Music and Dance Reviews : Ballet British Columbia at Glendale High

Watching Ballet British Columbia dance choreography by William Forsythe, Sunday in Glendale High School Auditorium, you might have confused this 5-year-old, 18-dancer ensemble with the far older and larger National Ballet of Canada, a company that also recently visited the Southland.

Both troupes revel in Forsythe’s drastically off-kilter classicism--and the resemblance may not be entirely coincidental. (For starters, National Ballet artistic director Reid Anderson held the same position with Ballet British Columbia four years ago.)

In an excerpt from Forsythe’s “In the middle, somewhat elevated” and his early duet “Urlicht” (Primal Light), the Vancouver forces blazed through the unorthodox and often risky partnering challenges. Dynamic Leigh-Ann Cohen dominated the former work and Marc LeClerc looked especially strong in the latter.

Some of the same power sustained “Zero Hour,” a group showpiece by current artistic director Barry Ingham. Beginning as a generic, predictable tango ballet, it developed surprising and inventive gestural concepts, glimpses of male vulnerability and overtones of social satire--all set to the alternately insinuating and brutal music of (who else?) Astor Piazzolla.

Added for the U.S. tour, the White Swan adagio displayed the clean technique of the statuesque Allegra Mia Lillard and the selfless Sylvain Senez.

Unfortunately, this Community Concert Assn. program bottomed out with “Dvorak Serenade,” a hectic, derivative and unmusical John Clifford creation that Los Angeles Ballet used to perform more than a decade ago.

Led by Lillard and LeClerc, the Canadians danced it skillfully, but exporting Clifford choreography to Southern California may well be a violation of international regulations on the dumping of toxic waste.