Phillyist Reviews... DanceBOOM! BalletX

This year's DanceBOOM! closes tomorrow, but true to form, The Wilma theater. made sure that its final week of programming was its best. The dancers, singers, and percussionists of Raices Culturales Latinoamericanas, a nonprofit group dedicated to "increasing public awareness of the beauty and diversity of Latin American culture through music and dance performances" greeted DanceBOOM! patrons and Broad Street passersby alike, fully ready to embrace, and able to prove, their organization's mission. I remember enjoying the group at last year's DanceBOOM! festivities, and I was happy to see them back in front of the Wilma. They're really good fun, and were it not for my highly impractical shoes, I would have loved to join them when they invited the audience forward.

Unlike DanceBOOM!s past, there was only one featured act on the mainstage, but they're a Phillyist favorite. BalletX first wowed me at last year's DanceBOOM! as they danced to a series of Sinead O'Connor songs. They began with Die Menscheit, a collection of pas de deux and ensemble pieces to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and what would seem to be one of the more classically balletic pieces in their repertoire. The color-coordinated dancers moved effortlessly across the stage during this piece, and, if nothing else, managed to make the entire audience say to themselves, "I wish I could do that."

Next up was the world premiere of I like you different [capitalization sic], a very amusing, and sometimes even naughty, collection of dances to R&B and funk music performed by the likes of James Brown (the opening pas de deux to "It's a Man's World" was especially lovely and impressive), Chaka Kahn, and Sly and the Family Stone. The choreography worked impeccably well with the music, weaving together a loose narrative about the joys and dangers of coupling, and proved to be the highlight of the evening for me.

The evening concluded with Frequencies, a piece that seemed far more modern than ballet. The music is mostly composed of ambient noise, and the dance performed almost entirely rooted to the ground, in slippers, rather than elevated en pointe or through leaps and jumps. It was a piece that I liked fine, and that I think I ordinarily would have enjoyed very much, but it wasn't what I was used to seeing from BalletX, and so ultimately, I was a little disappointed by it. In fairness, the piece's conception actually predates the company by several years, so it makes sense that it wouldn't fit well within the company's aesthetics as I am used to seeing them. But Die Menscheit is an older piece as well, and it feels far less incongruous to me. Again, I didn't dislike the piece - I just wish the evening had ended with more of a bang.

Still, this was, by far, the best of the most impressive overall evening of DanceBOOM! this year, and I can't wait to see what the 2008 festival will bring.

Image of BalletX via Canary Promotion + Design.