On Saturday, April 25, 2026 at Lineage Performing Arts Center, I attended Benita Bike’s DanceArt Company’s “45 Years of Dancing,” 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’s talented company of dancers: Genevieve Antonetty, Sarah Chan, Riley Jo Parish, Emma Vicaña, and Emily Wallace. The program indicated that one piece was a premiere, and I’d be curious to know when on Bike’s 45+ year journey the other works were created as the program did not indicate this. Bike’s style uses strong gestural work, balletic technique, and reappearing motifs and patterns of movement.
Benita Bike’s DanceArt Company – Riley Jo Rarish in Bike’s “Aspects of Me”- Screenshot courtesy of the company.
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’t 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.
Benita Bike’s DanceArt Company – (l to r) Riley Jo Parish, Sarah Chan, Emily Wallace, Genevieve Antonetty in Bike’s Excerpt from “Benches” – Screenshot courtesy of the company.
The first work of the evening was “Excerpt from Benches.” The four dancers started seated and performed gestures that precisely matched notes of the music. The piece had a satisfying arc – 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 – even a different color would be much less of a prominent pop under the lights.
The second piece, “Aspects of Me,” consisted of four sections. The first section was a duet, “Me and Myself” featuring mostly unison, with moments of interaction and touch. I did not get much emotionally from the dancers’ performance, and it was unclear if this was an intentional lack of connection or part of the piece. “Me and the Branch,” 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. “Me and Her” was another duet that used clear circling pathways and glances over the shoulder to set a mood of uncertainty and distrust.
The final section, “We,” began 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.
Benita Bike’s DanceArt Company – (l to r) Emma Vicaña, Emily Wallace, Genevieve Antonetty (back), Riley Jo Parish, Sarah Chan in Bike’s “Flock Struck” – Screenshot courtesy of the company.
The premiere of the evening was “Flock Struck,” 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. 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 – 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.
After a brief intermission, “From Where I Sit” 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’t 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 – moving them in visible transitions and frequently arranging them in new ways.
However, a lot of this piece was confusing. The more literal gestures that Bike used didn’t quite work with the emotional performance – the dancers had to commit more or be even more intentionally deadpan, but it fell somewhere in the middle. The heeled dancer’s 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.
Benita Bike’s DanceArt Company – (l to r) Emma Vicaña, Sarah Chan, Emily Wallace, Riley Jo Parish, Genevieve Antonetty in Bike’s “Schoenfield Dances” – Screenshot courtesy of the company.
The final piece of the night, “Schoenfield Dances” 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’s eyes, showing off the strong dancers, highlighting Bike’s musical attention to detail, and effectively bringing the energy of the music to life.
The dancers wore different floral dresses and the work was in the category of contemporary ballet with its plotlessness and flow. The dancers’ 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, “Boogie,” the dancers playfully moved their shoulders to the music exuding joy in their faces. I loved how Bike’s 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.
To learn more about Benita Bike’s DanceArt Company, please visit their website.
Written by Rachel Turner for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Benita Bike’s DanceArt Company – (l to r) Emma Vicaña, Sarah Chan, Genevieve Antonetty, Riley Jo Parish, Emily Wallace in Bike’s “From Where I Sit” – Screenshot courtesy of the company.
