A Chorus Line of New Works Steps Out to Face the Music

A bouquet of dance premieres, mostly stellar, was in bloom over the weekend: On Friday, Silver Lake’s Studio A doled out Cumulus ‘99, an annual art, poetry and dance festival now 15 years old; on Sunday, Highways Performance Space welcomed the exhilarating collective La Danserie.

Choreographer-dancer Lisa K. Lock dominated the Highways evening in stamina, versatility and technique. From “Voiceless,” a love-hate contact improvisation between her and Juan Francisco Robles, to “Perpetual Identities,” in which Phillip Chang, Vanessa Jue, Tony Licon, Jennifer McDonald Wilson, Grant Wilson and Jennifer Usyak shed light effectively on issues of trust, fear and isolation, the work soared.

Lock shone, too, in McDonald Wilson’s take on “Waiting for Godot,” her loose-limbed playfulness a perfect foil for Jue’s equally enchanting high jinks.

Choreographer Patrick Frantz made use of Lock’s heron-like presence in his “Chosen Ones,” an Ellis Island-like scenario abounding with fugal moves and furious passion. In addition to Lock, McDonald Wilson and Usyak’s hand-wringing solos, corps of immigrants displayed fine folk-stepping in Chang, Shaun Law-Bowman, Brandy Odgers, Judy Pissaro-Grant, Joe Weiss, Wilson and Leslie Viano.

Demonstrating his ballet background, Frantz made “Verdi Sola,” on Bernadette Glenn, who embodied Romance on pointe. Another solo, “Still Thoughting? (Morphing the Fluff),” by Jue, flaunted McDonald Wilson’s contortionist skills.

Only a handful of performers proved able under Cumulus’ cloud, however: Jamie Nichols, artistic director of Fast Feet, presented her work “The Sky Is Blue.” Elegiac, its sculptural unisons and couplings showcased Devonna Stults, Stacey Brantley, Kim Ziel Shermer, Marilyn Davis, Takako Iwasaki and Nicole Arroyo. Nichols’ “Sunny Side Up,” a capricious foray into twirling umbrellas, allowed Davis, Ziel Shermer and Steven Woodruff a vaudevillian tack.

Also hot: “Salsa,” a fervent duet between choreographer Ken Baldwin and Linda Parocua. A slew of other works by seven not ready for prime-time choreographers were less successful, resembling classroom etudes.

* Cumulus ’99 repeats Friday-Saturday, 8 p.m., Studio A Dance Theatre, 2306 Hyperion Ave., (323) 661-8311. $12.