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Night Howl
By Karen Reardanz

Sarah Blade-Blakey Tights Fit: Modern dance takes center stage on Friday and Saturday nights when the Cabrillo College Dance Department flexes its lithe muscles on the school's Aptos stage. Feet Accompli: Some of the best in Santa Cruz County choreography and movement help reinvent modern dance at Cabrillo College IF YOU DROPPED A BOMB on the Cabrillo College Theater this weekend, it would wipe out the entire face of local dance in one fell swoop. The theater opens its stage doors to the college's dance department for its annual Fall Dance Concert, which features Tandy Beal protégé Sara Wilbourne, who directs the modern dancers in a showcase of faculty and student choreography and dance. Provocative and thought-provoking, sometimes disturbing but nonetheless enchanting, the show weaves together ballet, improv, hip-hop and street dance through pieces created by such local luminaries as Bruce Lee, Lambert van Buuren, Stacy Kelly and others. And while all this promises to be engaging, the truly daring happens after-hours on Friday when Wilbourne once again directs dancers from the Cabrillo repertory class through dreamlike music, stories and dance. Rick Walker supplies the sound, and Nancy LeVan, Lee and Nita Little provide the moves. Spontaneous and random, this show promises the unexpected. The Fall Dance Concert takes place on Friday and Saturday (8pm) at the Cabrillo College Theater, 6500 Soquel Drive, Aptos. Tickets cost $8/$6. The late-night concert will be held on Friday (11pm) at the same theater. Tickets for that show cost $5. For more info, call 479-5201. Going Up Teen culture has been the focus of many a movie, from the teeny-bopper beach romps of the '60s to the '80s' naked-chicks-in-the-shower flicks. With our current decade came a crop of downer teen flicks that circle a little closer to reality but rarely hit the mark. The youth of America never really talk or act or dress like the movies and TV shows portray them--kids in Peoria rarely resemble the glossy cutouts on 90210 or Saved by the Bell--and it's oftentimes because the actors are at least five to 10 years beyond those of troubled youth. So in comes the locally produced, locally shot movie Coming Down by filmmaker Benjamin Morgan. It's a chronicle of a day in the life of a Santa Cruz teen whose existence pretty much consists of trash-talking with his friends, trying to hook up with the ladies and hanging out. But he also smokes way too much pot, pounds 40s like a champion and wastes his days with buddies who don't think twice about jacking anybody and everybody. The story of Coming Down may not be anything new, but it's a very real film. The kids don't talk like a 35-year-old thinks they talk--instead, the film's kids are upfront, funny and on the money. Director/writer/producer/editor Morgan put the film together for a few hundred dollars, but the quality of his cinematography, editing and music choices is far superior to what you might expect from a public access program with a minuscule budget. His writing is smart and thoughtful, accurate though not fatalistic, and the whole shebang is a promising first venture. Coming Down airs Monday (8pm) on Community Television Channel 72. FutureThink Slam Granny's poetry slam converges on the Ugly Mug on Friday at 7:30pm. [ Metro Santa Cruz | MetroActive Central | Archives ]