‘Visions’ of the dance department

Coral Wilson

The UC Irvine Claire Trevor School of the Arts Department of Dance

will hold its annual faculty program, “Dance Visions,” on Feb. 20,

21, 22 at the Barclay Theatre.

David Allan, Eloy Barragan, Bob Boross, Christine Chrest, Donald

McKayle and Lisa Naugle, teachers at the school, have choreographed

pieces that will be performed by the school’s dance students.

“‘Dance Visions’ is the annual faculty concert, which has been

going on for more than 20 years,” Allan said. “It’s considered a

faculty concert by professionals and is an opportunity to set new

creations or use existing ones. It’s the most substantial thing that

we present and produce.”

Allan said that they also bring in guest performers and have had

Paul Taylor, Douglas Becker, William Foresythe and others.

Its purpose is to give a really well-rounded, eclectic

performance. The professors involved are also professional

choreographers.

Allan’s piece “O-La-Know” premiered at UCI in November 1997.

“The work is based on original choreography [1995] for the

Pittsburgh Ballet and was also performed in 2001 by the American

Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive Program,” Allan said.

The show will offer a wide variety of works, with Naugle’s

premiere of “Nightdriving” using a lot of video projection and dance

technology.

Eloy Barragan will premiere “Memorias,” a ballet for 12 dancers

set to the music of 18th-century composer Tomaso Albinoni. The piece

was written in memory of his late mother.

“It talks about images and memories I have of my mother,” Barragan

said. “The audience will see the movement.”

He said that the performance will have universal appeal because it

is about women and any mother who gives to her child.

“She gave everything to me and my brothers and sisters,” Barragan

said.

The piece breaks into three movements. The first part shows a

young woman.

“When we’re young -- that youth, I saw her as young and

brilliant,” Barragan said. “We were a working family, very poor, so

she worked.”

In this aspect he depicts her youth, and the way she was when she

was young -- always laughing and showing how one deals with

opportunities at that age.

“Sometimes she would grab an opportunity, or it would disappear

just like water through her hands,” Barragan said.

The second mood shows his mother after losing two children who

were born with complications and the sorrow she experienced.

“It shows her sadness, sorrow and pain,” Barragan said. “Then my

brother died. He drowned. She believed that he would appear again

sometime, because his body was never found.”

His third movement is her acceptance and her realization that

that’s life and one has to keep going.

“She’s happy to be alive and has more maturity to laugh at life

because it’s hard and beautiful as well,” Barragan said.

Boross’ “Fell Out of Love with Me” is set in the 1950s and is a

fun, lively dance piece involving the battle of the sexes. Fifteen

dancers move to five popular musical theater and jazz standards.

“It tells the story of three swinging young guys on the prowl for

‘chicks,’” Boross said.

Chrest will premiere “The 405,” about the insanity of the freeway

commute in Southern California. McKayle’s “Nocturn,” which received

its premiere in New York City in 1952, is said to have a lush

choreographic environment.

“Nightdriving,” Naugle’s premiere, was inspired by “The Night

Driver,” a short story by Italo Calvino.

Naugle founded the Dance and Digital Arts Performance Ensemble at

UCI.