MUSIC AND DANCE REVIEWS : Davalos Addresses Adversity in Simple Way

For a program called “Borders, Spaces and Brown-eyed Girls,” dancer/choreographer CatherineMarie Davalos wisely chose as one of her props the road sign for a deer crossing. Like the silhouette of a deer in graceful flight, the members of Davalos Dance Company (which include Dyan Yoshikawa, Christine Fiorentino, Sharon Hoy and Bridget Ingham) are very often springy and elegant. They are so quietly lyrical, so solidly focused in moments of both gravity and playfulness, that a mood of calm and optimism pervades.

This despite some painful themes in the spoken text, which was intermittently woven into the five pieces presented at Highways in Santa Monica on Saturday night. Punctuating with sudden supple poses, Davalos talked about the triple disadvantage of being dark-skinned, short and female. At one point, she said that simple things pleased her. So why was she so difficult?

But in her choreography, the simple things win out--simply effective. To the taped melodies of Los Lobos, Zap Mama and El Chicano, bouncy side-to-side shifts melted into simply stylish arabesques with arms drifting upward. Swift spins were launched and gingerly halted; on clear diagonal axes, limbs shot up like sculpted steel, then relaxed. In a fine company, Yoshikawa was especially transcendent.

Throughout, dancers in simple black bodysuits or white slips exchanged glances, occasionally wary, as in “Spaces,” where the potential violence of bricks the dancers carried was defused when bricks became minimal sculptures. More often there were slight smiles and unspoken support, a mood that worked especially well in “Borders,” and “Brown-eyed Girls,” with El Chicano singing the familiar Van Morrison tune; and “The Three Shades,” with its Rodin-like intertwining.