MONDAY, MAY 10, 1999

CSULB dancers how off their strength

By Sharon Christensen

On-Line Forty-Niner

The Cal State Long Beach dance department's weekend performance emphasized its strength in contemporary choreography and instruction and gave audience members a taste of the department's classical ability.

"CSULB Dance Company in Concert," performed this weekend at the Martha B. Knoebel Dance Theater, consisted of six short works choreographed by CSULB faculty, three of which premiered as part of this production, and one piece by guest choreographer Robert Moses.

The first work, "Off the Walls," by department chairwoman Judy Allen, was a light-hearted frivolous modern work set to the regal harpsichord and trumpet strains of five movements of Handel.

Eleven dancers, dressed in pastel Grecian-style tunics, floated through poses inspired by classical Greek marble statues and with broad smiles scattered into the wings apparently fleeing the scene.

The premiere performance of Keith Johnson's "All Souls by the Sea" marked a transition in the program from lighter pieces to one of deep, self-examining emotion.

More than a dozen dancers dressed in pajama-like gray costumes and lit with blue lighting moved to the dissonance of Gavin Bryars' music played by an onstage string quartet. Inspired by his visit to a New England graveyard, Johnson choreographed fluid lyrical motions and some dramatic lifts as the music became harmonious. Although a bit long, the wandering and morose mood was established.

The most unfortunate attempt at classical ballet followed. Elizabeth Morse's "She Sees No Grey" was an only competently choreographed and slightly over-crowded piece involving some kind of good vs. evil plot and too many dancers.

On a larger stage the piece might have worked, but in the small Martha B. Knoebel Theater, the number of dancers moving on and off stage was overwhelming.

Liz Pelster's usually evocative and appropriate costuming sense failed her when the classical became an issue. The hideous ill-fitting black and white dresses flattered no one and contrasted the classical choreography.

The dancers were pitiably out-choreographed and Morse should have known better than to give her dancers steps that more reminded the audience of the dancers' failings than their technical strengths.

"Figure in Light," a solo by Susan McLain and danced by master's of fine arts candidate Stephanie Nugent, was a portrayal of a woman's struggle to deny her self-destructive nature and turn away from the metaphorical light.

Set to a futuristic-sounding composition by department musician Eric Ruskin, McLain's choreography was a jerking and writhing self-analysis as Nugent outwardly battles through her inward war.