Dance Review : Biesanz Connects in Barnsdall Performance

Can you remember the wonder you felt as a child when you first saw someone dance? Katja Biesanz can. Indeed, the dancing and choreography by this locally based young artist make the joy of movement something like a creative principle.

At the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre on Friday, Biesanz and 11 other women brought a dimension of personal delight to their performances, as if the choreography represented a moment-by-moment discovery for them.

This sense of personal connection made all the difference in modern dance miniatures lacking substantial movement invention (the whimsical “Chagall’s Circus,” originally a children’s piece) or rooted in pantomime (the “Consuming Memory/Delta Dawn” solo about a picturesquely deranged Southern belle, or “Death Birds” with its winged, swooping corps).

Other works tackled Big Themes and here Biesanz relied on imaginative gestural ideas along with a solid (if often obvious) sense of formal structure. The solo “Amazing Grace” sought to celebrate faith, the group showpieces “Rites of Mourning” and “BirthRites” explored formalized social responses to interpersonal milestones.

In each, Biesanz created an intense image to physicalize her central concept--without ever giving the movement leading to that statement major interest, much less spiritual depth.

More successful: “Don Alfredo and the Dance of Death,” a solo in which a switch of masks and dance styles suddenly defined the theme of mortality.

The quintet “Celebration” also found Biesanz artfully introducing playful touches (such as the dancers lip-syncing the Bach accompaniment), along with the standard-issue balleticisms and limb-geometry of Baroque romps.