WEEKEND REVIEWS : Dance : ‘Ezralow & . . . ‘ Steps On Gymnastic High Wire

Thank heaven for Ann Carlson. In “Daniel Ezralow & . . . ,” a 13-part showcase of pop modernism dominated by hard-sell gymnastics, this Illinois performance artist not only dared to explore natural motion, she also held a mock auction for the event, satirizing many of its expressive pretensions.

Nude in “Visit Woman Move Story Cat Cat Cat” (from her “Animals” series), Carlson loped and scampered across the stage of the Wadsworth Theater on Saturday, utterly simian in her actions and increasingly absorbed in her feelings for a tiny kitten.

Later, in “Sold,” she wore a blonde wig and wedding gown and spoke in exaggerated revivalist style of her “bride’s-eye view” of American culture--including the power and glory of “sharing this moment in our lives” in a “live performance situation.”

Immediately preceding Carlson: an aggressive, stamina-testing “Quest” solo in which Frey Faust wore his hair in a Buddha top-knot and paused periodically to strike prayerful poses. Call it a Tantric workout.

Immediately following Carlson: another religioso showpiece, this one (from “Night Thoughts”) with Ashley Roland swirling in space above Daniel Ezralow as Our Lady of the Aerial Harness.

Assembled by Ezralow, the program kept using heavyweight music to imply that something was happening other than theater-athletes showing off. But even if this prospect seemed dubious, the level of skill stayed high.

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In her “Falling Angel” solo, Lisa Giobbi hovered magically above the floor and also joined Timothy Harling on a trapeze for an acrobatics-as-sex duet (“Fall From Grace”), confirming her mastery of slo-mo suspension.

Margie Gillis had a good-hair day with two solos in which she repeatedly lashed her thick, waist-length auburn tresses. In “Mara,” she even managed to swing and flip the long train of her gown at the same time, rolling onto the floor and back up on her feet in perfectly executed liquid surges.

She also joined Ezralow in a twisty improvisational duet, his only new work on the program apart from a danceless diversion in which people on stationary bikes seemed to ride through movies of Holland. Ezralow and Morleigh Steinberg looked as splendid as ever in “Hoover Hallucinations” and “I Do”: two mid-’80s works familiar from stage and TV performances. But what, if anything, has he choreographed lately ?

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In all this modern dance vaudeville, two artists other than Carlson did briefly shift the evening’s focus from performing prowess to creative content. Oguri’s “One’s Solo Blue” made a case for butoh grotesquerie, with dead-white makeup on his face and hands highlighting each compelling grimace and clawlike gesture, serving his dark vision of change.

Intently danced by Tero Saarinen, the intriguing solo “B 12” by Jorma Uotinen distorted ballet images and steps to question truisms of dance performance, including the conventional gender roles and obsession with physical strength and control evident--and unquestioned--throughout most of this curious scattershot program.