I had the opportunity to spend an hour this afternoon watching a rehearsal by Miriam Barbosa’s new group, the South Carolina Contemporary Dance Company. Miriam gathers her dancers into a small but nicely sprung space that is just by her Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis studio down an alley off Lady Street.
The company is rehearsing a program they have scheduled for next month at the Koger Center. They’ll be performing two exciting pieces. The first one on the docket is the Maple Leaf Rag — the last piece Martha Graham choreographed before her death — and the piece that was inspired by her 1989 visit to South Carolina. Miriam dances the principal part to music by Scott Joplin, but her other dancers are amply used in this whimsical number that is fun and upbeat and not nearly as somber as many of Graham’s other choreographic works. It makes me happy to think that this was the music and these were the movements last on Ms. Graham’s mind before she shuffled off to the next realm. Happy, peaceful and fun.
The second number the company will be performing is a re-do of one of Miriam’s pieces, Catharsis, on which she collaborated with local visual artist Marcelo Novo. I saw a lot of what I’ve come to recognize as classic Barbosa choreography in this piece — fullness, strangeness, lyricism, and athleticism. It’s almost as if the limited dimensions of the dance floor aren’t enough for Barbosa, so she takes her dancers into the air and actually suspends a few of them them in flight above the stage. This dance was harder to visualize in the studio but Miriam let me watch the video of a previous performance done in 2006. She’s changing up her costumes a bit and has Barry Sparks, Columbia’s great thaumaturge of all things light and sound, doing her lighting, so there’s even more to look forward to from this performance.
But probably the most exciting thing about my experience this afternoon was seeing a number of familiar faces from other local dance troupes working together on the floor. There was Maurice and Misha and Eddie from William’s house; and Sergei and Julia from down at John’s; English from up at the university — just to name a few. It was a cooperative dance in a city that is full of outstanding dancers, but hasn’t always been known for letting them share their talents with one another — or with us, their audience.
Kudos to Miriam Barbosa for bringing these artists together and making this company happen. And kudos, too, to Marvin Chernoff and Chuck LeMark who are standing behind her as she does so. I look forward to seeing the performance on the night of September 17th at the Koger Center — and I look forward to seeing what else this company can bring to our city’s stages.
I’ll be writing more on the South Carolina Contemporary Dance Company in the next issue of Stir Magazine — in the meantime, for more info take a look at their website at www.scdanceco.com.
The Reluctant Writer: Something Else to do When I Should Be Writing 
