`ACHILLES' CHOREOGRAPHER DEVIATES FROM NORM.

Byline: Laura Bleiberg The Orange County Register

Choreographer Lloyd Newson had long pondered all the ``don'ts'' that men are forced to live with.

Don't show your feelings. Don't touch other men. Don't talk about what you're really thinking. Don't dress in even a slightly feminine manner.

Newson thoughts crystallized because of experiences he had while in the hospital for five weeks, recovering from an injured Achilles tendon. His ideas and experiences were transformed into his 1995 dance piece, ``Enter Achilles.''

``My male friends, they didn't come to the hospital at all, or very rarely,'' said Newson, who was born in Australia and lives in London. ``My female friends were there. So that made me think about the male friendships and what they are based on.''

``Enter Achilles'' puts eight men in a pub and looks at what happens when they carry male ``acceptable'' behaviors to extremes. What starts out as cockiness and bravado becomes aggressive and dangerous. ``Enter Achilles'' makes its West Coast debut tonight through Sunday at UCLA's Freud Playhouse. The presenter, UCLA's Center for the Performing Arts, has advertised the piece as appropriate for ``mature audiences.''

Newson formed his DV8 Physical Theatre Company in 1986 because he was fed up with the kinds of dance he was doing in other companies. He builds his dances on ideas. And if that makes his dances provocative, well, that is what he expects. He acknowledges that beautiful or abstract movement has its place; but not in his works.

``My biggest problem with dance is it essentially tries to please and it is totally dominated and seduced by notions of beauty rather than meaning,'' said Newson during a phone interview from his Westwood hotel.

``Dance very rarely deals with any ... important issues. It seems, again, what dance is allowed to do is so restrictive.''

Newson formed DV8 - which stands for ``dance and video eight,'' and is pronounced ``deviate'' - to defy restrictions. He has created 10 dances, and none could be called ``easy.'' ``Dead Dreams of Monochrome Men'' was based on serial sex killer Dennis Nilsen and ``MSM'' was about ``cottaging'' - anonymous gay sex in public bathrooms.

By comparison, ``Enter Achilles,'' is less controversial, which is why Newson brought it out of retirement for his first United States tour. Unlike other companies, DV8 does not keep an active repertory; it tours each piece for about a year and then moves on to the next.

In addition to the live performances, Newson has made three dance videos and films, which he has used to help promote the company. He said the company has become a ``British flagship'' for dance, having won 25 major film and theater awards.

Still, for all his own success with risky, no-compromising material, Newson is dismayed by the growth of more commercial and less radical dance productions.

``I feel a very big trend is a revival of old forms. All the big commercial hits - `Tap Dogs,' `Riverdance' and Matthew Bourne's `Swan Lake' - all of those return to old forms.

``What I feel - and I haven't quite got a grasp on the American scene - is people are wanting what they know at the moment. There is much less risk-taking going on than in the mid-'80s. I think people want an easier time. And because there is less money than before, artists are saying `Let's do work that's going to make us money.' ''

THE FACTS

What: ``Enter Achilles,'' a dance-theater piece by Britian's DV8 Physical Theatre Company.

When: 8 tonight and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday.

Where: UCLA's Freud Playhouse (in the theater building, parking in Structure No. 3).

How long: One hour, 15 minutes.

How much: $25 general admission, $9 for full-time UCLA students with ID. Call [phone].

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Photo

Photo: DV8 Physical Theatre explores male stereotypes in ``Enter Achilles.