What has tribal African drums, half-naked dancing men, orange spandex and a strobe light? Though it sounds like the makings of a really low-budget rave, all of these elements intermixed perfectly to complement the beautiful ballet stylings of the Washington Reflections Dance Company in a one-time performance on Oct. 29 at the Lincoln Theatre.
The company features highly skilled, predominantly African-American dancers from ballet schools across the nation. This ensemble "strives to strengthen the local and national dance communities by broadening cultural dialogue and promoting the voice of the inner city." What this comes down to is a powerful ballet/R&B infusion program which channels urban roots while maintaining the classic beauty and skill of ballet.
The program, directed by Washington Reflections artistic director Fabian Barnes and choreographed by various members of the company, consisted of six dances, each with a unique flavor and style. When the curtain rose for the first dance, the lack of scenery was worrisome and the flowy, nontraditional costumes of the dancers increased the fear. This would definitely be a "modern" dance, far beyond the comprehension of mere pedestrian art-heads. However, the dancers' use of classic skill and technique rather than solely interpretive oddities was pleasantly surprising, making for an interesting and beautiful performance.
The first dance was rhythmically choreographed to a tribal-sounding, aboriginal tune, sort of like "The Lion King" meets "Swan Lake."
However, even an untrained audience member could tell that the dancers were occasionally off-synch. They were also barefoot, which might be seen as an affront to ballet purists who are used to only seeing dancers en pointe. Still, even through the rough choreography, the passion and emotion of the dancers was clearly visible.
The next dance was entitled "Rosa," a powerful if unsubtle tribute to Rosa Parks. Dancer Pascha Barnwell did a fair job with her 10-minute one-woman show, but got a little melodramatic. It included less dancing than wordless acting, but it certainly expressed the pride of the black community.
The third piece, by contrast, was emotionally stirring, yet a little long and a bit too interpretive to hold the audience's attention. After all, there is only so much dancing with scarves and graceful falling down an audience can take before it gets a little old.
The fourth piece, entitled "Suite Franklin", was an infusion of modern dance, jazz, R&B and ballet, and was by far the best. Set to the tune of classic Aretha Franklin songs like "All I Need to Get By" and "Rock Steady," it had every member of the audience doing a silent, self-contained mo-town dance in their seat.
The final piece, "Dance Forever," was billed as the highlight of the show, but wasn't as impressive as "Suite Franklin." The strobe light and disco ball jazzed up the already high-spirited choreography, but the movements became a bit too kitschy and monotonous at times to declare this the best piece of the show.
Overall, the company did an amazing job of portraying the power and skill of the African-American arts community in D.C. Without the pomp and circumstance of traditional ballet, the dancers were able to portray a more realistic truth and a raw sexuality using simply their bodies and the lackluster stage. Even though at times the modernism got to be too much, sometimes when it comes to art, the audience doesn't have to "get it" to know that it's good.
