Pelletier Channels His Energy

Twenty-year-old Brian Pelletier dances with the intensity of mortal combat; the nonstop kicking, lunging, twisting and falling in his solos give them a kinetic impact that no mere steps can generate.

Whenever the seven women in his DanceLA company came close to matching his sharpness of attack and full-out commitment, their hourlong “Domestika” had startling force in its premiere at the L.A. Theatre Center on Friday.

Using recordings by Icelandic pop diva Bjork, Pelletier succeeded in creating a modern dance style rich in assaultive energy but with no lack of variety or depth.

The result, however, suffered from several major miscalculations. “Domestika” began strongly by tapping the alienation and anguish of Bjork’s songs through tense, contorted stances released into eerie gestural statements and a sustained frenzy.

Pelletier’s dancing made these sections indelible, but as the work evolved into a love triangle, his role softened into that of a supportive partner for Sarah Sydney Jenkins and Jessica Schatz.

Unfortunately, their solos (which they choreographed themselves) had no edge, merely conventional ideas and issues executed with diligence.

Finally, the narrative connection between Schatz’s broken-hearted “Harm of Will” solo and the upbeat “Unison” finale (with Pelletier snuggling a whole harem) had to be taken on faith.

Maybe that’s the point--that happy endings are arbitrary resolutions that nobody can predict, and all we can do is long for them. (The ending of Pelletier’s “61 Minutes of Misguided Vision” last year also came out of nowhere.)

Still, DanceLA proved far more persuasive when defining overwhelming pain as a basic human condition than when trying to interest us in the dilemma of a skinny, hyperactive youth torn between a blond and a redhead--or that of a skinny, hyperactive choreographer trying to finish as impressively as he started.