PAL Will Take the Place of Festival Performances

The San Diego Area Dance Alliance has a new project on the drawing board, and it’s ready to step into the limelight in September. PAL, the Performing Arts Lab, will replace the alliance’s annual festival performances and complement the company concerts co-promoted with the San Diego Foundation for the Performing Arts. The purpose of PAL is to encourage individual artists--not just dancers. And there will be no auditions of performers.

“We decided not to continue our annual dance festival, because the community has just grown beyond that,� said Tom Corcoran, executive director of the alliance. “We feel we can better serve our independents this way. What the foundation is doing for the major companies, by co-promoting specific company concerts, is more beneficial to them than just presenting individual pieces at the festival.�

Last year, six local troupes were packaged and presented to foundation supporters, and the alliance expects the co-promotional activity to continue “as long as there is funding,� Corcoran said. “It’s a longtime commitment for audience development for local performances.�

“Program space for PAL is available on a first-come, first-served basis,� said PAL coordinator Judith Sharp. “Each participant will be limited to a 15-minute slot, and it must be reserved in advance.

“We will be holding concerts on the third Sunday of every other month, at 3 p.m.,� she said. “Any performing artist is welcome, regardless of his or her ability, and we will present everything from works in progress and experimental pieces to complete dances.

“All the performances will be held at Sushi Gallery, which is an ideal spot for this kind of thing,� Sharp said. “We’re hoping the consistency in time and place will serve to create a predictable opportunity for the audience. However, what they will be seeing will be very unpredictable.�

Although PAL was designed to extend alliance services to independents with little access to performing space, it can be a boon to established organizations as well.

“These PAL performances are even great for the dance companies,� Corcoran said. “Someone like Jean Isaacs can put on a work in progress, to test the waters, and it offers dancers opportunities for cross-pollination with musicians or other artists.� Sharp will exchange her alliance administrator’s hat for pointe shoes this weekend to make a rare concert appearance as half of the new duo known as San Diego Dance Designs. Sharp and Laurie Lowry, who made their debut as a team in April, will dance at 8:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday as part of Three’s Company’s Lo-Tec series.

The program includes a work in progress by Lar Lubovitch dancer Rick Michalek, a collaborative work by Orange County choreographer Karin Lynge Jensen and local dancer Alison Cutri, as well as selected repertory from San Diego Dance Designs.

“Stars of the Russian Ballet� will be the centerpiece of the 1988-89 season for the California Ballet Company. The four Soviet artists--two principals from the Bolshoi and two from the Kiev Ballet--are due to dance a one-night stand at the Civic Theatre on Feb. 21, along with dancers from the California.

The program for the Russian stars is still in the design stage, according to artistic director Maxine Mahon, but the four guest artists will be featured along with dancers from the company.

Also on tap for the upcoming season is the revival of two of the troupe’s most successful works: a full-length version of “Romeo and Juliet,� choreographed by associate director Charles Bennett, and “Miraculous Mandarin,� a vividly theatrical dance drama originally staged for the company in 1979 by Marius Zirra.

A return to Sea World’s Nautilus Bowl will kick off the season for the company Sept. 10-11 with “Swan Lake Act II� and other repertory works, followed by a revamped “Dracula� on Oct. 28-30 to be danced at the East County Performing Arts Center.

The troupe’s annual moneymaker, “The Nutcracker,� will spread its seasonal cheer at the East County center Dec. 9-11 before moving on to the Civic Theatre for a complete version with live musical accompaniment Dec. 16-24. The season will culminate with “Romeo and Juliet� on April 20-21 at the ECPAC.

“We went all out for our 20th anniversary season last year,� said Mahon, “so we won’t be doing any major new works, and we’ll be going back to ECPAC for most of the performances. We’ll still have guests, but we’re pulling out some old things that we haven’t done in a while. And we’re also making quite a few adjustments to our ‘Dracula.’ But we can’t possibly keep pace with what we did for our anniversary.�

Three’s Company’s co-artistic director Jean Isaacs will be on the move again this month. This time it’s an artist-in-residency spot at UC Irvine’s 14th annual Dance and Movement Workshop for California Educators that takes her away from home.

Isaacs will teach workshop sessions in modern movement between Thursday and Aug. 6, and Three’s Company’s Chamber Group is scheduled to perform for the participants at a special concert Saturday.

“It’s a great honor to be artist-in-residence at this dance and movement workshop,� Isaacs said. “Last year, they had an ex-Paul Taylor dancer as their special guest. It’s really quite an honor, and I’m thrilled.�

Meanwhile, the company’s Lo-Tec Series will celebrate its halfway point this weekend with a variety of locally-produced and imported danceworks by four diverse choreographers. Representing San Diego is the newly-formed San Diego Dance Designs, a collaborative effort by ballet-trained Judith Sharp and Laurie Lowry.

Lowry’s work pays homage to Japanese dance and Noh drama, while Sharp’s inspiration is more classical. Acclaimed Lar Lubovitch principal Rick Michalek will show a segment of his work-in-progress, and Orange County choreographer Karin Lynge Jensen will team up with San Diego dancer Alison Cutri to complete the program. Performances are at 8:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Three’s Company’s Hillcrest studio.