A FLYING LEAP.

Byline: Fred Crafts The Register-Guard

The meanings behind "The Camouflage Trilogy" may be obscure, but the the Rainbow Dance Theatre's intent is obvious: Give the audience a show they won't soon forget.

"It's very, very physical," co-artistic director/choreographer Valerie Bergman says about the high-tech, street-wise, on-the-edge, in-your-face dance work.

It's a blend of African dance, hip-hop and martial arts with gravity-defying partnering and a high-impact, rapid-fire style of modern dance. The work's sheer physicality has left viewers stunned.

"It's very much a two-hour marathon for the dancers," Bergman says.

"The Camouflage Trilogy" is a three-part, full-evening dance work, choreographed by Bergman and Darryl Thomas.

Thomas is a former Pilobolus Dance Theatre member, now a professor of dance at Western Oregon University in Monmouth. Bergman is a former Nina Wiener Dance Company lead dancer, now running Rainbow Dance Theatre. They are husband and wife.

This particular work has been in gestation for roughly eight years, inching forward as new ideas occur. Sets include a soft-sculpture rock wall and cave, a moving "waterfall," a suspended cargo net canopy with ramps leading upward and downward to all areas of the stage, full-stage track-flying, a city-scape backdrop and live computer-gaming animation projections.

Rubbery dancers rappel down from the rafters both onstage and in the house, a "black angel" tumbles from the sky while flying in and out of the grasp of her Earth-bound partner, and dancers display daredevil virtuosity on the suspended cargo net canopy.

Thundering behind the dance is a sound score featuring taiko master Kenny Endo, African percussion masters Baba Olatunji and Mamady Keita, and a number of rap stars.

In the abstract, the choreographers are investigating various meanings of the word "camouflage" - first, in a computer game come to life onstage; second, in the natural world where animals disappear into and emerge mysteriously from their environment; and, third, in an urban setting where people, like the animals, camouflage their true selves for protection.

At its most innovative, "The Camouflage Trilogy" places the human body in positions rarely, if ever, seen in dance.

"Our idea has been to try to take modern dance to a more entertaining level," Bergman says. "We wanted to create scenes that are clear so the audience feels like it has something to follow. Then to add in very athletic movement that's exciting to watch - sort of the thrill that people get at watching sports.

"It's a combination of things that take it beyond what you might typically call a dance concert."

This is not news for Eugene audiences. Bergman and Thomas brought two sections of "The Camouflage Trilogy" - "Journey to the Dark Side" and "The Sorcerer's Crossing" - here in February 2002.

Now, with "Fallen Angels," the work is complete. And changes have been made in the first two sections as well.

"As you look at things, you see things you could tweak a little bit more or put a little bit more polish on, take the edge off something and develop it further," Thomas says. "Art is a dynamic process."

Continues Bergman, ``We have done a lot of changes, especially to `Journey to Dark Side.' The ninja section has changed. We now have a full track-flying system used in `Fallen Angels' as well.

``One of the ninjas and one of the cameo characters will fly in and out on a large hoop that twists and turns and moves around with them. In addition to that, the ninja section has been expanded a great deal and includes a lot more authentic martial arts movements in it.''

Each third of "The Camouflage Trilogy" is decidedly different. The opening section focuses on a woman in a threatened position. In the second and third sections she becomes an onlooker, a focal shift that challenges the viewer to keep up.

"It's not like a movie where you have the text to tell you what is happening next," Thomas says. "It's all movement images that are metaphors that help to push the story or idea along. That's really the way to look at it - as a series of movement ideas. Then just experience it for the joy of the movement."

The Rainbow Dance Theatre is the latest project by Bergman and Thomas, who have extensive backgrounds at the national level. After three years with the Pilobolus Dance Theater, Thomas went on his own. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Florida; the Centro Nacional de las Artes of Mexico City; Studio Dance Tanz in Osaka, Japan; and the Pusan National University of Pusan, South Korea.

Bergman was principal dancer, ballet mistress and rehearsal assistant for the Nina Wiener Dance Company of New York and has danced with the companies of Merce Cunningham, Mel Wong, Douglas Neilson, the Netherlands Ballet and the Hawaii Opera Theatre Ballet.

But there came a time when they wanted to settle down, raise a family, teach and have their own dance company. Western Oregon University provided all that. Since then they have poured their energies into "The Camouflage Trilogy," which is, Bergman says, "very much a collaborative work."

Fred Crafts can be reached at 338-2575 or fcrafts@guardnet .com.

CONCERT PREVIEW

The Camouflage Trilogy

What: The Rainbow Dance Theatre's new eveninglong work puts dancers in gravity-defying positions; choreographed by Darrel Thomas and Valerie Bergman

When: 8 p.m. Saturday

Where: Silva Hall, Hult Center, Seventh Avenue and Willamette Street

How much: $18 to $26 ($14 student/youth), through the Hult Center box office (682-5000)

CAPTION(S):

Norma Mace, (clockwise) Jonathan Krebs, Willie Johnson, Jon Ayson.