DANCING COUPLE MAKES RETURN WITH OWN STEPS

When Three’s Company expanded from a trio to a chamber-sized ensemble, Kelley Grant and Jonathan Barnes were the first additions.

“That’s why we stayed (in San Diego),” Grant said during a break from rehearsal. “We moved here in 1979 to become part of Three’s Company. If we didn’t join the company (officially), we would have gone back to New York.”

Since then, Grant’s plastic grace and throwaway technique, and Barnes’ flamboyant macho moves have been much in demand on San Diego stages. In addition to their appearances with Three’s Company, Barnes and Grant, a team on both sides of the footlights, have appeared with Jazz Unlimited and other local dance troupes.

But, for the past couple of years, the twosome has not been seen together on a local concert stage. A 3-year-old to tend and mortgage payments to meet have kept both Barnes and Grant away from concert dancing.

“We have a house and kid now,” said Barnes, “and we have to earn a living. I did some shows for Lawrence Welk in 1981 (dancing in musical comedies), and I do a lot of teaching. Now, I have to fit the dancing in.”

“The first year we came here,” Grant said, “(dancing) was all there was. We would just fiddle all day at the studio. We can’t do that now. We work on projects.”

Their latest project is a Jazz Unlimited concert Friday and Saturday at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art’s Sherwood Auditorium. They will dance a duet of their own design.

“We’ve choreographed a very soft, very lyrical piece called ‘Moment in Crossing,’ ” Grant said. “It’s the first piece we’ve choreographed in three years. Actually, it’s the first time I’m really choreographing. Usually, Jon does the choreographing, and I have a great eye for changing and correcting. But this time, it’s a true collaboration.”

“It’s not a masterpiece,” Barnes said, “but it’s extremely nice to watch. It’s about relationships.”

“Moment in Crossing” was not designed as a showoff duet, Grant said. Pat Rincon, director of Jazz Unlimited, is “doing a very heavy theatrical piece, and we didn’t want anything cute and bluesy. We’re working for the concert. We wanted it to fit in and balance the rest of the work.”

But as Barnes added with a chuckle, “It does show us off. We still have magnificent lifts because I have good arms and she’s easy to lift. The music lends itself to this kind of movement.”

Grant’s boneless backbends and willowy stretches, and Barnes’ powerful partnering will be much in evidence in “Moment in Crossing,” but the dance will be less jazzy in style than most Jazz Unlimited dances. Both Barnes and Grant have extensive training in ballet, jazz and modern dance, and they integrate all three movement modes into their choreography.

“You cannot really define jazz. Jazz, modern and classical ballet are fused,” Grant said. “But we studied with (Twyla) Tharp, and we use her concept. I don’t like all ballet, or all jazz. We draw from every type of movement. Otherwise, it’s just Vegas jazz or ‘50s modern or classical ballet. The important thing is how you put them together.”

Grant and Barnes also will be seen in several ensemble works on this weekend’s program.

“Tony Caligagan and I are doing the men’s section of ‘The Path,’ ” Barnes said. “That’s very exciting.”

“I’m doing the cowboy piece (‘Lead Boots’),” Grant said. “That’s the piece that made Barry Bernal,” who has since gone on to Broadway musicals.

“This is the stuff I always used to do: cute, fast and very aerobic. I never got to wear the long flowing dresses until I started doing my own dances.”

Grant also will dance in “Found Rhythm,” a collaborative effort between Rincon and La Jolla artist Alice Culbert.

“Lucid Dream,” a new work by Rincon that takes lead dancer Linda Medeiros into the darkest recesses of the subconscious, will be premiered.

Alicia Rincon’s “Back to Bop” is a ‘50s-style comic pastiche which showcases Phil Fontilea, recently returned from TV work in Japan, and newcomer Eric Geiger, whom Grant describes as “a little spitfire.”

“Company Break,” a celebration of dance set to the original music of Rob Mullins, completes the program.

What’s in store for Barnes and Grant after the curtain drops on this weekend’s concerts?

“We’ll be doing our own concerts in New York every summer as we have for the past three years,” Grant said, “but we want to continue working here in San Diego. We’re not planning to start our own company, but we’ll work with other troupes as long as we can.”

Barnes has his eye on musical comedy as well, which Grant believes is “really his forte,” so don’t be surprised if he pops up at the Lawrence Welk Village Theater again.

“We have a big following here,” Grant said, “and we enjoy dancing.”