BWW Interviews: Gloria McLean

Gloria McLean, a New York-based dancer, choreographer and teacher, is the founder and artistic director of LIFEDANCE/Gloria McLean and Dancers. From 1982-1993, Ms. McLean was a member of the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, performing in New York, the U.S., and internationally. She is considered one of the leading exponents of this American Modern Dance tradition.

In addition to her work with LIFEDANCE Ms. McLean currently serves as president of the American Dance Guild, an organization dedicated to supporting artists and bringing the dance community together. Each year the Guild produces a performance festival in New York City, featuring work by 30-40 choreographers from around the globe. Each festival honors at least two master choreographers from the past, and includes performances of their work along with emerging choreographers ranging from modern to post-modern, performance art to cultural hybrids. This year's festival is December 4-7 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater, The Joan Weill Center for Dance, 405 W. 55th Street at 9th Avenue.

Q. When did you first become interested in dance?

A. I started dancing at age 3. I had been seriously burned on my right thigh, side, and arm when my Easter dress caught on fire. Dancing was recommended to help me heal and feel better. I loved it, and I just kept going.

Q. Any early influences?

A. Too many! At age eight I won the audition in Washington D.C. to be part of the New York City Ballet's NUTCRACKER. Andre Eglevsky would teach us how to pirouette while we waited backstage in the fabulous National Theater. Maria Tallchief was the Sugar Plum Fairy-I was in awe of her. From ages 8-15 I studied with a former Rockette, Susan Hall Scott, and did everything - ballet, tap, jazz, acrobatics, and a little Hawaiian. In high school I got serious about ballet - Stefan Mucsi came from the Bolshoi and Hungarian National Ballet and inspired me with his romantic passion. Then there was a wonderful workshop with Frederic Franklin and Alexandra Danilova. They were memorable experiences, but I didn't think I was quite the "prima ballerina" type, so I decided to go to college.

Q. You started off receiving a B.A. in Philosophy from Connecticut College and later an M.F.A. from Hollins University. Did you see any connection between the two degrees?

A. At Connecticut College, I discovered modern dance and a lot of new ideas through Martha Myers, Libby Nye (Limon), and the American Dance Festival in the summers. But I also was drawn to philosophy as a major, since there was no dance major at Connecticut at the time. I have always felt that dance and philosophy have a great deal in common - they both look at the basic stuff of life. I got my degree in philosophy and then came to New York to pursue my dance career. I worked with many choreographers before joining Erick Hawkins - notably Twyla Tharp (The Farm Club), Mimi Garrard, Marilyn Wood, Santa Fe Opera - each one different from the other in approach and aesthetic. The MFA from Hollins came much later and was a way of bringing things together and reflecting on the whole picture.

Q. You were with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company from 1982-1993 and later the rehearsal director. Could you tell me what it was like working with Hawkins, performing in his dances and later acting as rehearsal director? Were any new dances created for you?

A. Hawkins was a poet, philosopher, and a genius who deserves more recognition. No question he extended my life as a dancer through the wisdom of his technique, which is very Zen but also very Western scientific. His aesthetic also was Eastern-inspired and more reflective than psychologically fraught (like Martha Graham), extremely modernist, and always deeply sensuous. His famous statement was "The body is a clear place." I still find that inspiring.

He was both gentle and demanding, expected excellence, and so you did more than you thought you could. He was also a driven artist. He worked into the wee hours of the night sometimes to find just the right movement with just the right sound. And forget about paid vacations!

Erick created new roles for me in God, the Reveller (First Mourner who grieves the death of the God); Cantilever II (three duets); Today, with Dragon; Killer of Enemies (Changing Woman, with a huge mask and sticks hanging from my arms). I also assumed many leading female roles like the woman's solo in Early Floating, the lead in Summer Clouds People, the second duet in Classic Kite Tails, sun setting in Black Lake, Snakes in Plains Daybreak. I was privileged to perform quite a lot of the repertory over my 11 years. It was in the last two that Erick asked me to be rehearsal director.

Q. Why did you found LIFEDANCE?

A. I founded LIFEDANCE/Gloria McLean & Dancers to do my own choreography. LIFEDANCE is my solution to the mind-body dichotomy. Two words become one word. Life and art are one part of a continuum. I'm interested in the dancer as a human being engaged in life, and I try to express that in my work.

Q. What is it about LIFEDANCE that makes it so appealing not only to you, but to other dancers as well?

A. I feel it's an open concept. LIFEDANCE is a process that embraces technique, choreography, improvisation. And, most importantly, who you are. You just have to bring yourself. It's about creativity through movement.

Q. You tackle some tough subjects in your dances such as the Iraqi war, nuclear contamination. Is this a personal response to world events?

A. My work is first and foremost driven by the dancing, the body, and its movement. The body lives in an environment. Each piece finds itself in unique terms. Sometimes I am moved by current events to make a dance on it. To protest. To speak out. To celebrate! Sometimes it's about what's available. The space and environment make a ready-made set and, in turn, influence the dancing and what is possible. And what it means. That's interesting to work with.

Q. You've also performed dance works with a live stone carving. How did this come about?

A. I met my partner, Ken Hiratsuka, who is a stone sculptor from Japan when we were both making works in Central Park for the Summer Solstice event directed by Marilyn Wood in 1985. Over the years we've done various collaborations, including "Invisible Transfer" with live stone carving. As the dancing disappears, the stone takes new form. Creating and destroying are not quite opposites, but take place together

Q. You're also an advocate of new dance music. What do you look for in a composer's work?

A. I would say appreciation of silence, as well as sound. Space. A way of having a dialogue between the music and the dance, the hearing and the seeing. I like a combination of adherence to the beat, and then sometimes losing the beat or seeming to. I like to be surprised. I've enjoyed collaborating with Bill Trigg, percussionist/composer, who also worked with Hawkins - we share this deep aesthetic understanding we got from Erick and his collaborator Lucia Dlugoszewski. The piece I'm showing in the Festival has music by Edward Sielicki, a Polish composer I met while teaching in Korea.

Q. You work mainly freelance and perform at such venues as Ailey, the Joyce, the Kitchen, White Oak, and the Knitting Factory. Is this a group effort, or just individual solos? You've also performed and choreographed a great deal in Asia and Europe. Were these commissions? How did these come about?

A. It's project by project. Some commissions. Some artist-in-residence. I like to travel with my work, to learn about other cultures, and try to relate through the work. When I had a studio I created some international cultural exchange performances with artists from Japan and China. Mostly I have created my own opportunities just by working with other artists, meeting people, taking chances, and the occasional grants. Getting the MFA enabled me to become a Professor at Keimyung University in Korea for two years. I work now with a small group who also study with me. I'm always looking for more dancers.

Q. What about teaching. You have taught at many universities and colleges. Do you prefer the classroom or the stage, or both?

A. Teaching is always a part of dancing - you have to find a way to engage other dancers in your vision, your ideas, etc. And it really helps to share a technique. The University can offer a great platform to artists, as well.We dancers just have to go wherever the opportunities are.

Q. Is there anything in particular that you feel you impart to students?

A. To have a long career, you have to love it and you have to dance every day, develop your practice, follow your dream, and don't give up. But there is no single way - it helps to go to good teachers and people in the field whose work you admire. And then you trust your instincts.

Q. You'll be co-producing the American Dance Guild annual Festival soon. Can you tell me more about the Festival, what if hopes to accomplish, what it has accomplished and any future plans?

A. Our goal now with the American Dance Guild, with its long history as a dance organization since the fifties, is to be both a window on the past and a doorway to the future of dance. We honor leading figures in our field - this year it's Joan Myers Brown, who founded Philadanco!; Douglas Dunn, internationally known director of Douglas Dunn and Dancers; and Bill Evans, well-known educator and founder of Bill Evans Dance Company, which is celebrating 40 years of performing. Altogether we are presenting 33 artists/companies whose contemporary works span many styles and backgrounds. There are four totally different programs.

We've had really great success in the past few years with this festival. Last Summer the Festival sent five choreographers to Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out outdoor performance.We hope to be able to provide more opportunities for members and non-members.

Q. What can we expect next from you?

A. I'm presenting a trio in the Festival on Friday night Dec.5! I'm developing a full evening of new choreography with LIFEDANCE in the coming year. I also am involved in an inspiring, collaborative project called "Jardin D'Enfants Enchante," a meditation on global peace through the eyes and voices of children, with composer Joel Thome (Orchestra of Our Time) and other artists from New York, Brazil, India and Japan (Ken Hiratsuka).

Photograph: Johan Elbers