Get Your Freak Off

Hear hear, LA Times! I wasn't crazy about middle- and high-school dance moves, just because pubescent gyrating and R. Kelly's lyrical euphemisms seemed creepy. (Correction: seem creepy.) Apparently the parental inhibitions about and actions against the dance moves that made me avoid the Prom dance floor (at least until "Hey Ya!" came on) are taking shape around the county. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, officials apparently fret over...

..how to deal with freaking, grinding and other provocative dances.

Their solution: Fight explicit teen dancing with an equal dose of explicitness. Downey and Aliso Niguel are among the first schools to draft "dance contracts," binding agreements that parents and students must sign before a teenager can step onto the dance floor.

Pro-censorship I am not, but I think this is just a remarkable study in cultural dances and the ways they're shaped! Parents have a say in kids' permissions? Well, then parents have a say in kids' dances. And if they're anything like the parents sitting around in my family tree, they're making that say loud and clear at wedding receptions. Just wait 'til "Tricky" plays.

Surely we can't, and shouldn't, always attack the root of a problem. (That is to say, here, the Axe commercials and superstar-straddling music videos that make this stuff seem glamorous, not disturbing.) An impressionable mind, that is to say one under the age of 25 or so, can get pushed around! That's growing up!

But hey, if you're a middle school teacher in need of a solution for a dance problem, follow suit:

Some schools are forgoing contracts in favor of less formal methods. The private Pacific Hills School in West Hollywood will hold a Halloween dance Oct. 30 and if couples are caught gyrating, lights will be turned up or the music changed to Burt Bacharach or William Shatner singing "Mr. Tambourine Man," said Mickey Blaine, the dean of students.

Dance With Me! (And Everyone Else in LA!)

Yep. It harkens back to high school jazz days. But gosh darn it if I don't love big, cheesy dance - and public, no less! Looking forward to a mob of dancing Janets...



So, America lacks the ceremonial dances of basically every culture that makes up its roots. Let's just forget those crazy moves at every social event I attended as a t(w)een, shall we? (Collective cultural whoops much?) We had swing for a while! We've adopted parts of tango. If you run in the crowds I run in, Contact Improvisation ain't bad; and, if I have anything to say about it, we'll always relate over the Jackson family. (May Rockin' Robin inspire one heck of a line dance at my funeral.)

This Flash Mob thing could flop big time... but I doubt it. If YouTube isn't a 21st-century cure for its own sloth-inducement, I don't know what is! So, even as one who ponders a dissertation on that shirt-flip in the video for "Scream," I give in to my affection for dances that couldn't care less about the high-brow. Keep me posted, Flash Mob!



...



Ah, what the heck. It's right at 3:22.

Spoiler Alert!/Links Galore for Perez in Pasadena

The Rudy Perez Dance Ensemble, with brain-tickling composer Steve Moshier and his Liquid Skin Ensemble, are at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena for one more night, part of the Armory Center for the Arts' Inside/Out installation series. For a great little piece on Rudy Perez, click here! If you want to try for a ticket (they're free, but few), click here. If you're stuck at home with swine flu and YouTube... well, you're out of luck. The company is, as far as I can tell, under the web video radar. But I do hope your swine flu goes away.

In "Open Suite/WHOOSH ... the traffic," six plainly dressed dancers puzzle over and lie on white painter bib overalls on the floor - yep, the floor - before covering up with them. And when the musicians upstage play, it's as if the dancers were hearing it all along. Movement is so specific that it stands alone and creates the beats left out of Moshier's score. Furthermore, the dancers are right there to be watched, like a life-sized portrait moving just under the collective nose of the audience. The faces and runs and frontal ta-dams that make me crazy on a proscenium stage are effectively made good when the dance floor is under my feet.

Weaving in and out of a pleasingly stable, asymmetrical light, the dancers pose and jump and run through a series of motions so engaging, so inexplicable, that I nearly embedded a picture of Snoopy hugging a valentine just to express my satisfaction. So, I'm a sucker. I really loved this piece. The patterns and shapes were so engaging, the dancers so focused and calm, the dance and the music so exactly what they needed to be for each other that I can review no more. I'm too smitten! I won't even tell you about the wacky ending and that rare and awesome thing, the pleasing use of undressing in dance. (In lieu of YouTube, some slightly vintage NPR! Thank you, Professor Seiters... erm, Leslie?...)

As for "Surrender, Dorothy!," the second piece on the bill at All Saints... well, I'm not crazy about it. I may regret saying this, but: the faces, runs, and frontal ta-dams here are better suited for a traditional stage space.

Oh, look! Someone else thought so, too:

Photo: Jeannette Harshbarger

The lavender-grey costumes, subtle motifs, and sung poem (key words: "women and elephants never forget") are awfully effective, as are the two black boxes being moved around the stage throughout the piece, subtly but powerfully changing the space. But I'm kept from total inundation by "Surrender, Dorothy!" when Mr. Perez's choreography interrupts itself. It's a tic of sorts: the jump in place. It is so perky, so energized and resilient, that my otherwise thorough sense of something slow and sad is continually interrupted, like a mellow Miles vinyl with a scratch. Furthermore, there are melancholy solos that imply narrative in an otherwise lyrical piece. I simply can't follow. Perhaps my attention span was short; perhaps I'm just sensitive about jumping in place? Perhaps this may have been solved by the good ol' thrust stage, but as for the All Saints Episcopal Church, I felt alienated from the people right in front of me.

Lest I leave the impression that grey feelings displaced gay ones:

WHOOSH!

Meta Moments and Putting the Past to Work

I'm less than up-to-date about Gregory Maqoma's artistic partners in "Beautiful Me," the solo(-and-musicians) piece up at REDCAT through a Sunday matinee. I'm only very slightly more up-to-date on South African politics, but, in a manner deft and pleasant, Maqoma's piece converts these facts into tools for relating to and educating his audience.

The Thursday audience nearly became part of the performance. Maqoma's hummingbird-quick hands, dexterous footwork, and eloquent clicks and poetics drew sighs, whoops, clapping, and laughter in turn from one of the most apparently wide-ranging assemblies I've seen at the venue.

I don't read autobiographies, I am wary of one-man-shows and, but for the brilliant quartet of musicians upstage right, Maqoma's is a little of each. There are those vast lulls of generally-lit stage meandering (self-indulgent, I think) that make my eyes and my mind wander far from the stage - beware, all ye who are easily distracted. However, Maqoma stays commendably engaging by picking apart his own work as it's being performed.

This is not new. I recall (thank you, Professor Mason) a meta moment of Bugs Bunny drawing himself out of a cartoon. Maqoma's extracts the bare bones from the work he has done with Akram Khan, Faustin Linyekula, and Vincent Mantsoe. (I link because I care; also, because I have a lot to learn.) A new skeleton of artistic theory is built on the stage, fleshed out with Maqoma's identity as a South African and as that ubiquitously unique thing, an (thank you, Professor Lentz) individual mind. Ta-dam! New art, his but also not his, representative without simplifying.

I am especially pleased with the role of the incredible quartet Maqoma is bringing on tour. They make his hands flutter - or do his fluttering hands speed the drumming? It is this give and take, the two often indiscernible, that bring about the signature and, I think, best qualities of music and dance that are often lost (or, at best, only vaguely recalled) in dance outside of the African continent.

Without the past, "how do we know where we come from? How do we confront ourselves? Each other?... The past is not dead!" (The audience swoons.) The process Maqoma allows us to see and the product it makes create an almost-workshop, albeit in its late phases, between creator and viewer. He does not evade my autobiography miffs, but Maqoma presents an impressive array of what he has made, and how others have made him - an idea too often forgotten as part of the process, then left out of the performance.

Photo by Steven Gunther

The Hook

In my post-bike-accident stupor, and the subsequent belatedness of everything - and I mean everything - on my to-do list, I somehow managed to miss opening night of the new dance event at REDCAT. Tonight, then! From the event site:

"Maqoma invited three of the world’s most refreshing and articulate choreographers to contribute their unique artistic voices to Beautiful Me—Akram Khan (U.K.), Faustin Linyekula (D.R. of the Congo) and Vincent Mantsoe (South Africa)—forging an expansive movement vocabulary that layers the influences of contemporary Kathak, Afro-fusion, and visual dance theater with breathtaking precision and lyrical warmth"

This raises a few questions, such as: Who wrote such a perfect preview? Do they want to go out for coffee soon? And oh WHY did I leave all my notebooks and textbooks back east?

I'm sure I've seen Akram Khan back in Ohio. I'll brush up on my history and try a few Kathak moves (be still, my quivering ankles!) before heading to REDCAT tonight. See you there?

Hofesh Shechter Company Overkill

I'm not even going to post a new link to the performance. (Ha! Fooled you.) But below are some of the mental interjections I managed to edit out of the more formal review. Many thanks to the editor at Culture Spot LA - my bleary late-night typing skills were spotty at best.

After this, I'll put the thing to rest and spend some time on local dances. (By the way, kudos to the DRC for event calendar updates! It's a start...) Ahem. The review, but longer:

A dance performance requires many feats. What a pun! There are rehearsals, technology, tour arrangements, box offices, and (in LA, anyway) maddening Friday evening traffic. Never, never, never drive a car on a Friday evening. Once these come together, it's easy to forget an important little question: Why? But in their West Coast debut at UCLA Live, Hofesh Shechter Company seemed to have built the query into the first dance on the bill.

The program notes for "Uprising" opt out of expository artist statements. And what a relief. I find few performance elements more irritating than not allowing the pieces speak for themselves. "Seven men emerge from the shadows to bombard the stage with furious energy," and so on. (And with dancers ever poised to roll, spar, or run, the energy in Shechter's work is not to be ignored. [Bombard would be the buzz word here if the program mentioned Shechter's use of the Paris youth riots as source material. But that's neither here nor there.]). What truly makes the piece, though, is its fragmentation, even if it took me the whole car ride conversation home to realize it. A stage of modern dancers becomes a circle of runners (cue my favorite snarky technical director: "why the hell are they running if it's a dance?" But again, neither here nor there.); the whole group devolves into a circle of back-patting, then slaps. (Cue the audience's organic, then awkward, laughter.) These quick shifts are so jarring that it's natural to ask what's really on view: Is this a political rant? Is it an over-energetic boys' club? Is it a show of the total control these dancers have over their limbs?

It seems like a bit of each in turn, as Shechter's accompanying music drives the piece along, almost forcibly. (Well... not almost. Just forcibly. Mark Morris would be proud. Throughout the evening, physical dynamics are frustratingly obedient to musical ones.) But the reminder to question is omnipresent. The "why" in "Uprising" has as many answers as audience members, as my viewing buddy reminded me on the drive home; added to the appeal of group mentality, tableau, and precision dancing, it makes the piece a worthwhile mental jog and aesthetic delight. Thirty minutes (or so?) flew by.

"In your rooms" certainly begins with a mental jog, when a voice chatters on about cosmic philosophy. The piece also makes incredible use of theatrical tools, most notably with shafts of light, and live musicians coming in and out of sight on a raised platform. This makes musical obedience slightly more tolerable... sometimes. But despite its impressive introduction and stagecraft, the piece fails where "Uprising" succeeds. Solitude and routine are so impressively stylized that plain kisses, embraces, and looks of concern seem like cheap tricks, and Shechter's greatest strength - the power of contrast - is lost.

This is not to overlook the dancing itself - every glance, every movement from the performers appears absolutely natural and exquisite. There are ensemble movements that recall Shechter's work with the renowned Batsheva Dance Company - without overshadowing his originality, which I think says a lot about his artistic integrity. And in the end, "In your rooms" pairs so well with "Uprising" that the performance would feel incomplete without the double bill.

With contrasts and questions, the work pleases and challenges. The question of "why" is invaluable (all the time, and everywhere - it's how we grow) and the changes in "Uprising" keep it coming - even if it slows down for "In your rooms." Though this is the company first West Coast performance, it certainly won't be the last. Shechter's style is a refreshing one, and an invitation to remind ourselves what we're seeing... and why.

The second (and final) Hofesh Shechter Company performance at UCLA Live is tonight (Saturday, Oct. 17) at 8 in Royce Hall. Tickets are $24-$28; for more information or to order tickets, visit www.uclalive.org.

The Cliff Notes

In case you're on the run:

http://culturespotla.com/2009/10/ucla-live-presents-hofesh-shechter-company/

The History: UNCUT!

I'd been missing the arts center closest to my darling alma mater, and in my nostalgia nearly overlooked this weekend's performance: Hofesh Shechter Company!

No, it's not local fare. And I'm not unashamed to be swept up in celebrity! But in the end, this company is part of a heritage I think is invaluable to understanding dance. And God knows ya can't talk about modern dance, in LA or elsewhere, without mentioning Martha Graham. She's this company's grandmama! So let's get a little history lesson going, shall we?, before tomorrow night's review. And like the totally gross tap water coming out of the kitchen sink these days, here you have it sans filter. (I'll post the cliff notes tomorrow.)

If you're not practicing elaborate yoga poses to do your daily blog-browsing, kindly sit up (or stand up) straight. Find that center-of-gravity spot somewhere near your navel. Exhale and make it the target for an imaginary sucker punch: oof! Now inhale and puff back up like a balloon.

Congratulations on a very simplified version of contraction and release! Many of the modern dancemakers (a word I'll never decide how to type) of the early 20th century based their movement on dynamic opposites - contraction and release, fall and recovery, and so on. It all gets back to exhale and inhale. And this wasn't just breaking away from the upright rigidity of ballet! With this new language, dance began responding to breath - one of the most telling involuntary functions of the body.

This trait is so ubiquitous in contemporary dance history that it's easy to take for granted. But look! Performance technology has evolved so far as to have breath define the very music of the performance!

I digress.

Contraction and release are the underlying physical idea in the work of Martha Graham. (Okay, so I linked the PSA. Americans for the Arts was really on to something!) To make a long, amazing career into a sentence of accomplishments: Graham ushered in one of the most explicit dynamic contrasts in modern dance, fostered the early careers of countless influential dancers - including you-know-who, worked with iconic composers and artists - including this one, locals - made dances about fierce women, American-ism, and those crazy Greeks, and, perhaps most importantly, created one of my favorite pieces of modern dance, "Steps in the Street." The overtly political response to fascism in 1930's Europe has more stick-it-to-the-man-itiveness than a Rage album on repeat, and I'd dare say with more tension by its poise.

Which is why I'm hoping that Hofesh Shechter's "Uprising" carries on the family legacy. You see, in the 1960's Martha Graham helped establish a group in Tel Aviv called Batsheva Dance Company. (It was named after its philanthropic baroness co-founder - thanks, Wiki!) This is now one of the world's most influential and pertinent sources for dance equal parts physical, emotional, and cerebral. It even furthers the breath patterns by "gaga" training, engaging equally natural, less apparent impulses of the body.

Shechter danced with Batsheva for years before creating his ensemble. Remembering "Steps in the Street," I'm hesitant to expect as much from "Uprising." The 2006 youth riots in France were terrifying, to be sure, but seem somewhat isolated as source material. At any rate, that's what we're up for: "Uprising," and a piece called "In your rooms" that will indulge my taste for dances about frustration.

Wait, you haven't seen the event site yet? Here.

I look forward to the performance.

The Basic Requirements

I've been feeling very grateful lately that I have strong little legs. But then... maybe they aren't necessary?



DV8 Physical Theatre is coming to LA!

For the love of the arts and all things intellectually proprietary, buy the whole piece and screen it with friends.

Well hi there, press releases!

Below are three press releases I've written for Art Share Los Angeles, this great organization in the Downtown Arts District. There are some great links buried in there, and none of the events have happened yet, so get a move on!

“Recent Works” from a Long-Time Friend of Art Share Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA – Celeste Prince may first come to mind for her singing career, but it is her paintings on display this month at Art Share Los Angeles. After many years as an instructor and board member, Prince is returning to the Downtown Arts District venue with “Recent Works”: a range of Prince’s newest explorations of feng shui principles in art.

Curated by Martha de Pérez, the show gives a fresh perspective to portraiture and painting. Prince paints with wind and water in mind, the literal translation of feng shui, often creating an atmosphere for an individual piece after its completion. She has also created an installation at Art Share, sourcing Auguste Rodin’s relationship with his mistress and fellow sculptor, Camille Claudel, in the late 19th century.

Despite having started an art career “on the side,” Prince’s work has quickly gained success. A class at the Huntington Library in San Marino led to work and commissions, including a Soho, New York showing alongside Joni Mitchell and art for Disney’s retail offices in Shanghai and Tokyo. “Recent Works” is her first showing of a large body of work, and the beginning of a career orientation between Prince and her art.

With Prince’s return, Art Share demonstrates its role with emerging artists. At 4th Place and Hewitt downtown, its 30,000 square feet of renovated warehouse space provide not only free arts outreach programming, but also studio, stage, rehearsal, and gallery spaces for artists – a resource perfectly suited to the Downtown Arts District.

The exhibit will be open from October 7-21, including an official opening on October 15th and an artist reception on October 17th, from 7:00 until 11:00 PM. For more information, visit www.artsharela.org or www.celesteprince.com.

Boasting a 90% high school graduation rate, Art Share Los Angeles offers a free, multi-disciplinary art program, changing the lives of underserved teens. Through the collaborative work of instructors, social workers, and volunteers, the center operates during peak violence hours. It not only provides a safe haven for creative expression, but also offers a starting point for emerging artists, space for gallery shows, and low-income housing for artists. With 30,000 square feet of renovated warehouse space in the Downtown Artist District, Art Share Los Angeles serves as a community arts incubator, promoting cultural excellence and shaping lives through, art, education and community action.

The End of a Series for the Artist Behind LA’s Most Obvious Interchange

Los Angeles, CA – An overpass on the 110 Northbound received a makeover three years ago. In a combination of public service and public art, arguably making the two synonymous, Richard Ankrom installed new guide signs to an existing structure, making one of LA’s countless cryptic interchanges a relative breeze for so many commuters.

Before and since, though, the Los Angeles-based visual artist has pursued a project somewhat less subtle: the Gra’Ma series. It is a collection of resin-cast hatchets, created between 2001 and 2008 and filled with ephemeral would-be junk from candies to Zoloft to silk flowers. Martha de Pérez, a curator at Art Share Los Angeles, has worked with her student and assistant curator Enrique Lopez Garcia to give the series its final display in the Downtown Arts District venue at 4th Place and Hewitt.

Art Share, perhaps best known for its free arts outreach programming, also uses its 30,000 square feet of renovated warehouse to provide artists both storied and emerging with work and gallery space. “Richard is so kind to do this,” says de Pérez. “He is an incredible artist.” After showing this and other works all over greater Los Angeles, Ankrom will end the eight-year project with a closing event on Friday, October 9th, 2009 at Art Share. From 7:00 to 11:00 PM, the hatchets will end the month-long stay there and a long-held place in Ankrom’s active repertoire.

The event will include light fare and a chance to meet Ankrom, as well as to learn more about Art Share as a venue. For more information on the artists or the event, visit www.artsharela.org or www.ankrom.org.

Boasting a 90% high school graduation rate, Art Share Los Angeles offers a free, multi-disciplinary art program, changing the lives of underserved teens. Through the collaborative work of instructors, social workers, and volunteers, the center operates during peak violence hours. It not only provides a safe haven for creative expression, but also offers a starting point for emerging artists, space for gallery shows, and low-income housing for artists. With 30,000 square feet of renovated warehouse space in the Downtown Artist District, Art Share Los Angeles serves as a community arts incubator, promoting cultural excellence and shaping lives through, art, education and community action.

A Teacher and Three Students from Art Share Los Angeles Help Bring “Phi’LA The Musical!” To Club Nokia

Los Angeles, CA – With the arrival of “Phi’LA: The Musical!”, three students from Art Share Los Angeles (Art Share) will help spread its message against racial tension in Los Angeles. After crisscrossing the city for weeks of rehearsals, they will premiere the new musical, written and directed by Jamal Speakes, Sr., at Club Nokia on October 12th.

A native of Philadelphia and a drama teacher at Susan Miller Dorsey High School in South Los Angeles, Speakes wrote the musical story of a black student who moves from Philadelphia to LA and falls in love with a Latina peer, stoking interracial tension. With the real threat of such violence looming over youth in LA, often exploding in the media, the fiction hits home for Art Share student David Estrada, a member of the show’s ensemble. “I hate violence… You are taught to take pride in your race (but) some people just take it too far.”

He and castmate Coreen Ruiz, both from East LA, agree: the musical teaches a strong lesson. “I hope the audience is all ages,” says Ruiz. “Everyone can learn from this.”

Estrada learned Hip-Hop and Jazz Theater at Art Share before joining the cast of “Phi’LA”. After a hesitant start in acting, Ruiz’s enthusiasm for the non-profit community center grew: “from the first day I was hooked!” Located in the Downtown Arts District, the center brings in students from across the city, blurring lines of race and class.

Roberto Perez, Jr. plays an East LA gang member in “Phi’LA,” but his own story is quite the opposite. He was drawn to Art Share after a hip-hop performance by instructor Ray Basa. “I stopped hanging around some of my bad influences,” he says, “because I didn’t want to miss a single day.”

Estrada, Ruiz, and Perez, as well as Art Share’s administrative assistant and teacher, Danyol Metcalf, have been rehearsing for weeks – giving Metcalf, an Art Share alumnus, the chance to be “both cast and mentor.” With its powerful message of racial unity and its cast of powerhouse students and performers, “Phi’LA” is estimated to draw an audience of over 7,000 from LAUSD students alone at the Club Nokia premiere, a red carpet event. “We have all worked very hard,” says Ruiz, “and this is such a great reward for all those long rehearsals.”

The Nokia event begins at 7:00 PM on October 12th, and the show will run from October 15th-18th at Dorsey High School’s renovated ICM Foundation Performing Arts Center. Premiere tickets are $25-35, or $10 with a student ID. For more ticketing information email philathemusical@yahoo.com and visit www.philathemusical.com.

Other “Phi’LA” supporters include; Rainbow PUSH Entertainment Project Los Angeles and Rev. Jesse Jackson, Marguerite P. La Motte (LAUSD District 3 Board Member), Mayor Villaraigosa, Lisa Nichols (Author), A Place Called Home, West Adams Neighborhood Council, Congresswoman Diane Watson, Councilman Herb Wesson, Gang Alternative Program/Gang Free, The Reverence Project, UNTYONE , Attain Design & Marketing Communication and Dave Wiesman (DAX foundation).

Boasting a 90% high school graduation rate, Art Share Los Angeles offers a free, multi-disciplinary art program, changing the lives of underserved teens. Through the collaborative work of instructors, social workers, and volunteers, the center operates during peak violence hours. It not only provides a safe haven for creative expression, but also offers a starting point for emerging artists, space for gallery shows, and low-income housing for artists. With 30,000 square feet of renovated warehouse space in the Downtown Artist District, Art Share Los Angeles serves as a community arts incubator, promoting cultural excellence and shaping lives through, art, education and community action.

I'm a multi-blogger now!

Ahem: from www.culturespotla.com...

In a handily symbiotic event, Lineage Dance will be holding a performance to benefit (it) magazine this Sunday, Oct. 4, at the Colony Theater in Burbank. An online publication, (it) focuses on “solutions-driven stories,” working to support and encourage pro-social action on a local and global scale by spotlighting “social causes, charities, innovations, and people making a difference” — a cause not lost on the Pasadena dance troupe. Its own mission is to make dances that are accessible and purposeful, putting local and global issues at the forefront of its work. From the Lineage website:

“We seek… to support our community through dance, by partnering with, and raising awareness of, the service work of many diverse organizations.”

Sunday’s program will be a retrospective, kicking off the impressive 10th anniversary season for Lineage. As founder and artistic director, Hilary Thomas has choreographed all of the company’s works being performed.

With degrees in psychology and dance from Santa Clara University, Thomas established the company in 1999 alongside her father and her sister (hence, “Lineage”), and has seen it grow steadily ever since. The dancers are now paid per performance, making the company a professional one cast entirely with women who have other, mostly full-time jobs. (Thomas’ is teaching science and dance at Flintridge Prep in La Cañada-Flintridge.) But as their pleasingly pointed feet will tell you, the dancers all have a ballet background. The apparent technique and the impressive touring history make the company’s professionalism clear.

Parts of Thomas’ “Healing Blue” are included in Sunday’s program. Inspired by stories of experiencing cancer, the evening-length series began in 2005 and has since become a signature piece. According to Peggy Burt, the company’s managing director and an early member, it has grown and changed with the company. A lovely duet in Sunday’s program, “From a Sister’s Length,” is one of its parts. Based on the story of Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles photographer Annie Wells and her sister, this dance retells a familial battle with cancer. The frontal facing and virtuosic tics don’t always mesh with the piece’s more charming idiosyncrasies — arms up-flung like a child’s, subtler indications of mortal threat. But Thomas’ work nevertheless satisfies expectations, meeting the Lineage goal to make dance accessible and cause-oriented. (As Burt points out, “Healing Blue” remains an effective tool for cancer research awareness and fundraising.)

Sunday’s program also includes preview sections of “The Brain in Motion,” which will be performed in its entirety (on Friday, Oct. 30, Thursday, Nov. 5, and Sunday, Nov. 8, at the Pacific Asia Museum) as part of the Pasadena Art and Ideas Festival. The final work will be an evening-length piece about the human brain, complete with the sequential motion of a firing synapse in dance form. And this is much of the Lineage appeal: because of its objective and the simplification it entails (frontal presentation, situational pantomime, extensive pre-performance clarifications), the Lineage approach to dance and dance-making creates a unique experience. A brain saves some effort by having dances explained to it, but reconsidering the community role of dance is a mental exercise in itself. In mission and in work, Lineage makes it clear that approachable art can be a tool for awareness and for change. With that in mind, proceeds from the full “Brain in Motion” performance later in the season will go toward Alzheimer’s research through the Travis Research Institute.

The retrospective Lineage Dance concert will kick off the company’s 10th season on Sunday, Oct. 4, at the Colony Theater, 555 N. Third St., Burbank. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door.