In ‘Dybbuk,’ Goldberg Is Possessed

Rooted in Jewish folklore, a dybbuk is a ghost that can possess humans. Haunting and powerful, dybbuk stories teem with movement possibilities. Dancer-choreographer Naomi Goldberg, a forceful performer in her own right, has taken a tale of a girl possessed and made it more a showcase for herself than an integrated, inspired piece of choreography for her company, Los Angeles Modern Dance and Ballet.

Because of this, “A Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds,” which premiered Saturday night at Cal State L.A.’s Luckman Theater, is more earthbound than mystical; the men, in particular, are lackluster.

On her wedding day, Leah (Goldberg) visits the grave of her former lover, Chonin (Adam Miller), who appears and possesses her. Osvaldo Golijov’s taped klezmer-based music, with piercing clarinets and trembling strings, infuses Goldberg’s writhing and rolling on stage, where she ultimately surrenders to the spirit, however passionlessly he dances.

Leah’s girlfriends (DeeDee Kates, Karen Acosta, Dorie Taylor and Donna Costello), in repetitive moves with a veil, are unnerved by Leah’s behavior when she rebuffs her groom (Gordon Hart). A rabbi (Sven Toorvald) and a wonderworker (Eric Butler) are summoned to exorcise the dybbuk from Leah. Here, a defiant and spectacular Goldberg finally crumbles, choosing, at last, to join Chonin in death.

A work created to honor Israel’s 50th anniversary, “A Dybbuk” is aided by Mitchell S. Levine’s evocative lighting and Malcolm MacDonald’s set of suspended tombstones, but is best remembered for the fire Goldberg ignites.