Taking Careful Steps to Foster an Art Form

In 1984 American Ballet Theatre presented the world premiere of David Gordon's ode to the folding chair -- "Field, Chair and Mountain" -- at the Kennedy Center, an event that echoed with booming boos, hearty applause and a deliciously sassy creative hum.

That such a raucous atmosphere has been subsequently rare says something about the Kennedy Center's dance offerings of the time, and since.

Of course, Gordon's sly tweaking of ballet convention (tempered by dancer Martine Van Hamel's cool serenity) came during the dance boom of the '70s and '80s, when ABT performed here for up to six weeks at a time, when "crowd pleaser" wasn't necessarily the first thing on a choreographer's mind and when ticket-seekers flooded phone lines at the first notice of, say, the New York City Ballet's engagement, buying a fortnight of performances in hours.

Times -- and purse strings -- are different now; there's no longer the easy flow of money and willingness to back a risk that fueled former endeavors. But while the center can be faulted lately for a somewhat conservative approach to programming (it seems one "Romeo and Juliet" after another lopes through the Opera House), it is nevertheless plugging away to do what no other dance presenter in the country does. The center's various programmers over the years have had one thing in common: leading a steady parade of the major ballet companies before local audiences. Season after season, along with American Ballet Theatre (most years), Dance Theatre of Harlem (coming up on its 17th consecutive season) and the Joffrey Ballet, there have been the San Francisco Ballet, Houston Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Miami City Ballet and other troupes once known as "regional." With the help of their exposure here, the smaller companies are now growing to greater national stature.

But most importantly for dance, nationally as well as abroad, has been the Kennedy Center's vision of itself as a national cultural establishment and, as a happy result, its role in promoting, presenting and commissioning dance.

The fact that the Kennedy Center has helped build dance audiences -- and dance itself -- is unquestionable. Simply in terms of its structure, the center provided a place for dance to happen in this city like no other before or since. Until its opening in 1971, the main stages in town were the cold, colossal Constitution Hall, the old Capitol Theatre, the Washington Coliseum (fine for the Beatles and the circus, but for ballet?), Lisner Auditorium and the National Theatre, and none was well suited for the relatively small dimensions of concert dance.

Then came the Kennedy Center, with four stages -- the Opera House, the Concert Hall and the Eisenhower and Terrace theaters -- as well as three spaces for nontraditional offerings -- the Theater Lab, the Atrium and the Grand Foyer. (You could also count the center in its entirety, through which local choreographer Liz Lerman and her dancers have led audiences on a couple of unconventional occasions.) The Opera House, where most of the major national and international ballet companies perform, is a particular boon. As opera houses go, it's on an intimate scale (2,300 seats, as compared with 3,800 for New York's Metropolitan Opera House), which serves the dance audience well, as do its excellent sight lines. The stage itself, however, was something of a drawback for a time; George Balanchine expressed early concerns about its lack of foot-friendly springiness and ultimately refused to allow his New York City Ballet to return to it until the center built a new floor to his specifications in the mid-'70s.

Dance programming got off to a roaring start under Martin Feinstein, executive director of performing arts from 1972 to 1980, who took a particular interest in the art form. Feinstein made a connection with the reticent Balanchine, booking local viewings of the master's newest works. He ventured to Havana to secure Washington's first taste of Alicia Alonso's Ballet Nacional de Cuba, and brought a stunning collection of stars to town: Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, Natalia Makarova, Erik Bruhn and Anthony Dowell, plumping out the ABT rolls in its era of imported stars; New York City Ballet's incomparable Suzanne Farrell, Peter Martins and Patricia McBride; the Stuttgart Ballet's Marcia Haydee and Richard Cragun. ABT's Gelsey Kirkland and Mikhail Baryshnikov also starred here -- though their partnership was not to be golden for long. It was during a later Kennedy Center engagement that Baryshnikov, then head of the company, fired Kirkland and fellow dancer Patrick Bissell for not showing up at rehearsals.

As an outgrowth of the success of the dance programming, the center undertook several initiatives to broaden its reach and even influence the national canon. First among these was the Dance America series, a joint venture with the Washington Performing Arts Society, which fulfilled Center chairman Roger Stevens's desire to add more modern dance while splitting the costs. The series, which ran from 1980 to last year, brought such leading-edge luminaries as Mark Morris, Merce Cunningham, Meredith Monk, Anna Sokolow and the Urban Bush Women to the nation's capital, and, arguably, whetted the public appetite for more -- and for more of an offbeat nature.

"Something New at the Kennedy Center" arose in 1991 as a catch-all for quirky dance, performance art and monologuists. While not always "new" -- veteran performers Laurie Anderson and Molissa Fenley have been featured -- it tries mightily for the cutting edge, showcasing artists such as Belgian experimentalist Wim Vandekeybus, the dance group Momix and grown-up clown Bob Berkey.

The demise of Dance America gave rise to the Kennedy Center's newest dance venture, a series dubbed America Dancing. Sheldon Schwartz, former director of programming, originally devised a five-year plan to explore American modern dance with unparalleled depth, from its roots with pioneers Isadora Duncan and Doris Humphrey to its current international influence. Although Schwartz left the center -- to return to teaching -- before the series' inaugural performance last year, replacements Charles and Stephanie Reinhart are continuing the plan. This year, groundbreakers Cunningham and Sokolow return to the center, but what the future will bring is anybody's guess.

Chief among the center's dance initiatives, however, was the Ballet Commissioning Project, kicked off in 1989. With it, the center set out to fund seven new works -- one each from seven leading American ballet companies: Ballet West, Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet and San Francisco Ballet. The center placed few restrictions on the participating companies: The creators of the new works -- choreographers, composers, designers -- had to be American, and the Kennedy Center would host the world premieres. Otherwise, the companies were left alone. By the time the project came to an end last year, there were a few clunkers among the results but also some smash hits. The project got off to an auspicious start with its first commission, Paul Taylor's "Company B," which he created for the Houston Ballet. A nostalgic romp with the Andrews Sisters through the World War II era, with a thinly veiled anti-war undercurrent, it is the crown jewel of the project. Having met with considerable acclaim, the work is performed by several companies outside of the project's seven.

A number of educational programs in dance have begun, namely the Kennedy Center/Dance Theatre of Harlem Community Initiative, involving master classes and summer study programs for area youngsters; and "Exploring Ballet With Suzanne Farrell," a three-week training session with the former NYCB ballerina for students selected from nationwide auditions.

In recent years, however, a financially troubled Kennedy Center has had to cut back. There were some painful losses -- the ambitious 1983 France Danse festival played to echoing houses. Bless them for trying, but the center's dance promoters couldn't drum up excitement for unfamiliar names -- save Nureyev's sumptuous staging of "La Bayadere" for the Paris Opera -- and difficult, often experimental offerings.

We are now seeing less of the big names (ABT, when it's here -- and it won't be this season -- comes for a week; New York City Ballet hasn't appeared since 1987) and more of the smaller groundswell of ballet. And yet the 1996-97 season, much of which is uncomfortably compacted into October, is one of the choicest in recent memory. The San Francisco Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet will each be here for a week, followed by contemporary thrillers Merce Cunningham, Pilobolus and Twyla Tharp's new company, Tharp! The spring brings The Paul Taylor Dance Company, DTH and the Kirov Ballet.

"The expense of presenting ABT for six weeks is, first of all, prohibitive, and wouldn't allow you to do the kind of balanced programming we do now," says Kennedy Center President Lawrence J. Wilker. "What it's really about is trying to maintain, support and create American dance companies, with a sprinkling of international companies, and maintain a balance of programming with the other arts."

True "balance" hasn't quite been the case with dance -- tap dancing and the local field of dancers and choreographers have been virtually ignored, while the lavish love stories of classical ballet have been heavily favored. Yet as a magnet for much of the world's best in classic and in contemporary dance, the Kennedy Center is without rival. Given the shaky state of the arts in general, it can only be hoped that the gains of the next quarter-century come close to those of the last.