Kids in Good Company.

Even adult professionals can find the demands of Mark Morris's and Twyla Tharp's choreography a handful. But there's a troupe of teenagers in Brooklyn who rise to the challenge, aided by the choreographers and their companies.

Last year, Kids' Company worked with Mark Morris Dance Group dancers John Heginbotham and Marjorie Folkman to learn sections of the Morris company's L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato. Then this extraordinary teen troupe, directed by Diane Jacobowitz, performed the work at its January debut concert. The thirteen dancers even wore MMDG original costumes. They also learned and performed works by modern choreographer and dancer David Dorfman in the spring.

This month's Kids' Cafe Festival, January 14-21, is being hosted by Rennie Harris PureMovement, with performances and hip-hop classes at Brooklyn Music School and Playhouse (around the corner from Brooklyn Academy of Music--see Calendar, Festivals--Brooklyn, page 26). On January 19, a festival champagne preview honors Twyla Tharp, and the Kids' Company performs excerpts from Tharp's Deuce Coupe, followed by an exhibition of the percussive skills of the tap dance group Little Rhythm Kings. In preparation for this rare production, three dancers from the original Tharp company, Jennifer Way, Rose Marie Wright and Shelley Washington, taught and coached the eager youngsters.

Kids' Company is a program for 11- to 18-year-old boys and girls chosen by audition. The company is under the auspices of Dancewave, Inc., founded in 1979 by Jacobowitz, its executive and artistic director. Kids' Company's goal, says Jacobowitz, is to provide a professional platform for talented kids ready for a challenging performing experience. Apparently some very talented friends are willing to lend a hand--and a whole lot more.

NEW SCHOOLS

Ballet Theater of Chicago has opened a school for all levels from creative movement to advanced ballet in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood at St. Alphonsus School, 2941 North Greenview Avenue. Artistic Director Mario de la Nuez of Ballet Theater of Chicago will also direct the school. Faculty includes Meridith Benson, ballerina with BTC and formerly a principal with Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, and Guillermo Leyva Barley of BTC. The school will be a training ground for future company dancers, but will also be open to all children and adults. Call 312/337-5752 for information.

New York's Dance Space Center has launched a children's program to accommodate toddlers through teens, beginning at 6 months for Mommy/Daddy and Me classes and going up to 16 years. The program is designed to educate preschoolers to the joy of movement long before formal dance training begins. Special features of the Young People in Motion program will be the Zena Rommett Floor-Barre Technique, and jazz classes in the (Lynn) Simonson Technique--both adapted for children by their founders [see story featuring Simonson in Dance Magazine, August 2000, page 49, and on Zena Rommett Floor-Barre in Dance Magazine, November, 2000, page 70]. Dance Space Center Director Laurie DeVito will also direct the DSC Kids program. For information call 212/625-8369 or email [e-mail]

The Ada Linares Performing Arts Center (ALPAC) now graces the University Lakes area of Miami, Florida, at 12796 SW 8th Street. A well-known performer in the United States and in Spain, Linares offers health and lifestyle classes for ages 3 to adult. The schedule includes Spanish dance, ballet, tap, jazz, tumbling, lyrical dance, hip-hop, modern dance, tae kwon do, musical theater and salsa. For more information call 305/225-4888 or email [e-mail]

The American Dance Institute opened for classes in September at 1570 East Jefferson Street in Rockville, Maryland (301/984-3003 or www.americandance.org). Founded by Michael Bjerknes (formerly of the Joffrey Ballet) and his wife, Pamela (formerly of American Ballet Theatre), the institute, say its founders, is devoted to making everyone who enters their doors feel better on the way out than on the way in. Lessons will be offered to all ages and abilities.

OUTREACH IN THE NETHERLANDS

Each year the famed Introdans Ensemble for Youth presents its informances, this year a selection of repertoire of choreographer Hans van Manen called Mix4Kids. This professional company tours through the end of January in sixteen sites in the Netherlands. Compiled for "everyone who values the child in themselves" the program is for ages 7 and up.