‘BIG LADIES’ RETURN FOR AN ENCORE

The “Big Ladies” are back, and once again they’re exploring big themes through the medium of modern dance.

Last year, in their first collaborative concert, three of San Diego’s favorite tall women dancers--Ellen Segal (5-foot-9), Patricia Sandback (5-foot-10) and Marta Keeney-Jiacoletti (5-foot-11)--pooled their resources. Together, they created a concert revolving around the frustrations and fringe benefits of being tall among the typically small performers in contemporary dance.

Their “Big Ladies” concert was such a smashing success at the Sushi downtown performance space that the trio was invited back for a full weekend of performances at 8 p.m. Friday through Sunday. But “Big Ladies Small Dance Company Returns” is not just a rerun. The women have created a wide range of new works that plays on the theme.

In fact, “some of the pieces are not specifically about size,” said Keeney-Jiacoletti as the three dancer-choreographers sat cross-legged on the rehearsal floor. “But my dance is.”

“We used the title ‘Big Ladies’ figuratively,” Segal said. “We used it to mean big and important also, and we’re certainly still dealing with the feminist/independent theme.”

“I think when we’re 70 years old, we’re still gonna have big ladies (shows),” Sandback said with a giddy laugh. “We’ll be working with physical changes then--for big old ladies.”

The real reason for this concert, Segal said, is that “we sold out last year. . . . And we got such lovely feedback. We keep running into people who saw us and really related to what we were saying.”

“We have some short people in this concert, too,” said Keeney-Jiacoletti. “Two people were brought in as contrast--to show that size doesn’t matter.” The concert will feature seven performers (including three male dancers) in addition to the three collaborators.

“In my piece,” Sandback said, “the dancers can’t see, and they can’t move too well.” The dancers are encased in voluminous costumes that deliberately inhibit them. The costumes, designed by Wendy Biegeleisen, “are a limiting factor that gets rid of any height differences,” she said, adding that the dance “is a metaphor for dealing with adversity.

“I guess it’s really about perseverance and the human spirit trying to reach out.”

Segal’s satirical “Jackie and the Dragon Ladies,” a new multimedia work that focuses on “greed, media hype and manipulative behavior,” fits in with the big theme, but physical size is definitely not the issue in this full-blown travesty.

“The ‘Dragon Ladies’ piece is about women who exploit their beauty to find power,” Segal said. “Michelle Duvalier and Imelda Marcos are two prime examples. But Jackie (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis) is one of the dragon ladies too--although she doesn’t know it.

“There’s lots of fantasy and lots of humor in the ‘Dragon Ladies.’ But these women have awful values, and they accumulated wealth and power at the expense of their own people--not Jackie, of course, but the other two.”

For “Dragon Ladies,” Segal sought the talents of visual artist Ruth Wallen and writer Yaacov Scholar. The piece is danced to an original score by Burnham Joiner. Dancers Joan Palomino and Kate McHugh will play Duvalier and Marcos, and Segal will play Onassis.

As might be expected, Segal’s dragon ladies will be dressed to the nines. “All three of them like clothes, so we’re collecting a lot of expensive high-heeled shoes for the piece,” she said.

Segal is preparing two other new offerings for this concert, including “A Small Fairy Tale for Three Big Ladies,” a wacky performance piece that will serve as a curtain-raiser.

Her “Sweaters,” a lightweight diversion, will be the only recycled work on the program. However, it has been updated with the addition of a spoken text.

To accompany the string of spoofs in the program, Sandback created a serious solo.

“I’ll be doing a dramatic solo in a red dress,” she said. “I got it for a statement,” she said of the dress, “but it has nothing to do with height. It’s more a question of assertiveness. I’m dealing with two sides of the same issue in this concert. This piece has more to do with the darker side.”

Two of the big ladies like to tease Keeney-Jiacoletti about being the “youngster” in the group (she was a student of Sandback at San Diego State University), but she takes it all in stride.

“The age thing isn’t important,” Keeney-Jiacoletti said. “Being tall is the common denominator. That’s what brings us together.”