Dancing Together Separately : Literal and Symbolic Contrasts Abound in Lynch-Hodgins Work, ‘Parallel Play’

The local dance scene must be heating up when on the heels of one premiere, another follows. First came news of the St. Joseph Ballet competition for inner-city youths that has produced a new ballet the company will present through Sunday in Santa Ana.

Next comes Molly Lynch, artistic director of Ballet Pacifica, and Paul Hodgins, music director of the dance department at UC Irvine, teaming up for their first collaboration, “Parallel Play,” which will be performed tonight and Saturday at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

“Paul and I have been talking for over a year about doing some sort of project,” Lynch said in a recent phone interview. “We decided to do a piece together. But rather than taking a piece he had done for something else, we decided to do a commissioned score.”

Hodgins said: “We decided we wanted to work fairly autonomously and come together at certain points and see what surprises we had for each other.

“I knew from the beginning that I wanted to use a live instrument with (computer-assisted) sequenced programming. I’ve been so frustrated by bad orchestral performances in recent years. I didn’t want the pain, hardship and expense of hiring an orchestra or chamber ensemble,” Hodgins said.

So he scored the 15-minute piece for oboe and synthesizer.

“I played off that contrast a lot,” Lynch said. “In the first section, there’s a female soloist against a group of women . . . . In the second, it’s a male soloist with four women and four men . . . . That immediately segues into the third section, in which 12 corps members are set against the two soloists. So the work builds in numbers of people as well as in complexity . . . .

“All that has parallels to what we do in society. Each person has individual activities but also is going parallel to what we consider the group, society or the community. We’re constantly trying to fit in as well as keeping our own individuality.”

In movement terms, Lynch said that her ideas translate into making the group “work together, at times doing almost the same thing, but in a slightly different manner.”

“For instance, one person may be taking a fast turn with an extended leg and a soloist may be taking a slow turn with extended leg. But it’s similar enough.”

Hodgins said that the collaboration began with talks “about musical vocabulary.”

“We talked about composers Steve Reich and John Adams,” he said. “So I knew she wanted something in the Minimalist vein. She also told me about how long the dance should be, and we agreed on the number of movements.”

Lynch told him she wanted “at least one fast movement” and one that was in “some kind of recognizable dance form,” he said.

“I said fine, I’d write a fast and furious finale,” Hodgins said. “And I wrote a waltz, the middle movement. The first movement is quite slow and legato. But we didn’t work in more detail than that.”

The complicated finale gave Lynch some troubles. “Definitely, I tried to make the movement go with the music,” Lynch said. “I believe that movement should reflect the instruments and reflect the score.

“But I had some problems at times trying to count some of the music, particularly the third section, which changes meter a lot and is relatively complex from a dance standpoint.”

Hodgins helped her figure out the timing. “It’s frustrating when you can’t figure it out,” she said. “But it’s also broadening when you do finally get it.”

Oboe soloist for the performances will be Steve Caplan, a faculty member at the University of Nevada and Hodgins’ brother-in-law.

Lynch stressed that giving the premiere of her piece does not mean “this is a company just for my works.”

“I have several choreographers coming in during the summer to do works for next season,” she said. “I want to put emphasize on doing new contemporary works, as well as trying to preserve the classics.”

As to where it fits into her own development, Lynch wouldn’t hazard a guess.

“My hope is I’ve progressed,” she said. “It’s certainly different from other pieces I’ve done. But I think I’m now too much in the forest to see the trees. I always find it’s never really done and I’m still sort of tweaking it in a way, working out problem spots.”

Ballet Pacifica will dance Molly Lynch’s new “Parallel Play” (music by UC Irvine composer Paul Hodgins) tonight at 8 and Saturday at 2:30 and 8 p.m. at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Road, Irvine. Works by Lichine, Charles Weidman and Lynch will complete the program. Tickets: $15 adult; $12 for students and seniors. ($6 student rush tickets one hour before the concert, subject to availability.) Information: (714) 854-4646.