It takes a vivid imagination to see a traditional salon in the little white-box Construction Company theater on a humdrum block of 18th Street just west of Union Square. There are no little gilt chairs and tables. Instead, there is an uncompromisingly small and simple performance space that measures 35 by 21 feet, with bleacher seating and a piano in one corner. But there, tonight and tomorrow night, a typical gathering of composers, choreographers and musicians will perform new and old pieces together in a setting that has all the intimacy of an old-time salon.
The program, part of the theater's Dance/Music Collaborations series, suggests the unusual double focus of the Construction Company. This dance series was put together by composers. Another oddity is the way the theater goes about presenting its artists. In the Sunday Series, established choreographers have been invited to let their hair down in an informal low-tech setting. Some of the participants, like Beverly Blossom and Sally Gross, are the kind of veteran downtown choreographers whom other New York dance theaters have forgotten.
The relaxed, intimate atmosphere of the Construction Company may have a great deal to do with Carolyn Lord, the director of the theater and a longtime though quiet presence on the New York dance scene. Ms. Lord's route through dance and music has been nicely indirect. She came east from Chicago to study dance after receiving classical ballet training in Chicago and earning a degree in Russian literature from the University of Chicago.
Ruby Washington/ The New York Times
Carolyn Lord, foreground, the director of the Construction Company, with dancers, choreographers, composers and musicians at the theater. She founded the original Construction Company in 1972 with two other choreographers, Sally Bowden and Barbara Gardner, in a downtown loft. Performances there gained an extra cachet because of two cats, Guinevere and Esmeralda, who often wandered out into dances. "I think they had more reviews in those days than we did," Ms. Lord said.
The Construction Company suspended operations in the mid-1970's after losing its space. "The rents started moving up," Ms. Lord recalled. "I got this loft in 1978, just before everything got terrible." The Construction Company was reborn in 1993 after Ms. Lord, who was studying for a degree in composition at the Mannes School of Music, came into contact with composers who wanted to meet and work with choreographers.
The theater's personality and core group of about 14 choreographers and musicians took shape almost haphazardly. Today, the street-level space houses an art gallery with its own curator, Lauren Farber, and a resident music group, directed by Theresa Salomon, along with performances and classes.
Christopher Caines and Rebekah Windmiller, choreographers who show work at Construction, studied ballet with Ms. Lord. "Christopher did a piece because he was interested in writing music," she said. One of Mr. Caines's dancers, Ariane Anthony, began performing her own work at Construction. Another choreographer, Bryan Hayes, signed on as an administrator.
Ms. Lord does not consider herself a producer. Still, her taste for oddball work informs the theater's programming.
She was charmed by the quirkiness of dance by Sally Silvers, who will perform at Construction in May. Scott Caywood, who will present a work set to Handel and Schubert tonight and tomorrow, has "strange little presences" in his piece, she said.
Mr. Caywood is a core-member choreographer. Jeffrey Bauer, who will present a piece with music by Nathaniel Drake, grew up artistically at the theater. Other young core constituents function as curators. In addition to flights of fancy by established choreographers, the Sunday Series also features works-in-progress by composers and choreographers chosen by Chris Woltmann, Mr. Drake and Elke Rindfleisch.
Ms. Lord enjoys that mix of old and new. "You never saw us old guys get here, but here we are," she said. "And we can be really helpful to younger generations. We've done the administration -- what you have to do for a concert -- backwards and forwards. They're just starting. I hate the idea of a closed environment. But we do want to keep it sort of homey and not just people dropping in for a show."
Many of the choreographers and musicians who perform at the Construction Company do not "fit in anywhere," Ms. Lord said. "I guess they find themselves at home here because of that. The commonalities are people who use live music, classically based acoustic music mostly, or come out of classical dance training. People who are kind of floating free. The kind of people we attract come out of the home-made school. They pick up props and make a show. They do their own lighting."
Ms. Lord has a slightly guarded dream for the future. "It would be great if someone could donate a slightly larger space," she said. "Nothing too big." She pauses. "That was a joke." Another pause. "Well, I semi-meant it. I'd like to have more space. But I'd hate to give up the intimacy."
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