DANCE REVIEW : ‘Men Dancing’ in Riverside

Fifty years of American modern-dance solos provided a combined history lesson and tour de force in Gregg Lizenbery’s flawed but invaluable “Men Dancing” program at Landis Auditorium, Riverside Community College, on Saturday.

From the brooding but heroic athleticism of Ted Shawn’s “Kinetic Molpai” (1935) to the meticulously layered eccentricities of Mark Morris’ “I Love You Dearly” (1982), the solos often revealed no story or subject beyond the process of self-investigation: coming to terms with one’s own nature, and also, sometimes, with society’s concept of manhood, through the body.

Unfortunately, a jaunty “narrative script” by Deirdre Towers recycled truisms about both masculine identity and the eras that produced these solos, never really illuminating their movement content or confronting a significant subtext: the homosexuality of many of the eight choreographers.

Best known as co-founder and leading dancer with the Bill Evans Dance Company, Lizenbery looked strongest in the classic Daniel Nagrin portrait of urban alienation, “Strange Hero” (1948). But he also delivered persuasive performances of the evening’s biggest challenges: Jose Limon’s soulful, sculptural “Chaconne” (1942) and Karl Schaffer’s postmodern talk-and-dance marathon “Fad” (1984).

Less successful: the oddly listless and finicky run-through of Murray Louis’ intricate, sinuous “Figura” (1978). Pieces by Barton Mumaw and Donald McKayle completed the program. Thom Benedict assisted Lizenbery as stage-manager, announcer and playacting partner-in-crime during those inescapable “narrative script” interludes.