"City" Dance Program at Abrons Arts Center On Friday evening Bloom! Dance Collective, a group of five dancer-choreographers with roots in Hungary, Italy and Spain, made its American debut at Abrons Arts Center. If the piece it presented, "City," is an indication, this group isn't coy when it comes to addressing social issues. Even though these artists, based in London and Budapest, welcome humor and convey a decidedly casual vibe, "City" is political dance. End of story. Created and performed by Viktoria Danyi, Csaba Molnar, Timea Sebestyen, Moreno Solinas and Igor Urzelai, this 2010 evening-length work is Bloom's first collaboration. Its "City" is less an urban milieu than a microcosm of the world where power games are led by a dogmatic leader with a computer-generated voice. Individualism is cause for mortification. Prejudice is rampant. It's easy material for a dance, but it's not exactly original: in essence, "City" is a choreographic version of Simon Says. Under Kata Dezsi's bright lights, the five dancers formed a triangle and immediately disrobed. As the dancers stood in third position, with their arms held behind their backs - the stance was curiously bold and submissive - the mood shifted dramatically when circus music filled the theater. The sound design is by Alberto Ruiz Soler. The main attraction? Bouncing breasts and genitals. Linking arms, the dancers formed a long line that rotated as they pranced like trick horses. This was all about the power of the group, and it was over in a flash. After dressing, the performers retreated to chairs placed in rows on either side of the stage. Here, they grew restless, unconvincingly shifting their legs while sighing and crossing their arms. Returning to the stage, they knitted together a long sequence of pedestrian shapes in a follow-the-leader manner that became increasingly vigorous as their sweeping movement morphed into a militaristic unison. The computer voice called out dancers" names; each responded by raising an arm and looking into the audience. As the voice sped up, identities were blurred and then eradicated altogether when names were replaced by commands. As the voice recited words, including "male," "female," "homosexual" and "drama queen," the dancers formed static positions that, strung together, became a dance within a dance. The voice-over manipulation continued as Ms. Sebestyen and Mr. Urzelai were directed to "stop, sit down and stand up" to the point of overemphasized exhaustion. For a dance with such a sincere message, the tepid acting, slapstick or not, was a constant distraction. In another scene Mr. Solinas took the lead as a maniacal dictator, kicking his legs to either side like a frog, until the others abandoned him; the voice-over proclaimed him to be "a loser." Humiliation continued when the dancers assumed the triangle formation again, with Ms. Danyi front and center. She was the only one to undress, and the voice responded with: "Shame on you. What do you think you are doing? Do you think you are funny? Do you think you are original? Put your clothes on. All right, we get it. This look at the individual within a group was as oppressive as the discrimination that it worked so hard to condemn. Of course that was the point, but in the end, it didn't expose much.