the Federal Buildings, 300 Eighth St. Tickets: $20 prime seating, $15 bring your own seat or blanket, $12 dance umbrella members, students, seniors, children. (512) 474-8497; www.austix.com

Soul to Sole Festival

Tapestry Dance Company presents this annual event through Sunday at Helm Fine Arts Center, 2900 Bunny Run. The Soul to Sole performance is at 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets: $25. Call (512) 773-7827.

Mountains, Ships and Lives

(at right)

Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance presents this premiere at Austin Ventures Studio Theater in Ballet Austin's Butler Dance Education Center and Community School, 501 W. Third St. 8 p.m. June 12-14. Tickets: $15, $12 students and seniors; at www.kdhdance.com.