LES BALLETS AFRICAINS.

LES BALLETS AFRICAINS, PARAMOUNT THEATRE DENVER, COLORADO OCTOBER 19, 1999 REVIEWED BY JANINE GASTINEAU

Les Ballets Africains, created in 1952 by Guinean choreographer Keita Fodeba, first arrived in the United States in 1959 and was an immediate sensation. Four decades later, this national ensemble continues to cut an explosive swath throughout the world. Thirty-five dancers, singers, and musicians from the Republic of Guinea made an unforgettable one-night-only Denver appearance in Hamidou Bangoura's captivating Evolution.

A model of diversity, the Republic of Guinea is bordered by six West Africa nations and is itself a nation of four distinct regions. Its complex national character is reflected in both the company's personnel and repertory. Its performances are also strongly thematic, previously addressing education and the environment. This season, Bangoura's work examined evolution within a particular culture: What values remain to be passed on? How are established traditions affected?

Evolution's strongest focus was on the Guinean woman, who throughout was danced as purposeful, confident, held as equal to a man by all. In Act I, songs and dances from the coast, central Guinea, and the highlands framed a moving story of several initiates, young girls on the verge of womanhood.

After a dazzling display of drumming and parades of masks great and small, a remarkable event occurred: The initiates rejected the ritual female circumcision. One gesture rang out like a shout: A girl stood and emphatically refused. An entire dance devoted to this followed. That the statement was made by a national, government-funded dance ensemble deepened the point.

Much was made of the initiates throughout the scenario: Clad mainly in loincloths and onstage for most of the performance, their exuberant beauty and muscular bodies made me wish their audience included more teenage American girls. The initiates closed Act I with an impressive display of female power in an extended drumming exchange; exuberantly claiming percussion for themselves, they faced off a stageful of drumming men and more than held their own.

Act II, after opening in a marvelous melodic display from several Krins, used a dance-off between town and country women to illustrate differences and commonalities of late twentieth-century social mores. Then the men bounded onstage in a raucous display of athletic prowess, tumbling and flipping in breathtaking form. The final ensemble number, wave upon wave of thunderous drums and swirling, shining bodies, brought the house to its feet, where it remained for several encores.