DANCE REVIEWS : Raiford Rogers’ ‘So Nice’ a Weak Sendup of Life in the ‘50s

For choreographer Raiford Rogers, the ‘50s were a time of superficiality and hypocrisy. But his new “So Nice” looks less like a biting satire of the period than an affectionate, even nostalgic, send-up.

The work received its premiere on a four-part program by the Los Angeles Chamber Ballet at the Japan America Theatre on Thursday. Rogers is company co-artistic director, with Victoria Koenig.

A five-part suite set to taped bossa nova and other ‘50s music, “So Nice” sets six mindlessly smiling women dancing into spotlights, promenading as if in beauty contests and bundling into gentle bump-and-grind chorus lines.

Each woman gets a sexy signature move. Koenig, for instance, delivers a killer glance over the shoulder at the audience. And the dancers stay in character for their curtain calls.

The choreography looks fluid and clever but leaves any dark implications up to the viewer.

The funniest moments may occur when the women form couples on their knees, then dance with invisible partners. But what exactly is the object of the irony?

Similarly, painter Mark Stock’s billboards evoke advertising of the period. But don’t most ads look vacuous decades later?

Laurence Blake’s “Goodbye,” a battle-of-the-sexes pas de deux to a jazz piece by Art Pepper also received a first performance. Blake and Koenig expertly danced this tightly crafted study of dominance and control, implicit and explicit violence. Still, we’ve seen this kind of thing fairly often.

Choreographer Stanley Holden also revealed a new ending to “Dmitri,” set to Woody Allen’s witty libretto. Presumably because the original 1989 ending proved too abrupt and confusing, Holden has added a wedding for the heroine Natasha and the puppet-come-to-life Dmitri.

But why a wedding conducted by a rabbi under a canopy? Because Allen is Jewish?

And why do the two repair to the top of the bank building when the libretto says that Natasha fractures her skull? Holden has exchanged one kind of confusion for another. Still, overall, the ballet remains a wondrously funny parody.

As Natasha, guest Rebecca Wright evidenced superb comic flair and timing, as well as secure technique. Ironically, Wright will be competing this weekend with her husband, George de la Pena, who is dancing the title role of “Petrushka” for Long Beach Ballet.

Still, Holden, in the travesty role of the Gypsy Fortune Teller, again steals the show.

Completing the program was Rogers’ “My Heart Beating,” a recasting of his 1989 “Symphonie No. 4,” with new stiff, emerald green costumes and the solos distributed among Theresa Arteaga, Christine Carlson and Lisa Deyo. The choreography continued to look only fitfully satisfying.

Performances continue through Sunday afternoon.