June 17-24, 2004

art

It Takes Two

SWIVEL CHAIRS: Jeanne Ruddy, Renee Robinson-Buzby and Christine Taylor perform Ann Reinking's "Songs Without Words."

Broadway star Ann Reinking stages a new work with Jeanne Ruddy.

by Janet Anderson

On quiet Brandywine Street, listening distance to Spring Garden and Broad, sits an elegant low brick building, the Performance Garage. A former horse stable that gave way to an auto-body shop when combustion engines replaced horsepower, the structure now houses a different kind of moving body: dancers.

Here Jeanne Ruddy, former principal dancer with Martha Graham, has been slowly transforming the building while simultaneously constructing a first-rate contemporary dance company. Neighbors have gotten used to dancers parking on the narrow sidewalks and rushing around with dance bags.

It's doubtful anyone noticed one of the great ladies of American musical theater, Ann Reinking, Tony Award-winning dancer, choreographer and director, slipping into the Garage all spring. She's been here to rehearse a dance she created for Ruddy's upcoming fourth concert season.

Like all dancers, Reinking is ageless. Now in her 50s, she still sparkles as she did starring in the original Chicago on Broadway, or even the film All That Jazz. Yes, there's some gray in the long hair but not much. Nothing could dim that Reinking smile. Rehearsing the Ruddy dancers in her "Songs Without Words," to Dudley Moore's music, Reinking focuses like a laser beam on the dancers, clapping out the beat with her hands or using her arms like an orchestra conductor.

When the dancers execute a section that has them dancing on chairs, Reinking goes onstage to show them exactly how it should be done. She sits on that chair, snaps her head in true Bob Fosse style, and, egad, there she is, the Queen of Broadway. "Try it like that," she suggests, while it's clear everyone on that stage would give anything if they could do just that.

Ballet was her first love, Reinking says. But when she came to New York at age 17 from Seattle, Robert Joffrey suggested she might consider musical theater. "I was kind of a cutup," she grins. "And he liked my personality." So she started at Radio City and small theaters, which led to Broadway opportunity after opportunity. She came to epitomize Bob Fosse's jazz-dance style, but she also credits Tommy Tune and Michael Bennett as huge influences. Still, when it's pointed out that the chair bit in the dance she's doing for Ruddy looks a lot like — with a hoot Reinking interrupts, "Oh that's Bob. Everything I do with chairs is Fosse."

Working with a contemporary company was no problem for Reinking. "The craft of theatrical dance is anything goes! Modern dance comes from the same sensibility, basically it's whatever strikes your fancy," she says. "All those years on Broadway and so many ways of doing things. One day in bare feet, the next in heels."

Originally she planned to send down her choreography by tape. Then she visited the Garage, met the dancers, and found them so inspiring she decided to come personally to rehearse them. And that led to her one dance growing into a suite of five. "I liked the whole feeling of Jeanne's company," says Reinking. "It's a wonderful space not just for the dancers but for all the people who will be able to use it over the years. The dancers were inspiring because there wasn't anything they wouldn't try. So courageous. But then good dancers have to be courageous."

Jeanne Ruddy herself came to Philadelphia with an incredible dance resume. Besides working with Graham, she also danced with Agnes De Mille's Heritage Dance Theatre and performed on Broadway. She spent 10 years on Juilliard's faculty. You'd think she could have picked and chosen among many local opportunities when she moved here. And you'd be wrong.

"It was a challenge to be in Philadelphia," Ruddy says, relaxing in the unfinished second-floor lounge area at Performance Garage. "I had a very tough time." Newly married, and then discovering that she had cancer, Ruddy found that she "always had Martha to see me through." Meaning that Graham's own struggles through the years gave her a model to find "the strength and experience and tenacity to do what I am doing."

Ruddy choreographed two new works for the fourth season. "Out of the Mist, Above the Real" uses music by Daniel Brewbaker and explores Irish themes, as does the score. The title comes from Wallace Stevens' poem "The Irish Cliffs of Moher." In a different mood entirely, Ruddy created "Falling In " for three soloists, exploring love, loss and acceptance. Ruddy dances "acceptance" to Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now." Plus, another former Graham principal, Peter Sparling, now with a Michigan-based troupe, choreographed "Patient Spider," a homage to José Limín.

Ann Reinking will be on hand for opening night and then returns to participate in Ruddy's Summer Dance Workshop. She was "inspired by the experience. You have to take chances to expand." Neither Reinking nor Ruddy ever walked away from a chance.

Jeanne Ruddy's Fourth Concert Season, Thu., June 17, 7:30 p.m., Fri., June 18, 8 p.m., Sat., June 19, 2 and 8 p.m., $15-$23, Mandell Theatre, Drexel University, 34th and Chestnut sts., 215-893-1999.