Uneven performances derail Alston program

Jason Ridgway’s lively onstage rendering of a pair of Bach piano pieces was a perfect -- pardon the pun -- counterpoint to the Richard Alston Dance Company’s finely executed “Fingerprint” on Friday at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. With nine dancers providing graceful, swooping arms, crisp, articulated footwork and jagged thrusting moves that seemed to echo the chromaticisms of the Baroque composer, this was detailed choreography that had a purpose, as solos, duets and trios flowed easily into constantly churning configurations.

Alston even made walking an elegant adventure. Executed by the lovely Yolande Yorke-Edgell, a former Lewitzky dancer who also helmed the L.A.-based Yorke Dance Project, her moves included vigorous pairings with Martin Lawrance. Notable, as well, was the dynamic Jonathan Goddard, proving fleet and sassy, his beating feet as ornamental as the music.

Alas, the momentum and effortless beauty of this piece soon sunk into repetition and mostly empty gestures in the remaining two works that offered nothing new. Indeed, Lawrance, in setting his “About-Face” to another Baroque work -- viol music by Marin Marais -- came off as a lesser Alston. Again, there were bright displays of athleticism, but the seven dancers seemed trapped in a risk-free vacuum with nowhere to go.

Alston’s “Gypsy Mixture,” accompanied by a recording of Balkan music remixed with street sounds, including those of children and animals, featured all 10 dancers in an endless parade of swiveling hips, neo-Russian heel-toe gambits and loose-limbed body-shaking. This showcase quickly wore thin, with more entrances and exits than LAX.

Sure, Silvestre Sanchez-Strattner stormed the stage with energetic leaping, Yorke-Edgell again exhibited flair, this time with wonderful extensions, and Goddard, in an elaborate solo coda, let loose a barrage of fierce jumps, but this interminable jiggyness felt dead soon after arrival. With Peter Todd’s dreary costumes keeping the dancers covered (ordinary pants and tops, baggy leggings, shapeless floral frocks), one longed to see the performers’ muscles in motion. Rehearsal garb might suffice for one number, but not for an entire concert. Charles Balfour and Helen Cain supplied arbitrary lighting and, when aiming for mood, instead delivered a stage that was often too dark.

Good programming requires careful thought; good choreography a lot more. Dancers -- and audiences -- deserve it.

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Richard Alston Dance Company

Where: Smothers Theatre, Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday

Price: $40

Contact: (310) 506-4522