‘Spirited Astray,’ not carried away

Kenji Yamaguchi likes turning altered states of consciousness into contemporary showpieces -- especially when the dancing can be an expression of fear or some other all-consuming impulse.

On Saturday, this locally based performer, choreographer and teacher gathered 20 friends and colleagues for “Spirited Astray,” a distinctive, strongly danced program of nine pieces at El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood that began with a deft choreographic overture (a medley of dances to come) and ended with a somber, ceremonial curtain call.

Gone are the days when Yamaguchi felt he had to display every facet of his glittering technique in every piece, but too much of the El Portal repertory consisted of etudes too brief to go anywhere. In “Ctrl+V,” for instance, a computer nerd (Yoshinobu Asai) suddenly became overwhelmed by spasms, as if unwillingly reprogrammed into someone’s video proxy or cyberslave. But the imaginative mix of robotic and contemporary moves remained undeveloped -- not funny enough, not scary enough -- just a novelty.

Yamaguchi, frightened first by his own shadow and then by a whole army of shadows, kept “Vanquish” purposeful, although the corps patterns may have stayed too conventionally neat and predictable for maximum nightmarish effect. The compelling, large-scale abstraction “Against the Wind” (a collaboration with Rino Nakasone) had an edgier, tribal feel, especially in its series of engulfing jumps and surging circles within circles.

Yamaguchi’s familiar dance-drama “Asura” again found him playing a wounded warrior who yearned for Kana Miyamoto in life, in dreams and from beyond the grave. He danced with a brilliant control of balance and impetus, but her mournful role gave her fewer opportunities for virtuosity, although it grounded the work emotionally. The anguish-filled trio “Genji” proved equally well-executed by Yamaguchi, Miyamoto and Risa Tadokoro, but the sketchy characterizations prevented its turbulent romantic entanglements from making much of an impression.

With its air of tragic abandon, the “Snowfield” solo for Namiki Rile seemed an excerpt from a similar narrative of doomed love, or perhaps merely a moody dance-haiku. Either way, it added little to an evening already loaded with grieving women.

Miyamoto’s balletic “Awakening” quintet (for women who danced in no other work) and Yamaguchi’s pointe solo, “Akogare” (for Deidre Maldonado), both explored water imagery, and their graceful, liquid lyricism provided balance on the program. However, Yamaguchi’s use of pointe work didn’t always look fluent or well blended with his characteristic interest in restless floor gymnastics.

Also a major contrast: Frit and Frat Fuller’s familiar “Viewer Discretion,” a whimsical, less-outrageous-than-it-sounds vehicle for dancers on toilet seats, using newspapers and rolls of bathroom tissue to help illustrate the prime postmodern tenet that any movement can be construed as dance. Any movement.

Taped music accompanied all the pieces, and Tyna Kennedy’s resourceful lighting helped give them the bold intensity that Yamaguchi aimed for.

lewis.segal@latimes.com