May 30, 1997 University of Oregon dance department head Jenifer Craig recently helped a CBS News crew tape modern dance icon Bella Lewitzky's farewell tour for the 8-9:30 a.m. Sunday, June 8, "CBS News Sunday Morning." A CBS News crew spent three days with Lewitzky in Eugene, covering the Lewitzky Dance Company's farewell tour that ended with a gala performance May 17 in Los Angeles. The CBS crew filmed Lewitzky and her dance company's Hult Center performance, Lewitzky's talk at the Eugene City Club and her visit with Craig, who is her official biographer, and other local dancers. Craig, who worked for the Lewitzky Dance Company after its founding in 1966 in Los Angeles, says the 81-year-old dance educator's connections with Eugene go back more than 30 years. While Craig was a UO undergraduate, Lewitzky taught a summer workshop here in 1970. Her company also participated in federally funded artists-in-the-schools programs at Edgewood Elementary and South Eugene High schools. The Lewitzky Dance Company returned in 1991 for performances with the Oregon Bach Festival. While in town earlier this month, company members presented a master class for UO dance students. In her earlier career, Lewitzky became entangled in McCarthy-era black-listing because of her support for freedom of expression, but she has prevailed in more recent funding disputes with the National Endowment for the Arts over her First Amendment rights. "It is particularly fitting that Lewitzky chose Eugene to be part of her farewell tour because at times like these, when our own arts community faces many challenges, we can be inspired by what she has been able to accomplish," Craig says. SOURCE: Jenifer Craig, associate professor and head, UO Department of Dance,(541) 346-3386 (office), 683-8293 (home); e-mail, jcraig@oregon.uoregon.edu -30- #T-2268/DAY