 "Photo: Gregory R.R. Crosby")
Last weekend, the Cal State Long Beach Department of Dance debuted its 2012 Contemporary Dance Concert, featuring all undergraduate choreographers.
While there was no central theme for 10 pieces in the show, most of the choreographers seemed to favor thematic pieces with contemporary movement.
The second piece of the evening, "Disturbing Refinement," by Arielle Kalina featured dancers with extremely controlled movements. They moved precisely, as if they were robots doing ballet. Then, the movement loosened up only slightly as some pushing and a power struggle played out between the two dancers. Even when they weren't openly fighting, the tension was shown through one of the dancers who displayed a nervous hand-shaking tick. The struggle continued until one dancer finally succeeded in pushing the other to the floor, all while keeping her movements composed and her face neutral. Disturbing refinement, indeed.
"Color Me Quietly," by Isabel Rosenstock, was set to David Bowie's "Let's Dance." The song is a bit folksy with guitar in the background and, like most songs, talks about love. The movement of the dance leaned a bit more toward Martha Graham on the modern dance pendulum and thus clashed with the music. This could have been the choreographer's intention, to perhaps make an ironic statement about love. If that wasn't the intention then it was just a less than ideal pairing of music and movement.
"Interwoven," by Kyle Hadenfeldt, was a lovely thematic piece that showed the connectedness of each member in a pack of wolves. The piece featured movement based on contact improvisation, as well as animal gestures, such as one wolf nudging another with its head, which really made the piece feel authentic. The piece opened with two black wolves and later showed a pack of brown wolves. A fight over territory ensued between the two groups, but the other black wolf arrived too late to save his friend. The piece ended with a heartbreaking moment as the last black wolf nudged the other with his head, but he didn't get up.
"Sour" by Ashley Dragon was a very interesting piece that symbolically used apples, perhaps to symbolize forbidden fruit or to show how love once sweet can turn sour. Green apples lined the stage and also hung from the ceilings. The mood of the piece was dark due to the black costumes, dark lighting and the music, which had the nature of a dark lullaby. The dancers added to the mood with their movements, which were zombie-esque or like that of a puppet, controlled by someone else. The piece also featured bursts of partner-dancing with salsa and tango influences. Dancers would lunge and grab for the apples periodically, but once they took a bite they would spit it out and hurl the apples as if they were deeply disappointed. The piece briefly hinted at the theme of infidelity or open relationships as the dancers would lustfully seek out new partners throughout the dance.
The 2012 Contemporary Dance Concert showed a pleasing variety of themes and movement along the modern dance spectrum. While modern dance does appear to be the preferred dance form at Cal State Long Beach, it would be enjoyable for the audience if other forms were showcased as well.
For a listing of upcoming dance department performances, visit csulb.edu/depts/dance.
is a member of the 
