Call it CPR for the SDDA. A rotating slate of dancers performed two shows at the Hot Monkey Love Café last weekend, hoping to breathe life back into the teetering San Diego Dance Alliance, and promote the café as a viable dance venue. Let’s hope it’s the first of more to come.

Last Saturday's varied program featured several accomplished dancers and choreographers, along with some up-and-comers. Claudia Valdes from Minerva Tapia Dance Group was the evening's standout in a solo filled with watery images that retold the story of a drowned woman. Bradley Lundberg and Erika Nordin’s duet was also unforgetable - so sexy and realistic, you felt like you should turn away. Their slow dance expanded to glorious lifts, some of them far over their heads then easily returned to the simple dance. Two men from Axiom Dance Theatre revealed wonderful energy and eye contact in a stand off duet that included a chair. Nikki Duggan of Eveoke performed her famed “Luna,” a breathtaking solo that celebrates the miracle of birth.

The Garage Dance Company offered two crisp contemporary ballet solos and a mind bending ensemble of hip hop set to Beethoven’s 5^th – an odd juxtaposition that helped you appreciate the flowing lines of hip hop. The group’s full evening show runs this weekend at the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla. (Be sure to check out that review by my colleague Brian Schafer).

Men from C. Anthony Cole Company (CAC) were memorable in their love-hate duet. Melanie Dellas from Urban Tribal jingled and undulated in black and silver. Three women from Daniel Marshall’s La Diego Dance Theatre performed light-hearted arabesques and happy weaves. Elizabeth Swallow and friends offered a bizarre improvisation to the very cool sound of a purring cat, and all in darkness – a fine way to send a crowd into a cat-nap, but not the best way to end a program.

Sadie Weinberg performed a contemplative solo with her signature slow swings and solid arabesques to Aretha Franklin’s “A different Kind of Love.” If you didn’t know already, Weinberg is the daughter of Betzie Roe, a respected dancer/educator and the event’s impeccable hostess.

Roe is also a former president of the Dance Alliance and helped organize the public meeting at Dance Place San Diego in early March to explore its options. Currently she’s on a steering committee that hopes to revive the dance service organization through events such as this.

On Saturday however, Roe didn't share any history or news regarding the Dance Alliance's uncertain future. There were no written reports (or programs with dancer names or musical scores either). Perhaps she didn’t want to bother the audience with boring details about committees, boards or money, but several people in the audience were puzzled. Hmmm…The Dance alliance – is that a political party? No, but there's plenty of politics connected to it. Here's a quick summary of its rise and fall.

The San Diego Dance Alliance was founded by Jean Isaacs in 1981 to promote San Diego’s dance identity and to foster support among various dance genres, from contemporary to multicultural. Over the years she and many veterans of the dance community have served as president including George Willis, John Malashock, Allison Cutri and Roe. During its hay-day in the mid-1990s, it had 350 members. Those days are over. Currently the Dance Alliance has no Board of Directors, has lost its (501)(c)(3) nonprofit status, its president resigned in January, and its remaining staff member and executive director gradually disappeared. At the March meeting, Roe estimated debt at $10,000 against a projected $71,000 budget. Only 57 members were listed on the directory. At this moment, its Web site still appears, but lists events and a calendar from January/February.

At the March meeting, Roe and her committee said they want the Dance Alliance to bring back the Nations of San Diego and Emerge, the acclaimed showcase for new choreographers, revamp the newsletter and Web site, find new income, and restore the Tommy Awards, named after the Dance Alliance’s first paid director, Tom Corcoran.

The Tommy Awards are the equivalent of the Isadora Duncan Awards in the Bay Area, and the Lester Horton Awards of Los Angeles. They honor excellence and increase the visibility of dance in those communities. Attending the award ceremony in San Diego used to be one of the most exciting events of the year.

While the Hot Monkey Love Café isn’t big enough for the Tommy Awards, it has much to offer as an intimate dance space, even parking. For Saturday’s show it was reconfigured from a long hall to an inviting experimental space with improved sight lines. Unlike rough concrete at the Kava Lounge or a tiny riser at 4X4, the floor is a smooth bamboo. It’s also a peaceful, non-alcoholic venue. Libations included rich strawberry smoothies and Vegan coleslaw in martini glasses.