Flight of Fancy: A dance icon unearths some winged crusaders

As far as anyone knew, Henry Darger was just a reclusive, aged janitor. But when he died at age 80, his landlord cleaned out his apartment and found paintings, drawings and more than 15,000 pages of text. Contained within was the cartoonish fantasy world of the Vivian Girls, hermaphroditic, winged children who take on crazed adult soldiers to save the world. Fortunately, dancer Pat Graney's career is more available to the general public. The Seattle-based choreographer has created more than 40 original dance pieces since 1979. Her latest concoction, based on Darger's paintings and words, comes to Houston this weekend as a joint presentation of DiverseWorks and Society for the Performing Arts.