A Mesmerizing Look at the ‘80s ‘Party Scene’

Melinda Ring is a one-woman rave; she’s Ginger Rogers on Ecstasy; she’s a fashion model--think Verushka--come to life. Indeed, Ring is the host and all of the guests in her mesmerizing 50-minute solo dance piece, “Party Scene,” which she performed at Highways on Thursday.

Based on the previously reviewed group piece Ring choreographed (and danced in) last year for the C.O.L.A. (City of Los Angeles) series, “Party Scene” is a postmodern look at the quintessential cocktail soiree of the ‘80s, complete with a backdrop of undulating white balloons. The elastic, virtuosic Ring moves with astonishing ease, frugging and somersaulting one moment, assuming sculptural poses the next, erupting into full-throttle leaps, slow motion, neo-Kabuki posturing or elongated lunges.

Set to a score that includes music of John Cage, Frederic Chopin and Duke Ellington, there are also soundtrack excerpts from Peter Sellers’ movie “The Party,” infusing a voyeuristic element into the proceedings. Dressed in Betty Coate and Lacey Trane’s virginal white culotte dress, Ring, sporting a thick, unseemly Karen Carpenter-like wig, is an arresting figure as she assumes the mantle of yammering party-goer or shy wallflower.

Celebrating a town known for excessive shallowness and poseurs, Ring nails the past and present with a profound resonance. Please pass the chips.

* “Party Scene” repeats tonight, 8:30 p.m., Highways, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica, (310) 315-1459. $15.