Haun’s ‘Walkabout’ Ventures Into Compelling Territory

In his dead-white Pierrot makeup, dancer Eric Daniel Haun effusively greets his audience at the Glaxa Studios in Silver Lake and immediately assumes the role of Truth Teller, asking portentous questions in an over-the-top theatrical style. “What would you do,” he wonders oh-so-momentously, “if you found what you were looking for?”

Don’t ask, and don’t worry. Haun’s 32-minute modern dance solo “Walkabout,” seen at its L.A. opening Thursday, may begin by parodying the stale strategies and outright lies of Euro-American dance-theater and performance art, but it quickly deepens to reveal his remarkable expressive powers. Like King Lear, his moment of truth comes in a terrifying storm that leaves him helpless and virtually naked. Shorn of the rhetoric borrowed from Existentialism 101 and no longer able to showcase his dance technique in glib, twinkle-toes choreography, he struggles for balance and rediscovers his own nature.

Like a flower slowly opening in time-lapse photography, Haun steadily rises and unbends to the pulse of African rhythms, painfully gaining control of his body but also something more: a sense of how to move from within, a feeling of connection. Unfortunately, “Walkabout” ends here, at its most interesting juncture--with a newly whole, humble Haun setting off on a journey toward freedom.

Maybe it’s a homeward journey: Formerly of Echo Park, Haun has returned to the Southland from years of dancing in Europe. (“Walkabout” premiered in Amsterdam earlier this year.) Along with his ability to inhabit a number of contrasting movement personalities, his conceptual sophistication and sheer intensity make him an important discovery for local audiences.

* “Walkabout,” tonight at 8, Glaxa Studios, 3707 Sunset Blvd. $10. (213) 850-8541.