Saturday Matinee

When the bigger dance companies close for the season – all the Bay area dance companies seemed to close within weeks of each other – I find the summer to be a great time to explore smaller, local companies. I just came back from a nice evening at the Northern California Dance Conservatory. Titled “Mergence 2009″, it was marketed as an evening of art inspiring art – a night of original choreography as well as fine art inspired by said choreography. Hosted by the conservatory as well as JointheArts.com, a cultural arts advocate organization that aims to bridge the arts together, it was an evening of food, wine and art with a local emphasis. The reception before the performance was a lively, classy event that set the celebratory mood.

The performance part of the evening was a diverse program of eight modern dance pieces ranging from the silly to the sublime. The only recognizable choreographer on the program was Bay area’s Tina Kay Bohnstedt from Diablo Ballet. Her “Being Individual” set to the music of Philip Glass’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra was an exercise in shifting geometric shapes and group interactions backed by the pulsating music, with two group dances flanking a gentle central pas de deux. Intellectually engaging and a strong start to the evening, there was tension in vacillating between an air of caution and complete freedom that was difficult to tell if this was intentional or not. Choreographer and artistic director Jen Bradford’s “Writing on the Body of a Queen”, backed by the music of Gary Pozner, Dustin O’Halloran, L’Arpeggiata and Christina Pluhar, started out as a fun romp with an ease that flowed effortlessly. The central pas de deux fluctuated softly and quickly between surrender (a trust fall) and control (a man’s hand at the woman’s throat) like the fluttering of an eyelash, and in its twists and turns, the effect was captivating and absorbing and my favorite moment of the evening.

In moments, the evening can’t resist straying into the arena of cliche, reminiscent of ballet school recitals I grew up with. I found the most successful pieces to be the ones that embodied simplicity and showcased the dancers, rather than the pieces that aimed to teach the audience something or tried to be too ambitious. The dancers moved with incredible fluidity. Their technique may not equal professional companies, but it’s a rare quality to find a group of people that can simply move.

Original choreography is risky and commendable, and I’m so impressed that local companies are putting originality at a premium even in this economy. The effect is well worth it.

More performances are scheduled for this weekend. Click here for more information.