Different Chip

Dance Theatre of Harlem Ensemble
Lincoln Theater
Washington, DC
March 25, 2011

by George Jackson
copyright 2011 by George Jackson

We have been waiting a while for the rebirth of Dance Theatre of Harlem as a ballet company of international stature. The DTH Ensemble isn't intended to be that. What the group's directors, Virginia Johnson (artistically responsible for all DTH activities from training to performing) and Keith Saunders (specifically in charge of the Ensemble), must have wanted with this first program was a step in the right direction. How right was it?

Ballet audiences loved "Harlem". Why? Beginning in 1969, when Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook founded the school and then the company, the Harlem dancers' attack on the classical code of movement was fresh as spring and as fearless as that of angels. The company developed stars (Johnson and Saunders sparkled among the brightest) yet displayed a daring sense of ensemble. In their explorations of intriguing territory such as the Ballet Russe repertory, this group seemed like adventurers eager to possess but also keen to make discoveries. They gave the remote Russian mysteries of Fokine, Nijinska and Lichine a neighborly glow; the old ballets' patina was as if new. Harlem showed the romantic classic "Giselle" in a different light without changing a step or violating its style. True, there were no miracles of original choreography, still some of the premiers - Robert Garland's as often as not - were more than mere novelties. Because of these things DTH should come back! 

Only one of the five works danced Friday by the Ensemble reminded me why I miss DTH. It was Garland's 1999 "Return". He melds swaggering shoulders, swinging hips and a bit of cheek so suavely with ballet stretch, flex and turn-out that I forgave him the shrill of the James Brown, Aretha Franklin et al. pop songs. That music was like an assault, yet Garland had deftly molded the songs' lead characters into personifcations of attitudes. These figures left powerful impressions, although the piece didn't add up to a whole and remained a set of separate sketches. 

What excuse was there for the rest of the repertory? Two acrobatic adagios, Peter Pucci's "Episode" duo (music: Nana Simopoulos) and Royston Maldoom's trio "Adagietto #5" (Mahler) were shamelessly gimmicky. The cadets and their prom queen dates in "Fete Noir" (Shostakovitch) danced pallid neoclassical choreography even though this Arthur Mitchell ballet was once a DTH staple. David Fernandez tried to individualize the 4 couples in his neoclassical "Six Piano Pieces" (Moritz Moszkowski) but it had the effect of turning them into stereotypes. 

The DTH Ensemble's 15 or so dancers share neat finishes but didn't otherwise look like a group. Body types are quite diverse, so is projective power. The quiet generosity of Flavia Garcia (trained in Cuba) caught my eye, so did lively Ashley Murphy (Harlem schooled). DaVon Doane (from Maryland's Salisbury Studio, DC's Kirov Academy and the Atlantic Contemporary's school) cut up contagiously in the "Superbad" finale of Garland's "Return". 

Next time, please, choreography with more bite, vision and distinction. Also a bold sense of ensemble and, not least, costuming that compliments the dancers' bodies.