Moves Hide the Meaning at Kaleidoscope

Modern dance was the first movement form to exalt individual expression--indeed to insist on it. But when a dance fails to offer viewers a way inside, it becomes a coded message: meaningful to insiders, a riddle to everyone else.

Dance Kaleidoscope ’96 has been full of such dances, with an 11-part program at Loyola Marymount University on Sunday adding its share. What, for example, could one make of all the languid stretches, stamping-runs, peering gestures and sighs in unison crammed into Debi Toth’s trio “In a Whisper”? Yes, the program note mentioned “a surreal state of emotions and behavior,” but that description could have covered half the program.

Ultimately, dance riffs became the thing to watch Sunday--and whether they added up didn’t matter. So if Brook Notary’s duet “Getting There” went nowhere, it had lots of whirling, flung-out intensity and strongly matched performers to grab attention.

Brian Frette’s florid “Nature Boy” solo collected antique, glamorous Ballet Russe poses to no evident purpose. But at least Casey Carney added a whimsical gloss to the period kitsch she scavenged in her “Down by the Old” solo.

Phyllis Douglass’ quintet “Femme/Voler” for Bridge Dance Theatre began with an intimate woman’s duet but soon abandoned human experience for a manic swirl of petticoats. Similarly, Naomi Goldberg’s trio “Fisherlid” for Los Angeles Modern Dance and Ballet became blurred in attempting a transition from mimed work-tasks to large-scale expression.

In “Song for Tatay,” for her Silayan company, Dulce Capadocia also tried to segue from stylized gesture to poetic eloquence--and came a lot closer, though the narrative frame of her fine central duet proved shapeless.

Intended as a tribute, Nan Friedman’s revival of “Memorial Dance” by the late Anthony Balcena had intelligence but no real fervor. And Don Bondi’s “Law of Harmonious Flow” showcased the excellence of Victor Quijada without becoming a lucid, full-fledged movement study.

Because of injury, the group named Juan Talavera and the Men of Flamenco! performed without Talavera. Ramon Nunez and Alonzo Serrano danced solos, but the most exciting sections in this suite of traditional tangos came in the hot, percussive quartets.

Hae Kyung Lee’s previously reviewed “No Room to Move” completed the program.

* Dance Kaleidoscope ’96 continues at 8 p.m. Saturday in the John Anson Ford Ampitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. E., Hollywood. $12-$18. Information: (213) 466-1767.