MONDAY, MARCH 22, 1999

CSULB dance concert lacks raw emotion

By Sharon Christensen

On-Line Forty-Niner

Exciting student choreography and dancing were definitely visible at the Cal State Long Beach Contemporary Dance Concert, but at times, the program lacked the clarity of expression and raw emotion to give the audience much to remember.

Thursday night's production, which was choreographed and danced entirely by CSULB dance majors, opened the weekend-long run with an almost capacity audience at the Martha B. Knoebel Dance Theater.

The program, which consisted of 10 short pieces by individual choreographers as well as group collaborations, began with a light and pleasant work called "Shelter."

Accompanied by a Led Zeppelin song played on acoustic guitar by Bruce Baldwin, the two dancers lifted each other up, supported each other and danced side by side, portraying the loving support and mutual influence of a friendship.

Amie Roe Cochran's choreography for "Shelter" was straightforward and quick, helping to establish the lighthearted mood for the piece.

The next work, a solo danced and choreographed by Jennifer Parra called "Eden Is," seemed to lack connection to the music. Although Parra is an accomplished dancer, the choreography for "Eden Is" did not seem to be inspired at all by the music.

"My Life (As Is)" was an original and expressive work, not for the dance but for the monologue that accompanied the dance, as recited by the dancer, David Johns.

Johns choreographed his solo and wrote the monologue describing his encounters with the police, his explanation of a dance degree to a stranger and his memories of his deceased sister - to whom he dedicated the piece.

"This Voice," choreographed by Christie Freeman, was disturbing and odd. The dancers moved in and out of fetal positions, kicking and moaning, and at other times making vomiting motions set to music, which seemed to consist of constantly changing chords on a pipe organ. Freeman successfully maintained the mood of the piece for its entirety.

Andrew N. Milhan's striking lighting for "Filters," a piece in which three blue-clad dancers moved in undulating motions, enhanced the dramatic nature of the somewhat aggressive choreography.

Milhan, the dance department's lighting designer and technical director, also designed the lighting for two other pieces as well as supervised the student lighting designers.

Liz Pelster's costumes for "Share the Fall," pastel leotards with flowered skirts, perfectly fit the mood formed by the choreography and the melancholic Kate Bush song that accompanied it.