CalArts Gives Baroque Music Modern Motion

Linked by a curved ramp and a variety of steps, the playing levels of Brian Fugelsang’s asymmetrical platform set provided the CalArts Dance Ensemble with maximum spatial fluidity on Friday, transforming the campus’ Walt Disney Modular Theatre into a palatial environment for an engaging music and dance program titled “Going for Baroque.”

With one exception, the CalArts dance faculty created the choreography: short pieces intent on using 17th- and 18th-century music to support contemporary movement strategies. Meanwhile, the Eroica Trio--stellar guests for the six-part program--upheld the classical ideal through musicianship of great precision and verve.

Juxtaposing couples exploring different vocabularies, Cristyne Lawson’s Bach octet proved the most complex piece on view, but its constant gymnastic demands overtaxed most of the cast, leaving the dancing looking effortful.

Beginning with a sequence set above and along a wide panel of crimson fabric, Tina Yuan’s Albinoni solo featured dancing of consummate lyrical refinement by Yuan-Ming Chang. The stage floor, however, proved a problem: It may have looked like stone tiles, but it sounded like a box-drum whenever Chang jumped, obliterating the Eroica’s artistry.

Sean Greene’s Lotti octet deftly fielded comic mime and partnering switcheroos. But alumnus Robin Ziemer took shifts in alliance more seriously, making her Loeillet quartet an intriguing study of changes in male/female dominance, with Morgan Williams especially powerful.

Finally, Ruth Barnes’ unaccompanied “Past Lives” solo seemed several whimsical pieces strung together--the best one being her playoff between elegant self-delusion and clumsy reality.