DANCE REVIEWS : ‘RECENT ARRIVALS’

The last two concerts produced by Wendy Urfrig and Adrienne Armor were men-only mixed bills. “Recent Arrivals,” Saturday at the Gallery Theatre, Barnsdall Park, offered a bill of mostly new works by artists new to the local scene. Establishing neither commonality among the participants nor a contrast to longer-established local artists, “Recent Arrivals” had an organizing principle but made no statement.

Conversely, much of the work presented social and personal statements but lacked structure. Pamela Tait’s “In Visible Cities” (Part II), for example, used two isolated characters (Tait and Daphne Nancholas) awash in newspapers and televisions to illustrate alienation in the information age. But she merely repeated the idea without extending it.

Gail H. Gustafson’s “The Fifth Wheel” used group games to create an odd-man-out, again setting forth a theme of alienation but not going anywhere with it.

“The Execution” found Matt Carlin and Jeff Grimaldo lobbing grenades and exchanging blows while Linden Gilbert justified war and torture with heavy-handed irony. This text-and-movement piece by Mobius Stageworks (concept by N-Rae Fenster) neither developed nor lent fresh insights into its anti-war themes.

W. Wex Carter’s solo “Night Vision” showcased his fluid, clean-lined classicism and strong dramatic presence, but the piece relied more on overwrought emoting than choreographic structure.

In “These Things Happen,” Jennifer Donohue used romantic indecision as a prelude to dejection. The setup felt forced, as did her repetitious thumb-sucking winsomeness and flailing/kicking/clutching/falling dramatics.

Rose Polsky and Chris Belliou clearly registered as the evening’s most promising newcomers. Polsky brought lots of fresh movement ideas to the often-used “Songs of the Auvergne” in a strongly focused solo that demonstrated dynamic range and musicality.

French-born, American-trained Belliou cut loose in “Un Vieux Reve,” an intricately ornamented solo that had him sliding, leaping, hopping, working the stage’s circular stairs, and proving that jazz tap loses nothing in the translation.

Miriam Sarasa Phillips’ rather pallid, correct “Alegrias” flamenco solo (with fine accompaniment by guitarist Lorenzo Blanco and singer Maria Jose Coco Palomeque) completed the program.