CrossCurrents

It was time for our second car talk.

Maria Caruso seems to be continually on the move, not something uncommon when you are associated with dance. A few years ago I interviewed her over the phone as she was driving on a New Jersey Interstate between Princeton and Philadelphia. This year we conversed a little closer to home as she was making her way through Pittsburgh’s congested streets.

Yes, Maria is trying to be everywhere at once nowadays, with a life that spans her own company and school, collectively titled Bodiography, plus a Pilates and dance program partnered with Club One and her newest venture, heading the dance department at LaRoche College, where she teaches 26 credits.

Her schedule varies during the week, with Maria headquartered mostly at Bodiography at the beginning of the week and where LaRoche students commute to the company’s Squirrel Hill home) moving to LaRoche on Thursday with her Bodiography dancers.

A typical Thursday begins with a 6:15 a.m. Pilates class, then moves to LaRoche for several classes from 8 a.m. until noon, then a rehearsal from noon until 3 p.m. and more classes through until 9 p.m.

But late afternoon one Friday I’m able to catch her on a commute from the North Hills to her Squirrel Hill studio.

“Oddly enough I thrive in chaos,” Maria says with a hearty laugh. “My brain doesn’t process the idea of someone helping me or getting something typed.” So she’s also working hard at moving from being “so hands on” to accepting help from two assistants, two interns and “my mother.”

Yes, it’s been a big transition this year with adding LaRoche. So when does she find time to choreograph? After all, Maria will premiere her second full-length ballet, “108 Minutes,” based on medical themes at the Byham Theater this weekend.

It’s called time management, I guess.

Her creative process began last summer at Bodiography’s summer intensive, where she  took in 14 students, the better to provide individual attention and to “see how the dancers handle my material.” During this workshop she tried to get some of the color palette and movement motifs together, aiming to develop about 20 minutes of solid work to provide a foundation for “108 Minutes.” It not only served as a choreographic workshop, but as an audition to select performers for her group.

In early September, Maria attended a stem cell “information” conference with Dr. Alan Russell, founding director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and also number 32 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s “Top 100 Change Makers in America” in 2009. Subsequently she contacted other doctors at the Institute in September and viewed footage of U.S. soldiers who benefited from their methods.

“I really believe there are no words to describe their passion,” she says. “I heard stories of our military and felt the inspiration of the scientists. Coupled with a new and effective way to regenerate the body, it’s going to drastically impact our health care system.”

“It gave me a lot of fuel. ”

Maria is not looking to create choreography that is just beautiful on the surface. “I want to reach deeper into someone’s soul and create extensive works that are meaningful. I want to tell a story that makes people feel complete, feel comfortable, feel moved.”

Update on Cello Fury. The classically-trained string group that downsized from Cellofourte and paired up with Bodiography will accompany “108 Minutes” with a completely original score. Comprised of Nicole Myers, Simon Cummings and Ben Munoz, they strive to bridge various styles with an athletic style of play. Ben took a moment to address the group’s latest project written by both Simon and Ben. Both primarily contributed their own pieces, something that works because “fortunately our compositional styles seem to work together.” But the ballet’s 15-minute finale was written together. “It was interesting to see what we could come up with, working as one person,” Ben explains. “It was almost like a rock band — the guitarist can come in with a chord progression and the drummer will play something on top of it. The whole band as a group kind of writes the piece.” The duo came in with melodic or rhythmic ideas and they took it from there, molding them into the final product. We’ll see if their fans can tell them apart.