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‘Bella’ Opens Theatrically at the Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles — November 10, 2023

This documentary film by Bridget Murnane is notable because Bella Lewitsky successfully waged a one-woman campaign for recognition as the West Coast Innovator of Modern Dance and stood up for freedom of expression as an integral part of her art.

You can see the documentary at Laemmle Royal Theatre in Santa Monica from Friday November 10 to November 16. Tickets cost $16 and more details can be found online.

“Modern Dance means nothing,” Bella says, “except that it is not ballet”. That explanation finally made it clear to me just what I would see when I watched Bella Lewitsky or Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey, John Cage or others, all so very different from one another and not categorizable. Interpretive or modern dance is movement. When Lewistsky began in L.A. in 1934 with the Lester Horton Troupe, it became an aesthetic, starting with the exercise, “How many ways can you rise from the floor?”

When I took interpretive dance in the late 1950s on Hilgard, just next to the church, in Westwood with Else Finley, it was to experience movement. When I was in high school and went to the classes of Bella Lewitsky, I still did not understand “modern dance” and did not go beyond my first few lessons. But as I watched this documentary, I understood that dance for the pure joy of movement is modern dance.

Could be me among the students standing before leaping around the room.

Moving for the ecstatic joy of moving is the definition of dance for Bella.

Born while her parents were members of the socialist Llano Del Rio Colony in 1916 and raised on a chicken farm, Lewitzky moved to the Los Angeles in 1930 from San Bernadino with her family where she lived in a diverse, working-class neighborhood at the height of the depression. Lewitzky joined the Lester Horton Dance Group, the first American inter-racial dance company, in 1934 and became its star and co-developer of The Horton Technique. Taught world-wide and unlike modern techniques developed in the eastern United States, it is based on Native American dance and is unique to the west coast.

As the lead dancer of the Horton Company, Lewitzky starred in his productions of “Salome” and “Rite of Spring” at the Hollywood Bowl in 1937 to rave reviews. Her work in “Tierra libertad,” a comment on the Spanish conquest of Mexico, and “Departure From The Land,” an evocation of Dust Bowl emigration, drew cheers at the end of each performance. Social injustice, anti-fascism, American and Mexican history were some of the themes of Horton’s dances embodied by dancers committed to these themes in their daily lives. They did not shrink from such topics as police brutality toward Mexican-Americans in such works as “The Park.” Being a modern dancer in Los Angeles at this time did not provide a sustainable income. To support herself and her family Lewitzky worked under the Federal Theatre Project in works choreographed by Horton and others. She also assisted Horton on film projects as well as Hanya Holm and Agnes DeMille.

When she and her love of dance was called into question by the HUAC because of past political activities, she was outraged … and unprepared…and blacklisted. “How could this be happening in our country,” she wondered, “there I got my taste of what fascism could be.”

“It really is frightening when you can realize that your safety and right to life can be removed from you and that your enemy is never seen, is hidden, and that your accusers cannot be confronted because you don’t know who they are.” (Lewitzky’s FBI file was recently released, albeit blacked out excessively.)

Film work was impossible for her. The only person who would hire her was Agnes DeMille, choreographer for the film adaptation of Oklahoma. Lewitzky recalls,” … Her usual assistants were not available to her, and she asked if I would be interested in doing it. I pointed out to her that I was at that point quite publicly blacklisted. Agnes had courage. She said, ‘It’s all right.’” Although she was the rehearsal director, assisted DeMille in re-choreographing scenes, and danced in some scenes, the studio stipulated that she would not receive credit for her work. Lewitzky did not work professionally for ten years, although she continued to choreograph and teach on her own. Her students included Alvin Ailey and Carmen De Lavallade who went on to form the Alvin Ailey company in New York.

She formed her own dance company in 1966 and continued to dance at the age of 62. Lewitzky was as famous off stage as on, thanks to her battles for freedom of expression against the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s and the National Endowment for the Arts in 1990.

In 1990 Lewitzky refused to sign an anti-obscenity clause on the acceptance form of a $72,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant. Unable to meet their payroll, her company disbanded as she joined with People for the American Way to sue the NEA. Calling a press conference at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, site of the 1950’s HUAC hearings, she stated, “Please watch out. This is a pattern with which I am very familiar and it has nothing to do with pornography. Pornography is simply the demagogic weapon that permitted mind rule and censorship to move forward.” Lewitzky prevailed in this landmark case and was finally awarded the grant. The NEA was instructed to “take into consideration general standards of decency and respect for the diverse beliefs and values of the American public.” This process took time away from Lewitzky’s choreography and fund raising.After a re-organization she decided to close her company with a final international tour and gala. On May 17, 1997 at the Luckman Theatre at Cal State LA, the campus where her company gave its first performance, she said good-bye to her audience and stated, “The arts are under threat more than ever before. What legacy I have left here will die unless you become responsible for keeping it alive.”

Bella Lewitzky died on July 16, 2004. At age 88, her physical health had deteriorated but her vital spirit continued to inspire those around her. Designated one of America’s Irreplaceable Dance Treasures by the Dance Heritage Coalition and awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton, Lewitzky’s life demonstrates how an artist with vision and tenacity changed the lives of her fellow citizens for the better.

The life, work, influence, and impact of Los Angeles-based dancer, choreographer, and arts activist Bella Lewitzky, who was referred by dance critic Walter Terry as “one of the greatest American dancers of our age” gives meaning to the word commitment. The film incorporates rare archival footage of Lewitzky’s performances and interviews with Lewitzky’s former students and dancers, and it demonstrates how a “uniquely Californian” artist with vision and tenacity influenced the lives of her fellow citizens.

She was designated one of America’s Irreplaceable Dance Treasures by the Dance Heritage Coalition and awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton.

Making its debut this Friday a special event is the special photography exhibit which accompanies the film’s theatrical release at the Laemmle Royal: “The Horton Dance Group, 1938” featuring Bella Lewitzky, photographed by Viktor von Pribosic and curated by filmmaker Bridget Murnane. And a reconstruction of Lewitzky’s “Game Plan,” by Walter Kennedy, former Lewitzky dancer/rehearsal director, and Associate Producer of the film, will be performed by the students at California State University, Dominguez Hills Theatre and Dance Department in Carson, CA on November 8–11.

See the trailer here.

Bella had its World Premiere at the 2022 Madrid International Film Festival and screened at over fifty festivals world-wide, including the Palm Springs International Film Festival. The film won seventeen awards including Best Documentary at Dance Camera West.

Producer/Director Bridget Murnane is a former Professor of Television, Film and Media Studies at California State University, Los Angeles. Bridget produced the feature film Odile and Yvette at the Edge of the World which premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival, and was theatrically released in the US. PBS and numerous cable channels have broadcast her films. She was the Associate Producer on Mia a Dancer’s Journey which won a 2015 LA Emmy for Arts, Culture and History, as well as Cindy, Telly and Golden Mike awards. She was awarded a Pew Fellowship and selected to be a Faculty Fellow by the Television Academy. In 2019 Bridget received a grant from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to design and implement the course “Women Making Films” in collaboration with Canon Burbank. Bridget received an MA in Dance and an MFA in Television and Film Production from UCLA. Bella is Murnane’s feature documentary directorial debut.