Kaatsbaan melds nature and dance

By Nicole Edwards
Poughkeepsie Journal

Atop a grassy hill in Tivoli, deer move gracefully against a stretch of land that presents a flawless autumn scene as if in a Hudson Valley landscape painting.

Bentley Roton knows that it's here, behind the Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, a former horse farm in Tivoli, where one of the facility's mains strengths lies.

The president and co-founder of the dance complex loves when dance companies such as Buglisi/Forman Dance, which had a three-week residency at Kaatsbaan, are inspired by the backdrop and leave with the Kaatsbaan label attached to their work.

''They should be away from the pressures of the city so they can really just create,'' Roton said.

That is one of the central concepts behind creating a rehearsal space in the bucolic setting.

Roton and co-founders Kevin McKenzie, Martine van Hamel and Gregory Cary spent nearly 10 years making plans for a place where dancers could utilize space at a fraction of the cost they would spend for a space in Manhattan. The complex hosted its first performance in July of 2000.

The roughly $12 million project, which is designed to allow dance companies to create pieces, rehearse and present works, currently contains a 50-by-50-foot studio and a workshop studio with a dance floor the size of the Metropolitan Opera House (60 by 65 feet).

When completed, hopefully within the next five years, the site will include eight dance studios, motel-style housing, a dining hall, a conference room, an art gallery, set design studio and a theater equipped for video production.

Money from the gala will help with these and other everyday operations of the site.

''They've had it tough,'' said Tivoli Mayor Marc Molinaro, who is a strong supporter of Kaatsbaan and frequent audience member for events. ''It's been a struggle to establish themselves.''

Particularly with some local residents.

Roton said neighbors were concerned about bright lighting, water use, noise and other factors involved with the site's development. Several studies and tests helped ease those anxieties, but becoming part of the community was the next challenge.

Get kids involved

Cinda Sparling, a five-year resident of Tivoli, said she has only a vague idea of what Kaatsbaan is doing.

''I would like to see them bring the kids in and explain what choreography is,'' Sparling said. ''If they brought in kids as extras, they would get more local audiences.''

Visiting companies have participated in several outreach programs at area schools and venues for children such as the Monte Brown Dance Company at the Mid-Hudson Children's Museum in Poughkeepsie.

Training, conferences and on-site opportunities for photographers and set designers are part of their mission to get others involved. While performances have always been open to the public, Kaatsbaan is looking to eventually extend invitations to view rehearsals.

''We want the public to experience dance and enjoy the creative process,'' Roton said.

Right now, he added, the focus is meeting costs.

Piece of puzzle

Molinaro sees Kaatsbaan as an economic engine and cultural treasure in northern Dutchess County.

''They fit right in with the element we've seen throughout the county,'' Molinaro said. ''It is one more piece in the development of art in our county, but the kind of development that fits well with Tivoli.''

Kaatsbaan has become a piece of a greater arts mosaic, which includes the Dia Center in Beacon and the Richard B. Fisher Center for Performing Arts at nearby Bard College.

Molinaro said the slow growth and steady change Kaatsbaan has undergone has helped boost the spirit of a community bypassed during the late 1970s and 1980s, when Tivoli's population and economy diminished.

''They're yet one more neighbor within the village that has seen a great deal of life over the last few years,'' Molinaro said.