Dance Reviews : A Pair of ‘Twisted Spring’ Collaborations at LACE

Only one of the two works at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) on Friday showed the tight collaboration between choreographer and composer that is the theme of its “Twisted Spring” programs this (second) year.

In “Chosen Subject,” choreographer-dancer Melinda Ring mirrored the snarls and rasps of an electric viola played live by Josephine Roth (and other effects created on tape by Jon Huck).

Sometimes naked, except for a strategically placed flower, sometimes wearing a short, stylish black dress, sometimes only projecting her shadow, Ring drew vivid links between music and movement.

In contrast, Lula Washington’s “Initiations,” described as a work in progress, used Robert Dale’s moody jazz score essentially as background, but offered more interesting dramatic resonance.

Three dancers, virtually stripped, were propelled by an unseen force through a door that snapped shut behind them. In struggling to work out relationships, the tall Ken Morris dominated the short Christopher Lance Huggins, as Erin Patricia White became a sought-after mother-wife figure.

With the acquisition of clothing and possessions thrown in through the door, Morris and White became cut off, oblivious to Huggins. In turn, he became increasingly challenging, demanding, delinquent.

At the end, the door reopens. Morris and White may enter. But Huggins is shut out, and he looks out at the audience with menace.

Unfortunately, at this stage, the work was convincing only as pure theater. Dance elements--cantilevered balances or rapid turns--seemed arbitrarily spliced into the story line.