Jazz Troupe to Honor Late Dancer

LA JOLLA — Over the years, Jazz Unlimited has been a perfect launching pad for dancers bound for the stages of Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Broadway.

Two of the troupe’s favorite sons will return to the fold to dance a pair of concerts at Sherwood Hall tonight and Saturday at 8 o’clock. The performances, dedicated to the memory of the late Bob Fosse dancer Tanis Michaels, also of Jazz Unlimited, will feature the company’s biggest success story, Barry Bernal (recently of “Starlight Express”), and Scott Benson, a busy L.A.-based performer-choreographer-teacher.

The concerts are part of the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art’s three-series salute to San Diego dance and will showcase a new work by associate director Alicia Rincon, danced by the company’s newest rising star Glean Lewis.

Also on tap for this concert is Neil Diamond’s “Crunchy Granola Suite,” a jaunty piece culled from Fosse’s Broadway hit “Dancin’,” and several works from the company’s repertory. “Tour de France” and “Dance for Three,” both choreographed by Michaels, will be revived for this memorial program.

“I’ve gotten to where I can really pick and choose what I want to do now,” said Benson, one of the original members of Jazz Unlimited. “I’ve been teaching and choreographing around the country, and I do a lot of television guest spots, like episodes of ‘Moonlighting.’ It makes it very easy.”

Benson considers this homecoming to Jazz Unlimited a special perk.

“It feels great to be back,” he said. “L.A. is too much of a rat race, and I miss working with a company. Having Barry in this cast is another plus. It’s really neat to be back.”