10-Concert Lo-Tec Dance Series Announced

After the sparse winter season of dance on the home front, Three’s Company’s annual summer Lo-tec series will seem like a breath of spring to local aficionados, despite its no-frills approach to performance and lack of creature comforts for the audience.

The San Diego modern dance troupe will host 10 dance events at its Hillcrest studio this year, beginning with a pair of performances by Lar Lubovitch principal Nancy Colahan on July 7-8.

Six programs will feature visiting artists: Los Angeles-based Pacific Dance Ensemble (July 14-15); Kay Clark, Jancy Limpert and Janet Shaw of the Bay Area (July 21-22); New York-based Ron Brown, Richard Haisma and Albert Reid (Aug. 18-19); the Las Vegas Music and Dance Ensemble (Aug. 25-26); ODC/San Francisco’s Jeff Friedman (Sept. 8-9).

The Dance XChange concert (a popular event that integrated on-the-spot commentaries by a panel of critics with new work by aspiring choreographers) has been discontinued this year. However, the faculty-student workshop concert that has been a signature of the summer series since its inception 16 years ago, will be repeated Sept. 1-2.

Among the local choreographers participating in the 1990 Lo-Tec series are Pamela Turner, will will share the program with Santa Barbara-based Improvisation (July 28-29); Alison Cutri, Melissa Cottle and Erin O’Connor (Aug. 4-5), and Three’s Company co-founder Betzi Roe (Aug. 11-12).

Jean Isaacs, artistic director of Three’s Company, said this year’s mix is “as good or better in terms of quality than we’ve ever had, and we actually have two more events than last year.”

“We’re starting later,” she said, “because we’ll be in Europe earlier in the summer, but we’re running longer--and we had so much interest from people who wanted to show their work, we had to reject some good people.”

Although women usually outnumber the male dance makers in Three’s Company’s summer series, this year the tables are turned.

“There are more men this year than ever,” said Isaacs. “That’s the most noteworthy aspect. (The series) is in conjunction with teaching residencies. That’s how we’re able to get so many men.”