Billy Zito/Old Gold and Black

Philadanco wows with movement, energy
By Hayley Sanders
Old Gold and Black Reviewer

Funk, sensual energy and fluid, rapid movements characterized the Philadelphia Dance Company performance as a part of the Secrest Artists Series March 6 in Brendle Recital Hall.

Mostly widely known as Philadanco, the ensemble was founded and is directed by the experienced and well-respected Joan Myers Brown. The dancers have performed at such major venues as the Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden and the Kennedy Center and remains renowned for its creative and bold artistic vision with expressive modern-dance choreography.

For this performance, the group performed four major dances by four different choreographers.

The first dance entitled "Labess II" dealt with celebrating, accepting and affirming the self and reveling in the joy that comes with this process.

The dance reflected a clear cultural influence from Africa, revealed in not only the title of the dance, which comes from a Tunisian expression meaning, "It's all right É I'm okay," but also in the music selection of Zap Mama, an Afro-Euro a capella women's vocal ensemble.

The abstract and beautiful music suited the dance well and included a wide range of sounds from bongo drums to voice-overs in French.

During the course of the dance, the group consistently fused its boundless raw energy and strength with elegant, graceful sweeping moves such as delicately falling into the arms of one another.

Dancers expressed an extremely expansive range of capability in technique as they stretched towards the sky with their flexible bodies and went on to spin, glide, jump, lift, kick and stomp, all in a matter of a few flashing seconds.

They worked together on stage to create a cohesive unity of movement when necessary, yet also bloomed as individual dancers when they danced alone to their own metaphorical song, visible through their unique movements.

Consistently, dancers showed a grand mastery of their bodies and would physically embrace each other to symbolically show the theme of accepting one another.

They poured sensual energy into their dance, gliding in and out of the spotlight, ending the dance with a single synchronized and emphasized breath from each dancer to draw focus to life as both an opportunity to unite with others and to declare one's own solidarity as an individual.

Another highlight of the performance, the dance "Exotica" had a much funkier and more glamorous approach.

The dancers were clothed in tight velvet costumes and used slower, subtler interactions that were quickly contrasted with quick energetic spurts of movement for dramatic effect.

This dance also greatly differentiated itself in other defining ways such as the heavy use of intense electronica music with rapid and pulsating beats. Through the music, the audience felt part of a club-like atmosphere and witnessed the dancers' fluid body motions as they sank down to the floor and then rose again with perfectly controlled leaps.

This dance, like the previous number, expressed a great interest in reveling in democracy and personal freedom of expression. The choreography clearly showed this concept.

Other dances explored issues such as the Black Power Movement and the role of the musician as serving as a voice for a people.

These dances featured similar high levels of boundless energy and commitment to dance as a sophisticated and expressive art form and included such musical influences as jazz and its integral importance to the African American community.

Overall, Philadanco more than lived up to its reputation with an impressive performance that left the audience feeling its energy and movement.