Pop ‘Elle’ misses mark

Great ballets evolve, and the version of “Giselle” that has become a classic contains music from at least three composers, choreography from at least three dance masters -- plus passages reshaped and deepened by generations of stars.

Starting over requires not only a desire to update the work and begin a new chapter in its development but also a more astute sense of the original’s purposes and achievements than choreographer Sarah Harkness demonstrated in her scattershot “Elle,” Friday at the Stella Adler Theatre in Hollywood.

Set to 15 pop recordings, it added lots of new major characters to Act 1 -- among them the sexpot mother and treacherous best friend of Albrecht (renamed Andrew) -- without resolving their stories or making their actions a meaningful influence on those of the two young lovers.

In the manner of early dance dramas by the locally based Hysterica Dance Company, Act 1 teemed with satiric local color, but some of the funniest moments came from Harkness’ acceptance of ballet cliches: women getting out of bed after sex wearing toe shoes, for instance.

Besides ballet steps, the vocabulary of “Elle” included lots of showy pop dance and, for Act 2, lurching zombie-moves akin to the style of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” music video. As before, Harkness never lacked promising dance ideas but developed virtually none of them.

Happily, Act 2 had a strong dramatic focus, as Elle/Giselle fought the murderous King and Queen of the Underworld to save Andrew/Albrecht. But tragedy neither ennobled nor destroyed him; instead he stayed just as confused as before, leaving the ending hopelessly mundane.

Stuck in one-dimensional roles or shallow cameos, the nearly 30 members of Harkness’ Meh-Tropolis Dance Theatre contributed abundant energy and skill to the performance. Indeed, Claire Hanson as the Queen of the Underworld and Michelle Kolb as Andrew’s girlfriend provided case studies of doing more with less.

If Elle’s suicidal madness came out of nowhere and Andrew’s ordeal never changed him, don’t blame Gina Johnson or Joe Hedderich, sincere and capable artists who achieved a sweet rapport in early duets and a compelling bond in later ones.

Elle” may be a big stretch for its choreographer and company, but it hasn’t begun to match previous levels of reinterpretation.

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Meh-Tropolis Dance Theatre

Where: Stella Adler Theatre, 6773 Hollywood Blvd.

When: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, Jan. 27-29. 2 p.m. Sunday

Price: $15 to $18

Contact: (310) 838-2236