Lewitzky and Stoltzman’s ‘Love Affair’ Proves Fruitful : Music: The doyenne of modern dance and the virtuoso clarinetist will unveil ‘Glass Canyons’ tonight at UCLA.

By chance, they collided in the lobby of a Tampa hotel while both were touring Florida three years ago. But instead of the usual, vague promises to “meet for lunch,” Bella Lewitzky’s and Richard Stoltzman’s parting words were: “Let’s do a piece together.”

They meant it.

So tonight at Royce Hall, UCLA, California’s doyenne of modern dance and her friend, the virtuoso clarinetist, unveil their joint effort: “Glass Canyons.”

Their collaboration is a whimsical 20-minute work with a score by Stoltzman’s constant composer, William Thomas McKinley.

Lewitzky hopes to put the spotlight on her non-terpsichorean colleague, Stoltzman, who will also perform with the company in upcoming Boston and Chicago dates.

“I asked Bella to choreograph me into the piece,” he says, of a section that has four dancers lifting him in a chair. “And she asked me to improvise around the written notes. Amazingly, it turned out to be a very democratic process, with myself as the fulcrum between Bella and Tom (McKinley).”

None of Stoltzman’s spirit was lost on Lewitzky.

“He is a delicious imp of a collaborator,” she says.

This collaboration is not their first. “Our love affair began at CalArts where we taught in the ‘70s,” says Lewitzky, “long before Richard became a celebrity.” And the present opus rests on “our deep artistic and social friendship.”

Indeed, the 75-year-old choreographer says she was ready to accommodate to Stoltzman’s musical choices, give or take a few adaptive measures. “Some things transcend the individual creator’s vision,” she allows. “And when the fit isn’t perfect, finding an answer becomes an artistic challenge in itself. Compromise enters the picture, but that doesn’t mean standards are put on hold.”

Lewitzky knows about challenge, compromise and standards--when to relax and when to hold the reins tight. In the political arena, she stands firm. During the recent censorship brouhaha with the National Endowment for the Arts, she waived a $72,000 government grant to her dance company rather than promise to uphold a disputed anti-obscenity clause. She co-filed a lawsuit and just won a favorable ruling from the Los Angeles Federal Court.

Standing up to the system was entirely in keeping for the California native, whose liberal-minded parents instilled in her an acute regard for civil liberties; she boasts a long history of not bending with the wind.

“You can’t put a price on freedom of speech,” she says, remembering back to 1943 when, during the last days of the Works Progress Administration, she and others went on a death watch for the institution that sponsored the Federal Theater Project, which spawned such anti-Fascist plays as Maxwell Anderson’s “It Can’t Happen Here.”

“Congress took down the WPA because of the authors’ liberal cant. I remember one House member asking, during a debate, “Is this the way you want our tax dollars spent?’ And again, in the ‘50s we had a McCarthy and a HUAC (House Committee on Un-American Activities), with writers being jailed for what they thought. Just imagine that and then tell me what’s obscene.”

Lewitzky is used to taking risks, having herself defied McCarthy when she was called to testify before HUAC.

“It didn’t matter whether, in 1990, I could afford a lawsuit. Sitting by and letting our government legislate mind control was unacceptable. I’ve seen too much of the personal anguish it’s caused in the past.

“But if anything moved me this year it was watching the insidious effect on the creative process, how artists carry a self-censoring reflex into the studio, how they take a second and suspect look at every reference point.”

For now, at least, Lewitzky’s vigilance has paid off; the NEA anti-obscenity oath has been judged unconstitutional. But being a watchdog is hardly her favorite role. A decade ago, she began plans for the Dance Gallery, a downtown performance venue.

That edifice, a vision of “arts for the people,” has yet to be built--another fund-raising deadline falls in June. But the tenacious champion is not twiddling her thumbs in the meantime. A second season of “In the Works,” a Gallery showcase for local dancemakers at the old Helms Bakery Building on Washington Boulevard, kicks off Feb. 24 and runs through June 9.

True to her priorities, Lewitzky has always seen fit to pay artists, in this case, as well as her own company dancers, whatever the budget allows.

“An art form without a venue and without an audience is an art form in trouble,” Lewitzky says, concerned, as usual, with the general welfare--not just her own personal realm. “ ‘In the Works’ is my way of affirming that there is worthy local dance. It demands an action and a fanfare.”

“Glass Canyons” premieres tonight and Saturday at Royce Hall. Other Lewitzky repertory includes “Confines” and “Impressions 3” tonight; and the local premiere of “Agitime” and “Episode 1--Recuerdo” Saturday. Information: (213) 825-9261. Stoltzman can be seen on a PBS episode of “Lonesome Pines” Saturday.