Hae Kyung Lee and Dancers ‘Power’ a Roller Coaster Ride

If dancer-choreographer Hae Kyung Lee were to have her own theme park, it would consist of a steady stream of Steve Moshier Muzak, Stephen Bennett’s cool lighting, lots of sexy costumes (both diaphanous and skimpy) and a series of postmodern undulations that the Korean American artist would design in order to transport the thrill-seeking audience into her visionary world. A “Lee-ticket,” if you will.

Would it succeed? Not always.

Thursday night at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, as part of Highways’ Asian Pacific American Performance and Visual Art Series, Hae Kyung Lee and Dancers presented four works, three of them premieres, under the banner “Power in the House--Phase II.” Overall, the dancers moved with grace and determination; skill was never in question, although Bolshoi corps-style precision was lacking in some of the slow-motion unison. It was the maddening repetition--musical and otherwise--that tended to amble, causing the goose-bump factor to remain in check.

“Illusions From the Edge” utilized metronomically sluggish groupings (Claudia Lopez, Jill Yip, Claudia Medina, Miguel Olvera and Patricia Warren), including spasmodic, tortured movements in which the performers inhabited a kind of waterless universe. Looks of studied vacancy occasionally conjured up Calvin Klein Obsession ads.

Lee’s solo premiere, “Internal Conversation,” found the dancer in a series of quasi-erotic poses, rising and falling with an infusion of quiet dignity, while “Balls in the Air” had four dancers maneuvering on chairs, executing athletically yogic moves as they yakked simultaneously on rotary phones. Fever pitch was reached, phones were hurled and “tough day at the office” stances ensued.

* Hae Kyung Lee and Dancers perform “Power in the House--Phase II” tonight and Sunday at 8:30 p.m. Highways, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica. $12. (310) 453-1755.