Good Companies on a Less-Traveled Circuit : Dance aficionados willing to look beyond downtown can find a wealth of activity on college campuses.

Guest choreographers in Westchester. Open dress rehearsals in Valencia. Modern dance in Moorpark. These are not just the daydreams of a dance lover--they are some of the activities available to those who are adventurous enough to look beyond downtown and toward college campuses.

Six college campuses on the Westside and in the San Fernando Valley area are home to performing dance companies, while several others present student concerts that are open to the public. What follows is a roundup of dance activity at schools ranging from Loyola-Marymount to CalArts.

Most visible for sheer size and variety is UCLA. Much has changed on the Westwood campus since the days when dance fell under the jurisdiction of the physical education staff. The department of dance materialized in 1962, the UCLA Dance Company became an official entity in 1966, and now there are many levels of dance events and some rehearsals open to the public.

The professional UCLA Dance Company lights up Royce Hall every year with three annual concerts. According to Director Carol Scothorn, the company size varies from year to year. This year’s spring concerts--March 10 and 11--will feature about 35 dancers, including one faculty member and two guest artists. The rest of the company members are students.

“We do three to four works a year, and whoever auditions and gets cast is a company member that year,” Scothorn said. “All our works are choreographed by faculty, alumni or guest artists. Our budget comes from the College of Fine Arts and from ticket sales, and it varies each year.”

The UC Dance Theater is an undergraduate organization, funded by the undergraduate student body association and the dance department, which presents an annual concert produced and performed by students. Thesis concerts, performed by graduate students, are also open to the public, usually at UCLA’s Departmental Lab Theater.

Other UCLA dance events, not often publicized off campus, include the senior, undergraduate concerts, informal quarterly student workshops and Works in Progress, a monthly showcase for community artists, coordinated by a UCLA staff member.

Scothorn says UCLA is best known for eclectic modern dance. “We’re not tied to the works of any one artist. We give students an opportunity to perform in and see the works of many styles and periods.”

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Santa Monica College’s Synapse Dance Theater produces two seasons of dance, in December and May. An outgrowth of a dance club formed in 1977, this performance course is part of the dance curriculum, with auditions required for acceptance.

“We have a mixed bag of students,” said Synapse Director Linda Gold. “Some want a dance career and others have a more general interest. Since we’re a 2-year school, I think in a lot of ways we serve a function as a transition area for those who move on to universities. They get good, solid training and are prepared physically and psychologically to take the next step. That’s why a lot of the work that comes out is really dynamic and fun--it’s a good place to take risks.”

December’s performance season included 15 student dancers performing repertory by students, guest artists and faculty choreographers. The emphasis is on modern dance, but, as Gold says: “It’s different each time and hopefully interesting, exciting and innovative. We try to explore new venues. Sometimes we do things with a theater arts production, and next year I’ll be doing a full-length dance drama.”

Gold said the regular dance classes are funded by the Santa Monica School District “but the performances are funded by an alternate budget. All the money we make in ticket sales we pay back to this budget, and that’s worked out great for us because we have a secure starting point.”

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For the past several years, Loyola-Marymount has expanded its focus to include members of the outside dance community. “We’re one of the best-kept secrets in the city,” said Judy Scalin, theater and dance department chairman. “We have a very active interaction with the artistic community in Los Angeles, with outside choreographers like Sara Elgart, Rose Polsky and Katja Biesanz coming in to work with our students.”

With dance department funding from Loyola’s general academic fund, the school schedules studio concerts, or workshops, in spring and fall, and two annual spring events: two student-choreographed concerts that are slated for April 7 and 8 and a series of guest artist/faculty concerts April 27-29. All dance rehearsals are open to the public.

Loyola also maintains ties with the Valyermo Sacred Dance Company, based in Pearblossom, in which some students are invited to dance.

Scalin notes that open auditions are held for each Loyola concert. “You don’t have to be an enrolled dance major, but you do have to be in a dance class. We have about 17 dance majors, but about 40 to 50 students dance with us pretty regularly, although they major in other subjects.”

She added, “We’re a modern dance department, but this year we’re also going to do a ballet because we have some strong ballet dancers, and we always do at least one jazz work, sometime two or three. We try to make sure that our students are connected to the grand traditions of the past, as well as the most current choreography.”

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Now in its 10th year, the CalArts Dance Ensemble spotlights faculty choreographers and dancers and includes only the most advanced students.

“We’re a professional arts school and very different from a dance department,” said Cristyne Lawson, dean of the school of dance on the Valencia campus. “The students who come here intend to be artists; they’re more committed and our curriculum is geared to that.

“I started the ensemble because I wanted to attract top faculty by providing a creative outlet for them. We never use student choreography.” This year the ensemble includes six faculty members, eight students and two alumni.

In addition to three performances during the regular December season, the ensemble sometimes performs in the school-wide Contemporary Music Festival in March (although it will not this year), and often uses guest choreographers and production designers from Los Angeles’ dance community. Dress rehearsals are open to the public.

“We do dance as an art form and we’re not really influenced by any particular kind of dance--it’s pretty eclectic,” Lawson said. “We have collaborations that are not all purely modern and we do theater pieces that aren’t always just dancing.

“No one on the faculty gets paid to perform, although the guest artist and alumni do. Our funding is part of our school budget and covers all the production costs so that we can work on an interdisciplinary level. This school houses five other arts so there’s always a lot of interplay between them.”

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Moorpark College has a small but enduring dance company, In Motion, which tours public schools and performs on campus in winter and spring. An offshoot of a dance production class that started 12 years ago, the group usually has 18 members.

Artistic Director Stella Matsuda says with no school funding, her group relies on such time-honored fund-raising efforts as bake sales, or honorariums from schools on their tours. “We spend half our time trying to raise money for our productions,” she said.

Nonetheless, In Motion produces as many as 35 programs a year. There were four shows on campus in December, and there is also a series of concerts April 6-8.

“There are no auditions per se except for our spring concert,” Matsuda said. “Primarily it’s just whoever is interested and can spend the time. We put on original productions and it’s mostly student choreography, although in the spring we try to make our concert as professional as possible and we use guest choreographers, artists and faculty. I use artists I know from my connections who are willing to work for a nominal fee.”

With an emphasis on modern dance, including some jazz and ballet, Matsuda feels that her company has its own eclectic blend of dance. “I think what’s really unique about our company is that we have more students choreographing works than at other schools I’ve visited. There’s an opportunity here for all levels to perform.”

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Pierce College in Woodland Hills may be known for its farm, but it also sponsors the 15-year-old Dance Theater company. Membership is by audition only, and the company usually numbers 28 to 40, including theater technicians. There are two major performances each year on campus: a one-day ethnic dance concert that was held Friday, which features ethnic professional groups, and a 3-day concert in June. The group also performs in the community.

“We’re funded primarily by the Pierce Dance Club,” said Director Marian S. Weiser, “plus what we get from our outside bookings. And we also have Dancethons, where the participants get sponsors for each hour they dance. They made about $700 from the last one.

“About 8 years ago we got our own theater on campus, which provides the students with theater performance experience. However, we have to pay about $1,000 a night to use it, unfortunately.”

Dance Theater relies primarily on student choreography, although the company uses at least one guest choreographer a year. There are occasional guest artists, usually former students who return to dance or choreograph.

“Although most colleges do modern dance our philosophy is that everybody in the audience must be entertained, from the child to the grandfather,” Weiser said. “For that reason we do ethnic, ballet, modern, improv, dance drama, jazz and occasionally tap. Even though this is not a great dance community we have no trouble attracting audiences.”

Many other colleges sponsor dance events that are open to the public. Los Angeles Valley College in Van Nuys offers dance during its spring Fine Arts Festival. Said concert Director Klyda Mahoney: “It’s usually student choreography and performance, and we also invite guest performers and occasionally a guest choreographer from the community. We also try to have our guest artists be a folk dance company if possible.”

College of the Canyons in Valencia schedules a spring student/faculty concert, as well as more impromptu events throughout the year.

Glendale College sponsors dance activity that attracts entertainment industry attention, dance department Director Hilary Le Mieux said. “We have a top faculty with people like Claude Thompson and Michael Baker teaching our master class series every Friday afternoon. We also have nine free dance performances in May.”

At Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks there’s a new modern/jazz dance troupe, the seven “Regal Mainliners,” who perform at basketball game half-times. Faculty adviser Jean Sandlin said: “They have no budget and they’re on their own, but their enthusiasm keeps them going. They also hope to perform in the drama department’s spring musical, ‘Pippin.’ ”

Many of the schools sponsor events that are not publicized off campus. What follows is a list of telephone numbers to call for up-to-date information.

UCLA, (213) 825-3951; Santa Monica College, (213) 450-5150; Loyola-Marymount, (213) 642-5160; Moorpark College, (805) 378-1400; CalArts, (805) 255-1050; Pierce College, (818) 347-0551, Ext. 353; Los Angeles Valley College, (818) 781-1200, Ext. 298; Glendale College, (818) 240-1000; Cal Lutheran, (805) 492-2411; College of the Canyons, (805) 259-7800.