Intricate Choreography Adds Spark

Intense, intuitive choreography and technique ranging from secure to masterly made Eric Kupers’ nine-part “Approaching the Fire” program doubly impressive on Saturday at Cal State L.A.

Enlisting members of his Bay Area-based Dandelion Dancetheater along with students from Cal State Hayward and professional guests, Kupers showed his ability to fashion bold, balletic body-sculpture (“Close”) as well as fluid, intricate partnering gambits drawn from contact improvisation (“Once”). Listed as works in progress, both of these trios used music by Hyim Ross to underscore the tension between formal movement processes and elliptical emotional statements.

The trio “Start Adrift” proved even more intriguing. Created with Manuelito Biag and Manfred Schaectle, it explored male energy and relationships in a manner profoundly soulful yet full of imaginative lifts and other virtuoso partnering feats.

Unfortunately, the remarkable economy of these pieces made Kupers’ large-scale dance dramas seem relatively slow and even overblown, with the cycle of duets in “Lullaby” and the soloist-versus-corps structures of “Watching Decay” leading nowhere.

Kupers had no part in the most memorable piece on Saturday: “Quiet Nights,” a perfectly executed lyric quintet by Biag and members of Shift, a Bay Area dance-theater group. Here the choreography evoked a sense of people moving through life from partner to partner, always giving great tenderness to a relationship yet inevitably drifting away. The result conjured a mood at once sad, sweet and deeply thoughtful.

Three strong, mercurial solos completed the program. Kupers’ “Jumping Headfirst Into Waiting” showcased his ability to flow into balances from unlikely starting points.

Hilary Bryan’s “The Hermit” capitalized on her exceptional force and clarity. Susan Goldberg’s “Memory in Bone” traced a crisis in Jewish consciousness to events in Israel.