Graney brings artist's obsessive images to life in 'Vivian girls'

Choreographer Pat Graney stands in front of a vividly colored projection of a painting featuring curly-haired children that look like they stepped down from an early Campbell's Soup can or a Morton Salt label. These innocent-appearing kids are the subject of outsider artist Henry Darger's obsessive paintings and collages and the inspiration for Graney's new dance-theater piece, "the Vivian girls," which premieres at the Moore Theatre tonight.

Graney, 49, her red hair swept into a long ponytail, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet during an open rehearsal last week, looked a little like one of the Vivian girls herself.