Lucy Bowen McCauley is the Artistic Director, choreographer and creative energy behind Bowen McCauley Dance. Since founding BMD in 1996, she has created over 80 works ranging from lyrical ballets to highly physical contemporary pieces set to rock music. Using ballet as the point of departure, McCauley creates emotionally charged dances that defy categorization, set to musical scores ranging from Brahms to Stravinsky to rock ‘n’ roll. Washingtonian Magazine named her among the “top men and women who have helped transform Washington into one of the nation’s liveliest centers in performing arts,” and Dance Magazine described her choreography as “always thoughtful, and often witty.”
Lucy is a member of the Dance/USA Board of Trustees where she serves as an Artistic Council Chairman. She was also selected as a national leader for Dance/USA’s mentorship program, and is a member of the Arlington Economic Development Commission, and Arlington Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
A dancer since childhood, Lucy’s early training at the Jordan School of Music & Dance in Indianapolis, and the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Traverse City, Michigan, provided her with a profound appreciation for both music and musicians that is so striking in her work. At age 18, she was offered a scholarship to the Joffrey School in New York City where she performed with the Joffrey Concert Group. She also danced with the Maryland Ballet, the Virginia State Ballet, DC Contemporary Dance Theatre and Daniel West Dancers. She was a founding member of Eric Hampton Dance.
In 2010, McCauley received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award for Dance Education by Dance Metro/DC, and in 2011 Dance/USA selected her as a national leader for its pilot mentorship program. In 2012 McCauley received the Washington Performing Arts Society’s 2012 Pola Nirenska Award, which honors members of Washington’s dance community who demonstrate exceptional dedication to the field of dance. Other awards include the Alumni Path of Inspiration Award from the Interlochen Center for the Arts, the STAR Award for Artistic Excellence from the Arlington Commission for the Arts, and the Elizabeth Campbell Award for the Advancement of the Arts in Arlington from the American Association of University Women. She is a 2008 graduate of Leadership Arlington. In 2009 Lucy received the James B. Hunter III Arlington Community Hero Award, which recognizes people who make an ongoing difference in the Arlington community. In 2012 Lucy was honored with the Genetic Alliance Innovator’s Award for her local Dance for PD program.
Over the years Lucy has taught and choreographed at numerous institutions including: Birmingham-Southern, George Washington, Georgetown, and Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and Salisbury, Shenandoah, and Tianjin Universities; The Washington Ballet, American Ballet Theater, Orlando Ballet, The Kennedy Center, and the Escuela Superior de Música y Danza in Monterrey, Mexico. For over 20 years she has been on faculty at the Maryland Youth Ballet. She has pioneered a unique stretch technique, Bowen McCauley Stretch, which has been featured in USA Today, Dance Teacher, and The Washington Post.
