FOOTNOTES: THE CONCERT.

FOOTNOTES: THE CONCERT CALIFORNIA CENTER ESCONDIDO, CALIFORNIA APRIL 21-22, 2000

Savion Glover had the audience as riled up as rock `n' roll fans at the Escondido performance of FootNotes. Whoops, yells and claps exploded when Glover leapt onstage, dreadlocks flying and feet drumming the boards into rousing staccato rhythms.

A slick, Broadway-style show with high-tech sound effects, multi-level stage, costumes by Armani Exchange and red-hot musicians whose sound ranged from funk to jazz and blues, FootNotes was conceived, directed, choreographed and performed by Glover. What kept the show from becoming all glitz and flash were its studied technique rooted in several tap styles and its emotional integrity, while Glover's star presence sustained the energy through a lengthy program with only one intermission.

Glover's "soul" is in his dancing and his feelings are embodied in the choreography, creating convoluted conversations that draw the audience deep into the experience; emotions spill out at every movement riff and slide. Every rhythmic shift changed the mood. From a gentle tip-tap like the murmuring patter of spring rain to thunder-crack jumps and the smart-aleck snap-slap-pop of a firecracker, Glover's feet tossed like tassels, and the sounds alternately soothed and then sparked the senses.

The concert's sections flowed into each other like the hues of a sunset: In fiery orange, Glover was all over the stage as if its space couldn't contain him, dancing fifty-five minutes straight with superb control of his flying feet and the laid-back air of a San Diego suffer.

A lighthearted solo by 10-year-old whiz kid and Glover protege Cartier Williams led to a tongue-in-cheek game of one-upmanship with Glover.

At one point a special sound box under the stage made even the tiniest trembling of Glover's toes carry all the rumbling presage of an earthquake, echoing patterns under the floor until they became a drumming flood of repeating rhythms.

The second half of the program shed the steamy "pows" for more "ooh-yeah," cool blue tones and slow sensuous rhythms. Glover opened with a soft-shoe sand dance, then segued the show into a series of solos by three other tap legends. Buster Brown showed that his shimmies still are as potent as his humor; Jimmy Slyde slurped across the floor as if gliding over ice; and the elegant intricacies of Dianne Walker's sophisticated tap moves proved as effervescent as champagne.

In a finale tribute to jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane, the loose-limbed Glover seemed tuning-fork sensitive, imbuing his slides with melancholy and snapping every gesture where elbows, head and hands seemed connected to his feet. He simply slipped into the jazz, and brought forth all the emotional clarity and pure artistry of the form so ably represented by the four generations of dancers in this concert.