Wetlook World Forum

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June 29, 2005

Kicking Up a Storm Where Water Is a Given

By JACK ANDERSON

Ten women made quite a splash when they danced Monica Bill Barnes's "Limelight" at lunchtime on Monday in Bowling Green Park. Their performance took place in the circular fountain that stands in front of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian.

Not around or beside that fountain. In it.

The women, in sneakers and light-colored costumes, ran into the park shouting: "Hello, New York City! We've got something special for you!" Then they jumped into the fountain, where, for about 15 minutes, they enthusiastically performed chorus-line routines to recorded songs by Diana Ross and the Supremes.

The fountain sent jets of water into the cloudy sky. The heavens, in return, sent a bit of drizzle down to the earth. But spectators didn't seem to mind the little shower. The dance was too much fun to miss.

Keeping their movements sharply synchronized, the dancers often kicked like aquatic Rockettes in this attraction, part of the Sitelines 2005 series of site-specific events presented by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Holding sunglasses in their hands, they also stood still in the water like glamorous movie stars languidly posing for portraits at beach resorts. And they paraded in the fountain's basin while twirling umbrellas.

After dancers lifted other dancers to the fountain's rim, the entire cast suddenly lost its footing and toppled into the water. It looked like a collective accident. But the apparent mistake was so precisely timed that you knew it was all part of Ms. Barnes's witty choreography.

"Limelight" will be presented at 12:30 p.m. daily, through Friday, in Bowling Green Park, Broadway and Beaver Street, Lower Manhattan. Admission is free.