The Passionate Pursuits of Angela Bowen

The Passionate Pursuits of Angela Bowen tells the story of a onetime dancer and dance teacher who was suddenly catapulted into the public eye as a lesbian-feminist activist, and then recruited into academia, becoming a professor. Shot over several years, Jennifer Abod's documentary profile begins with its African-American subject's childhood in inner-city Boston during the Jim Crow years. Bowen's father died when Angela was two, forcing her mother to work two jobs to raise her seven children, while also finding time to support the Civil Rights movement. Tall, stiff, and afflicted with bad posture, Bowen was enrolled in a dance studio and gradually found her natural talent, becoming the company's prima ballerina as well as an instructor. Moving to New York, Bowen encountered severe racism as she auditioned for dance companies and Broadway shows, eventually joining an all-black dance revue that toured Europe. The film traces Bowen's reluctant marriage and the terrible death of her toddler son, which left a pain that she buried during two decades of work running her own dance school in New Haven. Throughout, archival footage of Bowen's own dancing and that of her students is presented to accompany Bowen's recollections. When the narrative abruptly changes to Bowen coming out as lesbian during the 1970s height of the feminist movement—she gave up dance for a new role as an outspoken advocate of women's rights—the shift feels seismic. Viewers also meet Bowen's partner and her grown children, who speak honestly about the difficulties they experienced in childhood adjusting to their mother's radical changes. Offering a compelling story of one woman's remarkable journey through 20th-century turbulence in racial and sexual politics, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)