DANCE REVIEW : Three’s Company Fills the Bill

Lo-Tec’s loss was Three’s Company buffs’ gain last weekend.

The city’s oldest modern dance troupe had not been scheduled to appear at its own summer Lo-Tec series this year. However, a last-minute cancellation by a Santa Barbara-based improvisation group left a gaping hole in the programming. Three’s Company took the slot.

Their name may be Three’s Company, but two was the magic number at the concert. The troupe’s resident choreographers, Jean Isaacs and Nancy McCaleb, dusted off a couple of duets they had packaged earlier this summer for the company’s annual Swiss tour and used them as a prelude to Pam Turner’s dance/theater piece “Choices.”

Isaacs’ “Red Dress, White Dress,” an expressionist work that sprang from the raw emotions of Kurt Weill’s songs, was the most exciting among the company’s offerings, particularly as it was brand-new to San Diego audiences. With music sung melodramatically by Ute Lemper, the dance featured Terry Wilson and Faith Jensen-Ismay in a pair of solos that suggested two sides of the same personality.

The color-coded dance was not as obvious in its kinetic thrust or its symbolism as the name implies. In fact, it ebbed and flowed in breathy bursts, with the white section (Wilson’s angst-laden tour de force) even more seething and energy-charged than the crimson counterpart. Both dancers looked their slinky best in full-length dresses, even with the harsh treatment afforded by the studio’s skimpy lighting.

“Aelia Laelia Crispis” (an ancient reference to the divine androgyne, as the program notes reminded) was danced well by Denise Dabrowski and Kim Chidley. They etched the work’s stark icons with clarity and intensity.

The theme of “Choices” deals with the choices faced in personal relationships, and Turner found a way to express the dilemma in dance and theatrical terms. Turner let the actors verbalize their feelings, but kept their counterparts, the dancers, rooted in modern movement, although there was some interplay.

Last weekend’s revival featured the same fine cast that made the 45-minute dance drama a hit at Sushi last year.

Turner’s dance designs are perhaps more familiar to musical theater audiences than to the concert crowd. (Her choreography is pumping life into the Lamb’s production of “The Wind in the Willows” these days.) Nevertheless, she has a strong affinity for formal dance and a knack for creating spare dialogue that enhances but doesn’t overpower her designs. Both were in evidence in “Choices” the second time around.

The overflow audience of about 110 at Three’s Company’s Hillcrest studio spilled over into the performing space on opening night, although extra chairs were hastily arranged in the aisles to accommodate some of them. In fact, the curtain was more than 10 minutes late while a record crowd from the waiting list scrambled for cushions on the floor.

It was music to the dancers’ ears.