DANCE THEATRE OF HARLEM.

DANCE THEATRE OF HARLEM CITY CENTER SEPTEMBER 21-OCTOBER 3, 1999 REVIEWED BY JOSEPH CARMAN 

Arthur Mitchell has for three decades personified the vision and ambition needed to shape a dance company from the plies to the curtain calls. For its thirtiet-anniversary season, Dance Theatre of Harlem set out to preserve and further its vision via a City Center season that was almost overly ambitious in its scope. In two weeks the company presented fifteen ballets, including three premieres and numerous revivals, a schedule that other troupes would barely attempt in a month.

The slam-dunk winner among the season's premieres was Dwight Rhoden's Twist, a high-tech, sexy work endowed with plenty of muscle and stretch For its alacritous dancers. Backed by the fluorescent Mondrian-style lighting design of Michael Korsch, the dancers reveled in a riot of movement that ranged from gooey to explosive, with an emphasis on intricate partnering. Rhoden's snappy choreography to Antonio Carlos Scott's score showcased the best of the company's new talent, including Kellye A. Saunders, Andrea Long, Maria Phegan, Lynda Sing, Kip Sturm, Duncan Cooper, Ramon Thielen, and Donald Williams, all costumed in boldly colored, artfully slashed unitards by Pamela Allen-Cummings.

Less appealing was the world premiere of "Return," by Robert Garland, which pitted neoclassical dance vocabulary against the soul music of Aretha Franklin and James Brown. It is a tough task to compete with such musical legends. Garland's choreography gave the dancers little to hang on to and provided the audience with even less of a point of view about the songs themselves.

Rituals of all varieties played an essential part of DTH's theatrical repertory during the season, ranging from Geoffrey Holder's spectacular Dougla to the new South African Suite, a choreographic collaboration of Augustus van Heerden, Laveen Naidu, and Mitchell. An uplifting ensemble piece that echoes the onstage Soweto String Quartet with its contagious rhythms, South African Suite starts with a sinuous tease of a solo by Caroline Rocher that escalates into a joyous communal gathering.

The more solemn counterpart to this work was the production of Vincent Sekwati Mantsoe's Sasanka, which suggested a stiffer, unsmiling South African ceremony.

Holder's Dougla is hard to top in the realm of fantasized pageants, and here the color and form of an astute visual artist brings together the mix of African and Hindu celebration in an exhilarating wedding ceremony.

The same choreographer's Banda, despite the diabolically erotic performance of Williams as a Vodun deity, seemed more static by comparison, owing to the lack of dynamics needed to sustain the energy of the work.

As for the Balanchine works, which have always been a cornerstone of the company's repertory, the results were puzzling. Prodigal Son (like many other story ballets the company has presented in the past) works marvelously, enhanced by the monumental performance of Cooper as the protagonist and by Rocher, who with no strain managed to make the demanding role of the Siren both authoritative and kittenish.

The company maintained a far shakier grip on The Four Temperaments, which at times looked leaden and unspacious. A miscast Bugaku was an uncomfortable choice for the season, partially because of the director's dubious decision in this and other ballets to reengage former company dancers, some of whom looked out of shape or completely retired.

Sleek, contemporary neoclassicism, however, is what the company does best, and the troupe has always excelled in the ballets of Glen Tetley. His Dialogues was one of the highlights of the season, and its smoothly physical transitions and dramatic tone fit the company like a perfectly tailored Armani suit. When the sublime Saunders was swept out of a front attitude turn into a seamless set of partnered lifts by her impeccably astute partner, Williams, the phrase became a metaphor for DTH at its zenith. Similarly, John Alleyne's Adrian (Angel on Earth), in spite of the slightly irritating New Age piano score by Timothy Sullivan, showed off the company's lyrical style with Kevin Thomas and Phegan as standouts.

The most disposable repertory of the season was best exemplified by Michael Smuin's A Song for Dead Warriors, an overproduced ballet that attempts to make a political statement about oppressed Indians. The well-executed solos of the male warriors were unfortunately not sufficient to erase the poor taste and slight choreography that the piece portrayed. Choreographer Bill T. Jones would be a far wiser choice in connecting dance vocabulary to political expression.

Nonetheless, it was wonderful to see the Harlem company back on a prime New York City stage after too long an absence. Perhaps for the next engagement, the company can edit its schedule, allowing for more rehearsal time, and expand its small roster of twenty dancers to thirty or more, without having to draw on former stars or to fill out the ranks with students from Dancing Through Barriers.

The current company now has its own bona fide stars in the likes of Saunders and Cooper. A judicious focus on first-rate neoclassical dancing and an ability to ignite great theater in the form of story ballets is the direction for this group. Dance Theatre of Harlem can then unwaveringly demonstrate its combination of energetic street smarts and New York City elegance that will guarantee its well-deserved place as an ambassador of artistic goodwill for another thirty years.