DANCE REVIEW : Powerful Works From Guevara

Frank Guevara creates dances of such anguish that it is hard to imagine anyone, even a die-hard bigot, requiring greater suffering from a gay and Latino artist.

In three new solos or duets for himself and/or Bogar Martinez, seen Wednesday at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, Guevara showed that he has become a master at turning painful inner states into physical realities. But there were some triumphs, too.

The new solo for Martinez, “Mama Tradicional” (Traditional Mother), showed the beautifully sculptured dancer wrenched between compacted, agonized postures or flailing in wild bursts of energy as he sought acceptance from an unseen and unbending mother.

In his own solo “Mexico Lindo y Querido” (Mexico Beautiful and Loved), Guevara spiritedly used the sport of soccer to challenge cultural stereotypes and to integrate the punishing movement vocabulary of hyper-dance in an unstrained context. Unfortunately, those who did not understand Spanish must have missed important points because no translation of the song beyond its title was provided.

In the new “Simplemente Amigos” (Simply Friends), the two men combined difficult parallel and canonic movements, seen in traditional men’s gymnastic duets, with conflicted dramatic implications. Twice, for instance, they were drawn to kiss, but inner resistance made them avert their faces at the last moment. Their linking hands at the end and walking together into an unspecified darkness conveyed a more tender and more courageous bonding than any earlier overtly erotic moment would have accomplished.

The serious pace eased a bit with the premiere of an additional section in “Reto” (Challenge), choreographed by tango experts Alberto Toledano and Loreen Arbus, which expanded the suave, steamy and funny tango duet to culminate in a flourish of fancy leg work.

These new works developed themes already maturely handled in the familiar pieces that completed the program--”Cuerpo Marcado” (Marked Body), “Amarrado” (Tied), “Mojado” (Wetback) and “Cursum Perficio” (My Journey Ends Here).

* Frank Guevara’s Dance Theatre of East L.A. will repeat this program nightly through Sunday at 8:30 p.m. at Highways, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica, (213) 660-8587. Tickets: $12.