Founded by Joan Myers Brown in 1970, Philadanco is a company of black dancers who mix modern dance with classical ballet. The troupe performed four short pieces at the Palace of Arts on March 14.
The first piece, In between Time, is an etude that speaks distress, relieved only a degree by the dancers' wide smiles. In it, the dancers turn and spin to a jazz number recreating something like a scene from the musical Grease.
The second piece, called Blue, examines manhood, masculine energy, athleticism and femininity. The choreographer Christopher L. Huggins (a solo dancer and guest choreographer with the legendary Alvine Ailey Dance theatre, and no stranger to Europe) blends perfectly elements of ballet and of rap culture in the piece.
In the third piece, called Violin Concerto and set to Philip Glass's work of the same name, choreographer Milton Myers slowly allows tension to build among the dancers. The tension culminates in the last piece, Enemy Behind the Gates, also choreographed by Huggins. The dancers show an unbelievable concentration of energy in what can only be called danse pure.
Author: Ádám Mestyán
