Monday, May 21, 2007

Friday night's performance of DanceSmith, a contemporary ballet company directed by Natalie Moffett Smith, at the Atlas Performing Arts Center was a delicious collection that celebrated the very act of dancing. "Bach on the Run," a joyful Paul Tayloresque romp for four women, was the highlight. The dancers punctuated their flow with crisp arm and foot gestures that added visual texture to the breathlessly fluid work.

"Harmonium," a series of slow vignettes, provided deep emotive expressiveness, each movement embodying strong muscular tension. As if in homage to Martha Graham, the five dancers were dressed in straight flesh-toned gowns and gestured in torment and desire -- their arms moving in adulation and angst with a creative tension occasionally released through accomplished ballet technique.

"Interval," the third premiere among the evening's six dances, was a delicate, yet masculine, solo danced by Waylon Anderson. With Panlike cheekiness, he spun about, whirling in his orange tunic like an ember on the stage. "Arms Length," a duet also with Anderson, featured a radiant Victoria North opening on point, her toes furiously tapping in a pool of stark light. She displayed exquisite technique as she unfolded in a series of shapes, like an origami artwork. Her beautiful leg and arm extensions and the delicate phrasing of her movement contrasted with her withdrawal to a narrow shaft of light. The shifts recalled the opening and closing of a flower.

-- Barbara Allen