Mendonca, Harris Share Thoughtful Program

Linked by technical expertise, choreographic sophistication and especially by attempts to make the flow of time tangible in their work, tapper Mark Mendonca and modern dancer Winifred R. Harris shared intriguing programs at Occidental College over the weekend.

Mendonca enlisted members of his Dance Electric company in a five-part suite memorable only for his solos and the meditative sound collages (a memory bank of tap lore) mesmerizing him at the beginning and end. Tracing an arc from fearful darkness to the warmth of a new day, Harris’ pieces (three of them familiar) featured a number of dancers who have recently joined her all-women Between Lines company.

Whether paying tribute to tap masters Steve Condos, Charles “Honi” Coles and Eddie Brown, or leaping from one wooden platform to another in response to the shifting musical input provided by Eric Ajaye (bass) and Tre Balfou (drums), Mendonca remained dazzling in the intricacy of his tapping and also highly contemporary in style: This was tap as an expression of identity, of sensibility and sometimes pure passion.

Nevertheless, vintage Astaire methodology loomed large in both his clever “Mark Vs. Mark” duet (Mendonca interacting with his own image on a movie screen) and his less focused or satisfying group showpiece “Feets” (disembodied shoes dancing by themselves under black light). The low-point for the Friday performance: Veronica Apodaca-Mendonca’s dismal “Gold,” which found him thoughtfully sand-dancing on glitter backed by the exotic poses (including references to Nijinsky’s “Afternoon of a Faun”) of an out-of-shape ballet threesome.

Harris’ new solo “Lest They Break” used taped music by Thomas Bocci, James Donnellan and Bill Robe to accompany a rite of passage: Harris emerging from the protection of a large, black-and-silver umbrella to explore space with great physical freedom and emotional power before returning to her point of origin. You could think of the piece as a life cycle and it certainly dovetailed with the strongly executed, previously reviewed group works on her program (“Like a Deer in Headlights,” “And Through Their Eyes I See” and “When Wet Came to Paper”) in creating intense sculptural abstraction from the way women move and feel.

Harris’ company included Teresa Chapman, Kim Clark, Maria Leone, Kendra McCool, Cari Riis, Wendy Samuels and Adrian Young. Mendonca enlisted Apodaca-Mendonca (his wife), Jane Chavez, Saul Choza, Tom O’Malley and Elizabeth Stacy. Eileen Cooley designed the artful lighting.