After missing its 50th anniversary, Philadanco is back for 51 and three world premieres

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Philadanco had a year of celebrations planned leading up to its 50th anniversary. Now at 51, the company returned to the Kimmel Cultural Campus over the weekend with an exhilarating program of four ballets, including three world premieres.

Since the company’s last big Philadelphia performance in December 2019, Philadanco has appointed a new artistic director, Kim Bears Bailey, and restructured the organization. Founder Joan Myers Brown, who turns 90 this month, is still heavily involved but has taken on a new role as artistic adviser. And a number of new dancers have joined the troupe.

But in Saturday’s performance, the company looked like it has not missed a beat.

All four pieces on the program, called “PHILADANCO! Fast Forward … to the Future,” had some common elements, including having the dancers lined up in silhouette against the backdrop at some point during the work. It’s an impressive look with so many beautiful bodies presented in front of us, but it also seemed like a cliché by the end of the program.

Anthony Burrell’s Conglomerate, the one previous performance piece on the program, was my favorite, not least of all because it got the lighting right. The other pieces were all presented in darker lighting, which made it hard to appreciate all the details.

Conglomerate, the program notes say, is a celebration of Black dance in Philadelphia. Burrell, a Philadelphian who has worked with Beyoncé, among other big names, had his dancers in bright red Emilio Sosa (Project Runway) costumes, performing to music by Darryl J. Hoffman. They leapt, threw their partners high to catch big air, and even looked like stars preening while doing simpler pedestrian steps.

This Place was a world premiere from Ray Mercer, and he presented it as a suite of dances under the theme of community, feeling like a mini show within the show. Set to a sound collage with original music by Bongi Duma, it had a constant beat and high energy. But the star of the piece was a section that had its dancers swooshing huge black-and-red skirts that made every step festive.

Thang Dao’s Roked, set to original music by Paul Guy Stevens, was dedicated to the late Philadelphia dancer Debora Chase-Hicks and celebrated personal freedom. It was a beautiful piece with balletic steps that had the dancers in blues, greens, and grays moving as one, breaking away, and returning to the group. A particularly lovely duet had a woman pushing toward and pulling away from her partner in controlled stretches and falls.

Hidden Jewels, a work for five women, was Katherine J. Smith’s professional choreographic debut. Set to music by Ezio Bosso, it showed a lot of promise with interesting movements but could’ve used more variety, as the women danced most of the same steps throughout the piece.

“PHILADANCO! Fast Forward … to the Future”

Kimmel Cultural Campus’s Perelman Theater

No future performances.