Dance

With several artistic exchanges between the United States and the Soviet Union looming on the horizon, a meeting of the minds between dancers on opposite ends of California might not seem like much of a cultural breakthrough. Nevertheless, the north-south trade between San Diego’s Three’s Company and San Francisco-based Helen Dannenberg may well mark the first time the invisible barrier that divides the state’s dancers has been officially broken.

Dannenberg will premiere a new work at Three’s Company’s April concert in the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art’s Sherwood Auditorium. Then, in July, Three’s Company and Dancers will travel north to take the stage at the New Performance Gallery.

“We’ve produced other people from different parts of the state,” said Three’s Company co-artistic director Jean Isaacs, “but it’s the first time there has been a real cultural exchange. San Francisco has always been such a thriving place for dance that they didn’t really need us before.”

Isaacs said San Francisco has gradually become “more receptive to these exchanges. In fact, there’s another part of the exchange that involves Seattle, so it’s going to be a real West Coast network.”