In good company

Malinda Allen, Deborah Butler, and Joy Madden had joined forces that spring, having met in the intimate world of Boston dance. Sharing the common frustrations of working with little professional or artistic encouragement and no financial support, they realized they could accomplish more by pooling resources and working together.

Meeting weekly, they came up with the idea for the Moving Laboratory, a collaborative that would support choreographers just getting started. The three women envisioned the Moving Lab as a means to help emerging choreographers develop creative visions, encourage risk-taking and experimentation, sharpen choreographic skills, and develop business know-how. Their broader vision was to create a group that would help young choreographers define and achieve success, contribute to the revitalization of dance in Boston, and spawn artists able make a mark in American dance.

It was this vision that landed them in midtown Manhattan in September for two days of receptions, interviews, photo shoots, and preparations before their final presentation.

Nerves ran high on the Tuesday morning of their presentation. As Madden recalls, the three hopefuls met to review their presentation one more time, then headed through the hotel lobby to go out for breakfast. On their way out, the concierge asked if they were sure they wanted to go outside. Noting their confusion, he pointed at a television, where they saw the World Trade Center in flames.

"We were so single-minded in why we were there," Madden says. "We didn't know the enormity of what was happening. It was so surreal. So we went for breakfast, talked some more about our presentation, and we were watching TV and we saw the towers fall."

Realizing there would be no presentation, Allen, Butler, and Madden hurried back to their hotel to call loved ones at home. "It took hours to get through to anyone. After that, we walked around Manhattan trying to give blood, but we kept getting turned away," Madden says.

That evening, Johnnie Walker representatives gathered the finalists and discussed arrangements to get everyone safely home. The choreographers took the train back to Boston on Wednesday. Ultimately, the Johnnie Walker Keep Walking Fund presentations were made on video.

"We were very confident about our idea, and confident that we would win something," Madden says. When the fund's representatives called in November with news of their award, Madden had a hearing lapse. "We were told by phone that we had won a grant of $50,000. I asked them to clarify, thinking they had said $15,000. Because I thought it was the lower amount, I was really calm on the phone. But when I realized it was $50,000 I was in shock."

In the funding-starved arts world, the award was a fortune. The choreographers put half of the grant away to build an endowment, and with the other half, got down to the business of fulfilling their vision.

By December, the Moving Lab had incorporated as a nonprofit organization, and its founders began preparing for its first group show, which took place in February 2002 at the YWCA in Central Square. Soon thereafter the group garnered the Green Street Studios Emerging Artist Award.

The Moving Lab is different from other Boston dance groups not only in its relatively rich nest egg, but also in its mission and function. As Madden explains, "We rarely dance in each other's pieces, and we don't collaborate artistically on work. We do observe each other's rehearsals to give each other feedback."

Each member has a distinct style. Madden describes her choreography as loosely modern.

"My background is in photography, sculpture, the studio arts," she says. "I draw on that in my work. I focus on lighting, form, and space. It's almost like a painting on stage."

Allen's work is frequently described as physical; it's informed by her studies of various disciplines including ballet, martial arts, kinesiology, cognition, capoeira, African and Caribbean dance, and Odissi (classical Indian dance), as well as her training as a massage therapist. "I really didn't know how to dance until I got into bodywork," she says. "That was where I began to learn about the body from the ground up."

Butler works in the idiom of butoh, a haunting, expressionist form of dance that emerged from Japan in the aftermath of World War II. "Butoh is extremely difficult to describe since it always seeks to redefine itself," Butler says. "It causes you to shed your learned movement, and it breaks down the structures and forms that you've learned to find your true motivation. It's a very deep, inward process."

Apart from rehearsals, the collaborative holds weekly meetings to tackle the business aspects of creating and presenting dance. The grant funds rehearsal and performance space rentals, administrative software and video equipment, plus performance-related travel, such as the group's appearance at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, last summer, where they won the Tap Water Award for Dance for artistic excellence and social education.

The members take turns handling the Lab's administrative responsibilities, such as filing taxes and accounting, venue logistics, contracts, publicity, and planning.

In addition to putting on group shows, they support each other's independent efforts.

"The whole point is for us to go out and get gigs," says Allen, who appeared in CRASHarts's local dance showcase "Dance Straight Up" in January and is also on the roster of CRASHarts's "Ten's the Limit" show of local works-in-progress.

While Allen currently serves as managing director of the collaborative, all three share the workload. "Nobody gets to sit back," Madden says. "Nobody gets to half-do it."

Right now their attention is focused on their show on Feb. 28 at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, called "Door #3." Their third annual group show, "Door #3" marks the Lab's first collaboration with presenting organization Firefly at Night. Allen is presenting two dances: "THIS WILL NOT BE QUICK," a reworking of the group piece she premiered at "Dance Straight Up" that deals with coming of age; and "terrible, terrible silks," a solo set on another dancer who will recite a Gwendolyn Brooks poem as she moves through Allen's challenging choreography.

Butler will appear in both her works on the program, "Blue Flowers," a series of vignettes set to Buddhist chants and Asian/fusion percussion, and "Wretched Muses," set to music by Nine Inch Nails.

For her piece, Madden is taking on a distinct physical and emotional challenge. "At the time of the show I will be seven months pregnant," she says. "As a dancer, I use my body for my art, and I'm very aware of all the ways my body is changing. My piece will be a study of my experience of pregnancy." Madden will perform in her own work accompanied by four other dancers.

After the Feb. 28 show, the members will work on expanding their horizons. "We're talking about doing a suburbs tour to try to build more of an audience," says Madden, who will take a maternity leave this spring.

"We're also planning to take another show out of the area," says Allen, mentioning the possibility of appearing at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.

They also plan to increase their board of directors from six members (including the Lab's three founders) to eight, and to resume fund-raising. "We've been stingy with the grant. It will definitely get us through this year, but our business goal for 2004 is to raise more money to keep the Lab going."

Their greatest initiative is to bring more choreographers into the fold. "We put a lot of energy into the Lab," Madden says. "We've worked out so many kinks, and now we're a well-oiled machine. And we're ready to bring in new artists to fulfill our original mission." The group's website, www.movinglab.org, will soon include an application for interested choreographers, who will be required to submit a written proposal, an artistic statement including a five-year plan, and a 10-minute video of recent work.

The selection process will take a few months, Madden says. "We will need to conduct interviews and auditions and make sure that people understand how demanding this is. A lot is expected of Moving Lab choreographers."

Including that, someday, they will develop and move on. Butler has already formed her own troupe, KITSUNEbutoh, an outgrowth of a series of free workshops she held last year that were funded by a grant from the Somerville Arts Council. The council is also producing a benefit at the Somerville Theatre on May 22; Butler will perform a solo.

Allen, who teaches her own form of integrated wellness training called Allen/Body Dynamics at CasaNia in Porter Square, will launch a company of her own, Allen/Body Group, this fall.

"The Lab is something you give to, you take from, and you go on from there," Madden says. "To fulfill our mission, eventually the three of us will leave," though not completely. As board members, the founding choreographers intend to steer their dance collaborative into the future.

"We went through a lot to get this off the ground," says Madden. "We always want to be a part of the Moving Laboratory."