Seeing is believing for slight, surreal show

For a good time, call ... Denise, Tania, Annie and Christy. Surnamed Devin, Pearson, Rollins and Barker, respectively, they’re the choreographers of a surreal show, titled “Dancing on the Edge,” that opened Friday at ZJU Theatre Group.

Produced by Zombie Joe (real name: Jordan Cole), this dance revue, while ambitious and occasionally clever, remains deeply superficial. But it could be a vehicle for Elizabeth Berkeley, star of 1995’s so-bad-it’s-good flick “Showgirls.”

Perhaps the most intriguing part of the 50-minute, 17-number evening, on view at ZJU’s itty-bitty, 44-seat North Hollywood headquarters, is the size of the performing area: A mere 25 feet long and 6 feet wide, this floor gives the septet of chorines (the four dance-makers plus Kaotar Dee, Megan Vescio and Rae-Mi LeRoy) very little legroom. And you think coach class is cramped!

Directed by Devin, the show moves along smoothly, as long as one is willing to consider two finger puppets and a dirty foot swaying rhythmically as viewed through a hole in the wall a bona fide dance (credited to Barker). Seriously, though, “Dancing” does have several elements to recommend it, although Devin’s choreography isn’t one of them.

Her work -- on view at the show’s opening (“Women Times Seven,” when the company storms out doing prosaic jazz kicks to Jimi Hendrix), at mid-show (“Join Us,” a body-slapping “La Cucaracha”) and in the finale (another reprise of unison gam-raising) -- is better suited for nightclubs. Still, she allows others their odes to Terpsichore.

In Pearson’s “Holiday Magic,” for example, the assembled preeners are well served by Jeri Batzdorff’s amusing costumes: Vegas-y headdresses representing pumpkins, Christmas trees and Valentine chocolates, plus bra and panty ensembles. In addition, Pearson, also a choreographer for hair shows, crafted a nifty neo-noir work, “The Revenge,” with the troupe traipsing in place to a strobe light. Fun too: Rollins’ “Ballet to Beethoven,” with LeRoy executing a series of lopsided fouettes and Barker, Dee, Vescio and Rollins also spoofing the art form in torn tulle.

Slight, but strangely compelling, this show needs to be seen to be believed.

*

‘Dancing on the Edge’

Where: ZJU Theatre, 4850 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood

When: Fridays-Saturdays, 8:30 p.m.

Ends: Sept. 6

Price: $10

Contact: (818) 202-4120

Running time: 50 minutes