Pennington Dance Group premieres the SPR Synthesis Project. The title comes from the initials of the three collaborators, Robert Sinsheimer, one of the first molecular biologists to work on the Human Genome Project, John Pennington, dancer and choreographer, and internationally exhibited artist Susan Rankaitis, who provides the video scenic design. The SPR Synthesis Project is a dance theater work that examines the high stakes and mysteries of human genome research.

The PDG will also premiere Reflections on Kreutzberg, a suite of solo dances originally choreographed by German Expressionist dancer Harald Kreutzberg. These dances have been carefully recreated with new choreography by collaborators Emma Lew Thomas, a former Wigman dancer, and John Pennington. Renowned composer and Lester Horton awardee, Paul Des Marais, accompanies the suite of dances with new compositions. Reflections on Kreutzberg assembles three dances created between the great wars that through movement, masks, and metaphor, probe the subjective impressions and expressions of death. OUT OF, which recently had its premiere at the Cerritos Performing Art Center in May '05, has been extended with new choreography and will close the program. Through his original score, Edgar Rothermich, has composed a brilliant aural landscape that complements Susan Rankaitis' floor to ceiling panels that grace the stage and frame the dancers. OUT OF is an abstract ensemble dance celebrating community through the imagery of the lotus plant with Jim Tsou's original costumes enhancing the design collaboration. Andrew N. Milhan, lighting design artist, oversees the dances with his award-winning eye that completes this must-see dance event, supported in part by the CSULB Dance Department.