More than 150 alumni of the Bates College Modern Dance Company came from as far away as Japan to take part in a May 1 dance performance marking the company’s 35th anniversary and honoring company founder Marcy Plavin.

In addition to the performance, the dance alumni, along with the Plavin family and friends of dance, offered two lasting and visible thank-yous to this revered Bates mentor: a collective gift of more than $450,000 to fund two new dance studios within Merrill Gymnasium, and an original, mixed-media charcoal drawing of Plavin, based on a photo, that will hang in the studio space.

The studios, to be named after Plavin and scheduled to open in September will be the first home for the dance program, whose rehearsal spaces over four decades have included dorm basements and a variety of gyms.

The Schaeffer Theatre performance on Saturday evening included the current Modern Dance Company performing “Canonic 3/4 Studies,” a piece by acclaimed choreographer Mark Morris, and Alwin Nikolais’ 1953 “Tensile Involvement.” Alumni from as far back as the Class of 1969 danced in both a variety of short pieces and a long suite that constituted the entire second half of the program.

That suite included choreography by two alumni who have made dance their professions: Michael Foley ’89, who is assistant professor of modern dance at the University of South Florida, and John Carrafa ’76, a Tony Award-nominated choreographer acclaimed for his work on the Broadway hits Urinetown and Into the Woods.

The performance was rich in tributes to Plavin, of Lewiston, who started at Bates in 1965 and retires as director of dance this year. Plavin is known at the college as both an early advocate for an expanded role for arts in the curriculum and a close friend and mentor to many of the students who worked with her. Saturday’s event was “almost solely about devotion to Marcy and what she contributed to our experience at Bates,” said dance company veteran Suzanne Carbonneau ’76, who is now a dance critic and dance historian.

This wasn’t the first MDC anniversary for which alumni have trekked back to Lewiston, but was an especially significant one because of the impending retirement of Plavin, who was first hired at Bates by the director of women’s physical education. “Marcy might have been the first adult who wanted me to call her by her first name,” said Geri FitzGerald ’75, now a Bates Trustee, told Bates Magazine in 2000. “In many ways, she was the first adult friend that I had.”

“They’re my extended family,” Plavin says. “We’ve had great times together. Dance seems to build those kinds of friendships.”

During Plavin’s tenure, the dance program has grown dramatically — from two courses in the PE department to a rich slate of academic offerings that students can take as a secondary concentration. In the not-too-distant future, Bates hopes to offer a dance major. Since 1983 the college has been home to the Bates Dance Festival, which Plavin founded and which today ranks in the top tier of such events in the United States.

Plavin will remain a presence at Bates, but succeeding her as head of the dance program is Carol Dilley, who arrived last fall. Dilley’s resume includes teaching at the University of Washington and in a variety of dance programs in Sydney, Australia. She has also run a dance company in Barcelona, and attended the Bates Dance Festival as a student in the early 1990s.

“Carol will do wonderful things,” Plavin says.

For information on making a gift to support the ongoing dance-studio project as well as dance programming at Bates, e-mail Shanna Bruno, Office of College Advancement, or phone 207-786-8254.

Highlights of the performance include “Canonic 3/4 Studies,” a 1982 piece by Mark Morris, one of America’s most respected choreographers, and Alwin Nikolais’ 1953 “Tensile Involvement.” For more information call 207-786-6157. No seat reservations will be accepted.

The Modern Dance Company was founded by Marcy Plavin, of Lewiston, who started at Bates in 1965 and retires as director of dance this year. A program that helped pave the way for the college’s current robust offerings in the arts, including the nationally renowned Bates Dance Festival, Plavin and the company are the object of deep loyalty among its veterans — many of whom will dance on May 1.

“In the midst of this very intensive academic experience, it was incredibly different and open and freeing to have part of our experience be about being creative,” Suzanne Carbonneau told the college’s alumni magazine in 1998. A member of the class of 1976, Carbonneau is a dance critic and historian. “It was always about exposing us to a lot of different stuff and encouraging us to go where our interests were.”

Alumni from classes as far back as the mid-1960s will take part in the May 1 performance. The first half of the program features two pieces danced by current members of the dance company: the Nikolais work, for which the dancers perform with elastic bands stretched across the stage like a giant cat’s cradle, and Morris’s teasing takeoff on traditional ballet, for which obtaining performance rights was something of a coup. “We’re all honored by this great gift,” Plavin says.

Short works danced by alumni constitute the remainder of the first half. The program’s entire second half will be choreographed and danced by alumni, with an opening section choreographed by Michael Foley — class of 1989 and assistant professor of modern dance at the University of South Florida — and a closing by John Carrafa, class of 1976, a Tony Award-nominated choreographer acclaimed for his work on the Broadway hits “Urinetown” and “Into the Woods,” among other credits.

This isn’t the first MDC anniversary for which alumni have trekked back to Lewiston, but it’s an especially significant one because of the impending retirement of Plavin, who was first hired at Bates by the director of women’s physical education. “Marcy might have been the first adult who wanted me to call her by her first name,” Geri FitzGerald, a member of the class of 1975 and a Bates trustee, told the college magazine. “In many ways, she was the first adult friend that I had.”

“They’re my extended family,” Plavin says. “We’ve had great times together. Dance seems to build those kinds of friendships.”

During Plavin’s tenure, the dance program has grown dramatically — from two courses in the PE department to a rich slate of academic offerings that students can take as a secondary concentration. In the not-too-distant future, Bates hopes to offer a dance major. Since 1983 the college has been home to the Bates Dance Festival, which Plavin founded and which today ranks in the top tier of such events in the United States.

Plavin will remain a presence at Bates, but succeeding her as head of the dance program is Carol Dilley, who arrived last fall. Dilley’s resume includes stints on faculty at the University of Washington and in a variety of dance programs in Sydney, Australia. She has also run a dance company in Barcelona, and attended the Bates Dance Festival as a student in the early 1990s.

“Carol will do wonderful things,” Plavin says.

Bates students, faculty and a New York choreographer all show dances in the Bates College Modern Dance Company’s Annual Spring Concert of New Work. A profusion of material means the concert is presented in two programs in Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College Street: Program A, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 20, and 4 p.m. Saturday, March 22; and Program B, 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 21, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 23.

The public is welcome to attend at no charge; seats fill fast. For more information, please call the Schaeffer box office at 207-786-6161.

The Dance Company’s Amy Hempstead, a junior from Yarmouth, choreographed “Déjà Vu,” a work for six dancers that depicts the emotional confusion around a failed relationship. Julie Yeterian, a first-year student from Waterville, offers the trio dance “I Almost Went to Bed Without Remembering,” which explores the sleeper’s resistance to awakening.

Two dancers each present multiple works. Yuzo Yamazaki, a junior from Kanagawa, Japan, has created a duet, a large-ensemble piece and a solo that he will dance himself. Aisha Bell, a senior from St. Louis, Mo., offers two quartets, a quintet and the solo “Spiritual,” which she will perform.

The concerts also feature large-ensemble pieces by two faculty members: “Luna Amor” by Robin Vermilion, who teaches ballet, and “Didn’t Find It” by W. Barry Dean, who teaches hip-hop. A work by Ben Munisteri, a well-known New York City choreographer, will also be performed.

Marcy Plavin , director of the college dance program and founder of the dance company, directs the concerts.

Bates alumnus John Carrafa ’76 was nominated May 6 for two Tony Awards for Best Choreography for Urinetown, The Musical and Into The Woods.

The American Theatre Wing’s 56th annual Tony Awards ceremony will take place on June 2, 2002 at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall. CBS and PBS will broadcast the ceremony live on national television. Broadway shows that opened between May 3, 2001 and May 1, 2002 were eligible for 2002 Tony Awards.

Carrafa, a New York-based choreographer is increasingly well-known in show-business circles, thanks to his work on such projects as the megamusical Dance of the Vampires and the production of The Pajama Game in which Carrafa challenged the Fosse legend with a newly choreographed “Steam Heat.”

And all this with a biology degree. “I didn’t go to Bates for dance,” says Carrafa. Yet he clearly sees a path leading from his present success back to Bates. He is one of countless students who worked with, and was captivated by, longtime dance program director Marcy Plavin.

Plavin exposes her classes to all different styles of dance and to its best practitioners, many of whom she brings to campus. “Marcy helped us have a wider view of what dance was,” says Carrafa.

Just as influential was a rigorous intellectual climate at Bates that taught Carrafa the importance of research to the authenticity, the sense of sheer “rightness,” that distinguishes a living dance from a mere collection of moves. That kind of perspective can be lost on choreographers who have studied only dance. “Many of the people I work with started dancing when they were teenagers or even younger,” Carrafa says. “And that’s all they’ve done.”

The Bates College Modern Dance Company, under the artistic direction of Marcy Plavin, showcases the talents of students and a guest choreographer in concerts at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 11; 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 13, in Schaeffer Theatre, 350 College Street. The public is invited to attend free of charge. No reservations are accepted and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, call the Schaeffer Theatre box office at 207-786-6161.

The concert features a five-dance suite, More Drama than Advisable, choreographed by Portsmouth, N.H., senior Kate Nies, as a component of an interdisciplinary senior thesis in the fields of dance and women’s studies. “Unlike pieces I’ve choreographed in the past that were psychologically driven, this work is about movement,” Nies says. “I wanted to move in different ways and develop a style.”

The program includes a solo, Pangs, by Bates senior Devon Fitchett of Woburn, Mass., and The Shark Attack and Other Dating Rituals, a dance/theater work by New York choreographer Alexandra Beller that examines the struggle and hilarity of human mating habits. A member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company from 1995 through 2001, Beller has performed in more than 50 countries and throughout the United States. She teaches at Dance Space and Sal Anthony’s Movement Salon in New York. Beller’s work will be performed next month at Joyce Soho in New York.

Coordinated by Marcy Plavin, director of the Bates College Modern Dance Company, the ACDF at Bates is the first of eight regional festivals to be performed in 2000. The 25-year-old American College Dance Festival has a two fold purpose: to provide classes, workshops and performance experiences for college dancers and an opportunity for the dancers to have their works adjudicated and critiqued by established professionals.

This year, 30 institutions will present 45 pieces for adjudication. The three adjudicators for the 2000 festival are dance critic and historian Suzanne Carbonneau `76, who is resident scholar and director of audience enrichment at Jacob’s Pillow; Alan Kriegsman, Pulitzer Prize winning dance writer for The Washington Post; and Gus Solomons Jr., dance critic, dancer and company director.

The ACDF at Bates also includes a performance by New York-based dancer Michael Foley`89 and his company Michael Foley Dance at 8 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 22. This performance is sold out.

For more information about the performances, call 207-786-6157.

The program includes student-choreographed dances on a range of topics from a piece about mental health by sophomore Kate Nies of Portsmouth, N.H., to “Empty,” an exploration of loss by sophomore Devon Fitchett of Woburn, Mass. A collaboration piece of movement, dance and words about experiencing a new culture by senior Anna Israelsson of Seattle will also be featured.

“Just A Moment,” choreographed for 13 Bates students by guest choreographer Terese Freedman, uses references from the last 50 years to make a statement about this moment in time, according to Plavin. The dance “downplays all the hoopla surrounding the millennium, yet refers to moments throughout our recent history,” Plavin says.

Bates dancers for “Just A Moment” include junior Rhea Chase of Vernon, Conn.; senior Lisa DeTora of Auburn; senior Erika Fulenweider of Houston, Texas; senior Susannah Canfield of New York City; first-year student Kevin Fournier of Woodstock, Conn.; first-year student Isabelle Lam of Hong Kong; senior Sarah Putnam of Cumberland; sophomore Justin Stebbins of Hinsdale, N.H.; first-year student Sarah Hannigen of Taipei, Taiwan; Nies; sophomore Laura Medina of Burke, Va.; Fitchett; and sophomore Kristin Smith of Plattsburgh, N.Y.

Freedman is co-artistic director of the Freedman/Coleman Dance Company and artist in residence at Mount Holyoke College in the Five College Dance Department in western Massachusetts. Before forming her company with Jim Coleman, Freedman was a member of the Nancy Spanier Dance Theater in Colorado and the Bill Evans Repertory Company in Seattle. Freedman and Coleman have taught, danced and choreographed throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.

Winners of joint choreographic fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the duo has also received many choreographic commissions from dance companies as well as university and college dance programs.

Featuring original music by William Matthews, Alice Swanson Esty Professor of Music at Bates, Slightly Hysterical is a two-hour program of dance pieces performed by more than 150 Bates alumni who have participated in Plavin’s dance program over the last three decades. Alumni from as far away as Central Europe will return to Bates to begin rehearsing Slightly Hysterical the morning of the performance. Among those returning for the anniversary celebration and performance are former Lewiston mayor John Jenkins ’74, Lewiston-based cardiologist Dervilla McCann ’77, and award-winning poet Jean Monahan ’81.

Unforgettably titled See Hear Frick & Frack! Guess what?…Chicken Butt: neat dances, the performances will showcase 26 versatile dances in two progams — of 13 dances each — filled with conflict, humor, jubilation and ritual. Featured music includes works from such masters as Hadyn and Sweet Honey in the Rock.

Tickets will be $6 for general admission and $3 for seniors. Bring your ticket stub to a second performance and get in free. Tickets may be purchased in advance by calling the Schaeffer Theatre box office at 786- 6161, Monday through Friday between 3 and 5 p.m. The box office will be open one hour prior to each of the performances.