UH student dances focus
on the body’s exuberance

Make up a dance! This rather daunting assignment faces degree candidates in the University of Hawaii Department of Theatre and Dance as a graduation requirement. The results -- as showcased in the last of the student-run "Spring Footholds" series -- demonstrate that no two student choreographers are alike in the way they've learned to weave together lessons in everything from theatrical improvisation to musical structure. Despite such individualism, part of the fun of this event is to look for the collective synergy that bespeaks not only what's being passed on, but also what a new generation of dance-makers can teach us.

"Spring Footholds: Moving Images" Continues at 8 p.m. today through Sunday at the University of Hawaii-Manoa's Earle Ernst Lab Theatre. Tickets are $10. Call 956-7655.

A common theme emerges in the seven performances: the body, in all of its thumping, rolling, space-diving exuberance.

For the most part, storytelling is secondary to experimental feats of elevation and balance. Style that is calculated to get a certain rise out of the audience plays second fiddle to risky moves that appear to take even some of the performers by surprise.

Though some esoteric stretches flaunt the cardinal hoofer's rule to smile and keep smiling, it is refreshing to see that the post-"Flashdance" generation wants us to see more than flash in their dance. Indeed, they show us the sweat that MTV would probably edit out. In fact, one of the most refreshing aspects of the concert is that pop music is bypassed in favor of live or deejayed accompaniment that appears to have been created in tandem with the choreography, so a fusion of sound and movement exists.

"Scape," the opening number by master's candidate Marissa Glorioso, sets the vigorous tone for the evening. It begins with one dancer climbing stealthily across the backs of others and culminates with pulling-pushing formations and some no-holds-barred partnering between men and women.

The line between dance and contact sport is further blurred by undergrad choreographer Kelly Del Rosario in "Bodypiece." The dance incorporates the deft gymnastic moves of capoeira, a martial art disguised as dance by its slave originators in Brazil some 500 years ago. As modernist as this gets, more than passing respect is paid to the authentic tradition through indigenous music played live by the single-named Colibri.

Probably the most typical modern-dance piece is "Cause of One," by Jacqueline Nii. It begins with one dancer's statement of discreet movement as he repeats suspension of a single arm. Five dancers join him, clone the movement and then proceed to build with it, making it into mere punctuation for an abstract story that varies between the repeated arm suspensions and bursts of running, leaping and rolling -- all captivating in their exuberance.

The dramatic jewel of the evening is Desmond Kane Balbin's "Skeletons in the Closet," with its story line about the seven deadly sins and an attempt to exorcise their temptation. But the real story -- as it is throughout the evening -- is the head-over-heels commitment (literally and figuratively) that the performers have made to putting their bodies wholly on the line past previous "safety limits."

Even if this means a lower premium is set on moments that make audiences smile, you'll find yourself smiling anyway at the authentic wear and tear on dance shoes that have so many, many more dances to make.