Dining Alone Tricia Brouk Dance Review

A solo show is a tricky thing, as demonstrated by Tricia Brouk in "Dining Alone," which features the dancer in five solos "tied together by a narrative feast," the press material says. (This refers to the show's cafe setting and insipid interludes performed by four actors.) The program, performed on Thursday night at Dance Theater Workshop and directed by Joe Ricci, is more of a light snack.

The only surreal aspect of the show was evident in the crowd of boldface names, seemingly because of Ms. Brouk's work as a choreographer on John Turturro's film "Romance and Cigarettes," which transformed the theater on Thursday into a reunion of "The Sopranos." (Present were James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Aida Turturro and Steve Buscemi). To Ms. Brouk's credit, she didn't dance to Journey, the band whose music featured memorably in the series finale.

As a performer, Ms. Brouk embodies clarity, freshness and, in her past work with the choreographers Ben Munisteri, Lucinda Childs and David Gordon, a dramatic intuitiveness that has lent her dancing an effervescent elegance. One piece in "Dining Alone," Annie-B Parson's "Short Ride Out," provides a glimpse of such refinement. Set to Stravinsky, the solo, full of lightly skimming steps, hops and moments of stillness, illuminates Ms. Brouk's polish and musicality.

But the bulk of the program is about character study. In Dusan Tynek's "Noyée," inspired by Degas's "Absinthe," Ms. Brouk - costumed with immaculate detail in a brown skirt and a creamy jacket by A. Christina Giannini - knocks back glasses of green liquid like a fragile addict and lets loose, peeling off her clothes and draping herself on tables with feigned abandon.

At the start of Eun Me Ahn's "Boxing Queen," Ms. Brouk, bending at the waist while wearing an American flag halter dress and enclosed in a square of flowers, manipulates her powerful back so that it takes on the appearance of a plucked chicken. (The crowd tittered.) A burst of Abba's "Dancing Queen," in which Ms. Brouk kicks up a storm, adds little punch.

The program also includes two new works by Ms. Brouk: "Crossing," a cloying exploration of sexual satisfaction, and the mournful "Rose," set to Louis Armstrong's version of "La Vie en Rose."

Obvious and ineffectual, the solos seemed to define the trouble with "Dining Alone." Without invigorating choreography, all the drama in the world couldn't hide the fact that there was little to bite into.

Tricia Brouk performs the program again tonight at Dance Theater Workshop, 219 West 19th Street, Chelsea; (212) 924-0077 or dtw.org.