DANCE REVIEW : Ouch! Slam! It’s the Mehmet Sander Troupe

It’s hard to know if the bodies of dancers in the Mehmet Sander Dance Company are supposed to be real bodies or not. Of course they are actual enough--they run, jump and fall in their unitards or gymnastic whites, and in silence we hear labored breathing. But if these are real, vulnerable bodies, how do they survive all the pervasive, unhappy contact with the floor and each other, the kind of percussive, violent thudding that makes observers wince in anticipation of injury? Is it a trick, or are they bruised?

The dancers might survive without harm, but “ouch” was surely the message of the mostly familiar short works presented Wednesday night in the Carpenter Performing Arts Center at Cal State Long Beach. To watch is to brace yourself: One of Sander’s favorite movements is a leaping fall from vertical to horizontal with most of the body’s weight taken on bent forearms. Moves like this, and flops onto knees or backs, are often accompanied by recorded crashes that emphasize impact.

In older works like “Board Stiff” and “Pole,” Sander has dancers manipulate props, somewhat dangerously and with some variety. But in all the pieces, dancers also become props and they often show strain in duress moves. With set gazes and slightly stiff postures, they melt into tumbling or fall into patterns that revolve or interweave. In “Obtuse Space,” there are so many arid geometrical configurations, Busby Berkeley chorus girls come to mind, or maybe a football halftime show--without the smiling, of course.

“Summation of Forces” (1994) features short passes of cartwheels, flips and somersaults, followed by duets in which partners become objects to be balanced or slammed into, as one might thoughtlessly heave one sandbag against another. “Controlled Space/Infinite Space” (1994) has an oddly gentle moment, when, instead of expected body slams, hands are extended to help partners up an incline (Sander’s dancers always fight gravity). Occurring in a program of automaton-like, geometrical gymnastic activity, it was a small and rare revelation. With the return of the predictable body blows, it quickly passed.