DANCE REVIEW : Choreography Plays Starring Role at Stage Seven Concert

Stage Seven Dance Theater’s major artistic focus for the past couple of years has been on commissioning new works from dance makers with strong San Diego ties.

That trend continued over the weekend when the troupe performed a pair of concerts at City College Theater. In fact, it was the choreography--not the personalities of the dancers or the concert’s production values--that made the best impression.

Paul Koverman’s designs dominated the program. The one-time dancer and ballet master of the California Ballet (who conceived some of Stage Seven’s most successful dances recently), created four of the seven pieces. And it appears the company’s kindred spirit is becoming a powerful influence on Stage Seven Dance Theater.

Two of Koverman’s works were premieres--a pair of dances that were poles apart in their motional and emotional content. “Maybe It’s You, Probably It’s Not” was a jaunty dance that paired a shy girl and boy in a series of winsome moves. In stark contrast, “The Separation,” was a threesome bent on depicting human suffering in pretzel-shaped configurations.

With the whining sounds of the Bulgarian State Female Vocal Choir to create the strange aural ambience, Koverman moved three dancers (clad in flesh-colored bodysuits) on a slow motion course that called to mind moving statuary in “The Separation.”

The dance unraveled as a sequence of odd couplings and acrobatic maneuvers, which made fascinating stage pictures, even when the dramatic thrust was murky. “The Separation,” with its eerie quality and inventive groupings, was a definite plus for the program.

“Maybe It’s You . . . “ was less interesting, and not as nicely danced. It featured child-like moves and some predictable give and take for Melissa Walker and Benjamin Corona.

Koverman’s “L’estro Armonico” (a barefoot ballet set to Vivaldi’s vivacious and quick music) made a pleasant curtain-raiser. The opening portion of the dance displayed three dancers in breezy jumps. Then, when the music turned dark, the mood was echoed in a mournful duet for Barbara Miller and Joseph Pantaleon.

Although Koverman’s “The Cycle” had its premiere performance at Stage Seven’s May concert, the ambitious dance drama was reworked for this performance. Many of its complex movement patterns are exciting to watch, and its use of music and text is provocative, but the dramatic flow is inconsistent and ambiguous.

Sharing the program with Koverman’s pieces, were two works designed by Three’s Company and California Ballet principal, Patrick Nollet. Since Nollet’s “Valse Triste” was a big hit last season, he was invited back to set a brand new work on the company.

The result of that commission was “Blackwood,” a hybrid mix of ballet and jazz that sent six dancers retreating and ultimately converging in a cluster. There was not much content to this little bauble, but it served as a minor showcase for the dancers. And it gave Nollet his first opportunity to create a pointe work.

Nollet’s “Valse Triste,” which was reprised for this concert, still shines as one of the top locally-produced dance works. The duet, a surrealistic encounter between a doll-like pair, culminates on a note of high tragedy, but there are comic touches to tickle the funny bone along the way. It also serves as wonderful counterpoint to the Jean Sibelius score that inspired it. Corona and Rebecca Walter danced this popular take off on the boy-meets-girl theme.

Also included in the weekend’s kinetic potpourri, was a traditional “Tarantella” (from Act III of “Swan Lake”).

There are no stars in the Stage Seven ranks--only a handful of hard- working dancers struggling to live up to the choreographers’ vision.

But most of them have been together for some time, and they’re starting to mature as an ensemble.