Christian symbols and contemporary choreography collide in Jessica Lang's provocative Crossed, the most impressive part of the Joffrey Ballet program at the Civic Theatre last weekend.

The ballet company, presented by the La Jolla Music Society, presented three of its big touring pieces. At the heart of Lang's piece was her simple yet fascinating set: a 60-foot-long horizontal beam, another that is vertical - and both of them moved.

The giant beams slid silently to form a giant cross and again to become a dividing wall. Dancers popped out from behind the sliding beams, and disappeared behind them. There was a fleeting image of Christ carrying the cross, or not. In my notes I scribbled, "Is this a religious dance? Playing with iconic symbols?" It could be both.

Mozart's choral music felt religious. Details on costumes by Tamara Cobus mirrored the cross. Fabrics in drab gray and brown captured a medieval dullness, yet at the same time everything seemed contemporary. Women danced freely in flat shoes and spiraled their heads into turns. As hallelujahs soared, shirtless men rose from the floor with a rolling momentum over the tops of their feet to standing. Were they suggesting the Resurrection or just secular joy? Lang's masterful arrangement allowed the viewer to decide, and this San Diego audience responded with heartfelt applause.

Reflections, which opened the program, was deliberately restrained. It reflected the company's history and fine ballet technique. Performed as a tribute to the company's late co-founder Gerald Arpino, the neo-classical work is regarded as pure dance and vintage Arpino. Set to Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme, men and women galloped and zigzagged to cello sounds and stopped to stretch into arabesques. High points were men carefully dragging their en pointe partners over the floor as if they were on ice skates.

Edwaard Liang's Age of Innocence, a passionate struggle inspired by the novels of Jane Austen, closed the program. Framed by towering red velvet curtains, the dance began with men and women divided in courtly lines. Women donned long flowing skirts, and there was bevy of bowing and formality. But there was a dramatic shift. One by one, women appeared in tiny skirts, and the physical contact began. Movement was athletic and spoke to the time when women were viewed as property. When women hesitated, their frustrated male partners flung them up onto their backs. In the end, all returned to the restrained circle, when holding hands was, well, more than holding hands.

As superb as the Joffrey dancers are, they were a bit ragged by Innocence. Set to music by Phillip Glass, which is impossible to count, the work felt under-rehearsed in a few sections. Then again, they'd just finished dancing Crossed, which was breathtaking and the performance that actually deserved the standing ovation.

The La Jolla Music Society's fourth dance season continues with San Diego debuts of the Trey McIntyre Project on April 16 and Complexions Contemporary Ballet on May 7, both at the Birch North Park Theatre.

View program & notes:

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