Word: umbrellas
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Sponsored by the socially conscious Dance Umbrella, the Pat Graney Company offers an unmistakably political message in "Faith." The problem with this message, however, is that we've heard it all before: women must struggle to assert their own power and decide upon how far they will go to enhance their physical desirability...
Although Dance Umbrella has grown to a prestigious, nationally funded organization, it still has to struggle for funding along with all other arts organizations. Alliger notes that the recession has added to the problem, but that its source lies in "ongoing attacks on communities of the arts...
While holding firm in his political stance, Alliger emphasizes that dance can be a completely unobtrusive form of activism. This past Columbus Day, for example, Dance Umbrella staged a two-day "Pow-wow" at the Hatch Shell in Boston. This festival brought together a variety of Native American and Latin music, dance, crafts, storytelling and theater to provide a different perspective of the 500th anniversary of the "discovery" of America. "This event was meant to be educational, not confrontational," claims Alliger. "We were celebrating 500 years of survival of the Native American people...
...Dance Umbrella holds performances everywhere in Boston, from the Hatch Shell to the Cyclorama (where the aerial dancers performed) to Emerson College's Majestic Theatre. "We're an unusual group in that we're homeless by choice," says Alliger. "This prevents us from limiting our programming decisions. In one season we can work in everything from a 400-seat black-box theater to the Wang Center, and everything in between. We can accommodate the artists' provisions and we can grow with the artists...
Alliger encourages college students, whom he sees as less politically inclined than those of his day, to watch dance. "Student populations should be interested in issues and in pushing boundaries, and that's what Dance Umbrella's all about," he says. "We're saying, `Here's the story, here's the picture--now judge for yourself...