Dance Companies

Skill and creativity have helped Eva Anderson Dancers Ltd. grow into a well-known and respected modern dance group in the Baltimore-Washington region. But supporters say persistence has been just as important, as the company begins its 30th season. "I just kept doing it," said Anderson, a Columbia choreographer who has been the creative and administrative force behind the company for three decades. "It seems like artists that are successful are those that didn't quit." The Eva Anderson Dancers - the oldest professional modern dance company in Maryland - will celebrate its milestone with performances at Baltimore Museum of Art on Saturday and Sunday.

Members of the Ballet Royale Company in Columbia routinely practice 25 to 30 hours a week, knowing the payoff is in the performance. Their reward for months of hard work will be particularly sweet next week, when the troupe's mostly teen-age dancers share the stage with five professionals from the American Ballet Theatre in New York City. The April 3 event, "A Gala Evening of Dance," is a fund-raiser for the company and its scholarship program. "We're all really excited for it," said Jennifer Radcliffe, 16, a junior at River Hill High School.

WHEN YOU name a clothing company Clingons Activewear, maybe you could expect some trouble. As far as Kathy Demshak was concerned, Clingons was the perfect name for the women's aerobics outfits she produced in the basement of her parents' home in Millersville, best describing the fluidity of the clinging fabric called Spandex, which she incorporated into her designs. Sure enough, a few years ago there was a trademark skirmish. But the adversaries were not the owners of all things Star Trek, as you might think, trying to protect their infamous villains, the Klingons.

Dance icon Twyla Tharp is returning to her roots - with a new company of her own, which performs tomorrow at the Columbia Festival of the Arts. Tharp will be 60 this year. What prompted her to take on the arduous task of forming her own company again, called "Twyla Tharp Dance"? "The free-lance sabbatical was over," she says during a telephone interview. "I find that the ongoing experience of working with dancers with a shared vocabulary, and the opportunity to spend more time and go deeper is something you can't do with other companies.

Folk legend Pete Seeger tops the list of musicians scheduled to perform at Common Ground on the Hill's annual American Music and Arts Festival July 7-8 at the Carroll County Farm Museum in Westminster. Seeger, 81, known for such classics as "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" and "If I Had A Hammer," will perform July 7. Joining him on stage will be his grandson, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, 23, who has been performing with Seeger for several years. "There's automatic star power when you bring in someone like Seeger," said Don Schumaker, a spokesman for Western Maryland College, the site of Common Ground on the Hill's other programs.

PUPILS AT Taneytown Elementary School sat in awe last week as members of the Chinese Folk Dance Company mimicked the moves of birds and told tales through dance. The hourlong presentation was sponsored by the school's PTO through the Young Audiences of Maryland program, said Maggie Weicht, PTO president. "We do about 500 shows a year," said Amy Chin, leader of the five-member dance troupe, which is based in New York City. Before performing in Taneytown, the group had performed in Silver Spring and on the Eastern Shore.

The Washington Ballet has found a home away from home - in Bel Air. The internationally known dance troupe, recently energized under artistic director Septime Webre, will be in residence at Harford Community College for two years, performing such ambitious new works as "Peter Pan" and "Romeo and Juliet" for Baltimore-area patrons. "Part of the mission of the college is to be a center of cultural arts for Harford County and the region," says HCC president Claudia Chiesi. The partnership between the ballet and college begins this weekend.

It was six years ago when Dawn Cooper Barnes hesitantly went about forming a multicultural dance company. Now in its fifth season, the Aurora Dance Company has been a labor of love. "I put it together rather reluctantly," Barnes said. "But it has turned out to be one of the best things I have ever done." The modern dance company will present "Works in Progress," a fifth-anniversary spectacular, at 8 p.m. today and tomorrow at Howard Community College's Smith Theatre as part of Columbia Festival of the Arts.

It was six years ago when Dawn Cooper Barnes hesitantly went about forming a multicultural dance company. Now in its fifth season, the Aurora Dance Company has been a labor of love. "I put it together rather reluctantly," Barnes said. "But it has turned out to be one of the best things I have ever done." The modern dance company will present "Works in Progress," a fifth-anniversary spectacular, at 8 p.m. today and tomorrow at Howard Community College's Smith Theatre as part of Columbia Festival of the Arts.

For the first time in its 12-year history, the Columbia Festival of the Arts will feature three national dance companies that will premiere works and offer master classes to area residents.The stellar lineup is further evidence of the festival's growing regional importance as a multifaceted arts event.With the inclusion of such well-regarded dance companies as the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Doug Varone and Dancers, and Joe Chvala and the Flying Foot Forum, this year's festival likely will secure Columbia's reputation as a city that embraces the arts, said Katherine Knowles, the festival's executive director.