{"id":299840,"date":"2026-05-04T22:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T22:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/299840\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T22:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T22:55:11","slug":"benita-bikes-danceart-company-celebrates-45-years-of-dancing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/299840\/","title":{"rendered":"Benita Bike\u2019s DanceArt Company Celebrates \u201c45 Years of Dancing\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, April 25, 2026 at Lineage Performing Arts Center<\/a>, I attended Benita Bike\u2019s DanceArt Company\u2019s<\/a> \u201c45 Years of Dancing,\u201d celebrating 45 years as a formal dance company, an impressive feat for a dance company in a city like Los Angeles. The evening featured five works performed by Bike\u2019s talented company of dancers: Genevieve Antonetty, Sarah Chan, Riley Jo Parish, Emma Vica\u00f1a, and Emily Wallace. The program indicated that one piece was a premiere, and I\u2019d be curious to know when on Bike\u2019s 45+ year journey the other works were created as the program did not indicate this. Bike\u2019s style uses strong gestural work, balletic technique, and reappearing motifs and patterns of movement.<\/p>\n

\"Benita<\/a><\/p>\n

Benita Bike\u2019s DanceArt Company \u2013 Riley Jo Rarish in Bike\u2019s \u201cAspects of Me\u201d- Screenshot courtesy of the company.<\/p>\n

Her choreographic choices seemed to be deeply influenced by the layers and sounds of the music. With many of her musical choices having a steady pace and fewer instruments, her approach to connecting with the music at times led to movements that matched the notes and beats but didn\u2019t necessarily rise to the greater emotional arcs of the compositions. My favorite choreographic moments occurred to accompaniments that were less standard, like when a solo dancer performed with a tree branch to sounds of nature.<\/p>\n

\"Benita<\/a><\/p>\n

Benita Bike\u2019s DanceArt Company \u2013 (l to r) Riley Jo Parish, Sarah Chan, Emily Wallace, Genevieve Antonetty in Bike\u2019s Excerpt from \u201cBenches\u201d \u2013 Screenshot courtesy of the company.<\/p>\n

The first work of the evening was \u201cExcerpt from Benches.\u201d The four dancers started seated and performed gestures that precisely matched notes of the music. The piece had a satisfying arc \u2013 at various points, a motif would repeat and the piece built into a new element like moving the full body while staying connected to the bench or leaving the benches. There was an intimate feel to the way the dancers sat closely on the benches facing each other. I wondered if the benches themselves were something other than white plastic fold out benches \u2013 even a different color would be much less of a prominent pop under the lights.<\/p>\n

The second piece, \u201cAspects of Me,\u201d consisted of four sections. The first section was a duet, \u201cMe and Myself\u201d featuring mostly unison, with moments of interaction and touch. I did not get much emotionally from the dancers\u2019 performance, and it was unclear if this was an intentional lack of connection or part of the piece. \u201cMe and the Branch,\u201d was next, featuring a solo dancer who partnered with a large branch to ambient sounds of nature. I loved when the dancer performed sharp actions that contrasted the mellow sounds of a creak. At times, the branch was a point of focus for the dancer as she moved around it, and at other times the dancer used the branch as an extension of her limbs, enhancing the circular sweeping pathways she traced. \u201cMe and Her\u201d was another duet that used clear circling pathways and glances over the shoulder to set a mood of uncertainty and distrust.<\/p>\n

The final section, \u201cWe,\u201d \u00a0began with the various dancers entering the space reprising parts of their various sections. I found this section refreshing because pairing these phrases with different music brought a new dynamic and a more interesting contrast and play between movement and music. I enjoyed the paths of spins, sways, and shifting layers. The unison work was impressively clean but the neutral pleasant faces left me unsure what the energy or emotion was intended to be, if anything.<\/p>\n

\"Benita<\/a><\/p>\n

Benita Bike\u2019s DanceArt Company \u2013 (l to r) Emma Vica\u00f1a, Emily Wallace, Genevieve Antonetty (back), Riley Jo Parish, Sarah Chan in Bike\u2019s \u201cFlock Struck\u201d \u2013 Screenshot courtesy of the company.<\/p>\n

The premiere of the evening was \u201cFlock Struck,\u201d danced by the full company in varied silver, black, and blue costumes that featured random pieces of trim attached to the fabric. These were designed by Brynn Holmes<\/a>. The piece appeared to play with various flocking patterns and birdlike arms. The most enjoyable moments for me were when Bike used choreographic layers, successfully matching the fast chimes of the music. In some spots, it felt like the complexity of the details led to the dancers sacrificing expression for precision. Another section featured sounds of a crowd and then bird calls \u2013 the solo dancer who performed to the bird noises had a calm demeanor as she moved, and it felt like we had journeyed from a busy park to a quiet meadow, watching a single bird. I overall enjoyed the new work, particularly in the moments where Bike used less-traditional sounds that allowed her choreography to interact with rather than just emulate the music.<\/p>\n

After a brief intermission, \u201cFrom Where I Sit\u201d seemed to attempt some sort of narrative plot, but it was overall muddled. The five dancers entered one by one with stools, each bringing a different mood and character to the stage. One dancer was in a short black cocktail dress and heels, though she had to remove the heels onstage during a transition before the larger group sections. It didn\u2019t feel like the heels were that essential to her solo moments, and her character would have come across the same way minus the heels, saving us a transition. There were some nice moments of partnering as well as contrasting phrases that interacted with the negative space of the opposing group. I also enjoyed the way Bike made use of the stools \u2013 moving them in visible transitions and frequently arranging them in new ways.<\/p>\n

However, a lot of this piece was confusing. The more literal gestures that Bike used didn\u2019t quite work with the emotional performance \u2013 the dancers had to commit more or be even more intentionally deadpan, but it fell somewhere in the middle. The heeled dancer\u2019s solo used sexual movements like slowly opening her legs, but her performance felt disconnected. It felt like I was watching a dancer do the movements she was told to perform, rather than a character or person immersed in a story. Bike often incorporates quirky repeating movements that match elements of the music, but in this piece, the repeating marches the dancers would perform just felt strange. The music was melodramatic and there seemed to be a story that I could not discern.<\/p>\n

\"Benita<\/a><\/p>\n

Benita Bike\u2019s DanceArt Company \u2013 (l to r) Emma Vica\u00f1a, Sarah Chan, Emily Wallace, Riley Jo Parish, Genevieve Antonetty in Bike\u2019s \u201cSchoenfield Dances\u201d \u2013 Screenshot courtesy of the company.<\/p>\n

The final piece of the night, \u201cSchoenfield Dances\u201d was the most abstract piece of the night featuring flowing technical dancing that brought the music to life in both rhythm and energy. It was the most successful piece of the evening in this reviewer\u2019s eyes, showing off the strong dancers, highlighting Bike\u2019s musical attention to detail, and effectively bringing the energy of the music to life.<\/p>\n

The dancers wore different floral dresses and the work was in the category of contemporary ballet with its plotlessness and flow. The dancers\u2019 actions were swingier, emphasized by the moving fabric of their dresses. One section was quick and light on the feet, and then another started with a yawn and featured more languid extended movements. In this part, four of the dancers laid delicately on the floor, periodically stirring, as one danced around them before eventually finding a spot. During the final section, \u201cBoogie,\u201d the dancers playfully moved their shoulders to the music exuding joy in their faces. I loved how Bike\u2019s phrasework featured sharp accents contrasting looser swinging actions. The dancers ended this fun work with a final look at the audience before the blackout hit for a strong ending to the evening of dance.<\/p>\n

To learn more about Benita Bike\u2019s DanceArt Company, please visit their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Written by Rachel Turner for LA Dance Chronicle.<\/p>\n

Featured image: Benita Bike\u2019s DanceArt Company \u2013 (l to r) Emma Vica\u00f1a, Sarah Chan, Genevieve Antonetty, Riley Jo Parish, Emily Wallace in Bike\u2019s \u201cFrom Where I Sit\u201d \u2013 Screenshot courtesy of the company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Saturday, April 25, 2026 at Lineage Performing Arts Center, I attended Benita Bike\u2019s DanceArt Company\u2019s \u201c45 Years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-299840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}