Philadanco’s Winter Residency boasts of stunning revisions and a soaring premiere

Philadanco is currently celebrating its 25th anniversary in residence at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater with a mixed bill that showcases the company’s extraordinarily skilled dancers in works by a quartet of award-winning choreographers.

“Then and Now!,” as the program is called, includes revised productions of pieces by Donald Byrd and Tommie-Waheed Evans, plus a company premiere from Ronald K. Brown and a brand-new work by up-and-comer Juel D. Lane.

Friday’s opening-night audience was large and enthusiastic, giving an extended ovation to Lane’s Heirborne, a pun on its theme of literal and metaphorical flight.

In the printed program, Lane cites among his inspirations Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman to hold a pilot’s license, and Mae Jemison, the first African American female astronaut.

While those specific sources weren’t clear to this viewer, the dancers’ outstretched arms, perfectly controlled suspensions, and quicksilver entrances and exits, clearly evoked the sensation of flying.

It is difficult to single out individuals in this — or, in fact, in any of the works on the program, which frequently had 10 dancers onstage at a time, performing in expert unison. But long-limbed Aliyah Clay began Heirborne with an exquisite solo, moving inside a dramatic shaft of light (designed by Nick Kolin). The piece ended on an even stronger — and unexpected — note, when all eight dancers suddenly leaped forward, disappearing into the darkness.

The music, for this and the other items on the bill, was recorded, favoring mixtures of rap, gospel, and jazz. For Heirborne, Atlanta native Lane chose pieces by several Georgia-based artists: RAHBI, Bryce Raburn, and Leo Ra Xoul. Costume designer Anna-Alisa Belous dressed the women in shiny black shorts, a somewhat curious choice, and everyone wore neon-orange suspenders (a nod to airport safety equipment?).

From Exotica Back to Us, Brown’s contribution to the program, was originally choreographed for Philadanco in 1999 and revised this year.

Not having seen the earlier version, I can’t comment on how the work has changed. However, its current iteration is stunning: from the richly colored and textured costumes by Wunmi Oliya (a British Nigerian singer, dancer, and fashion designer who also provides part of the score for this piece) to Brown’s seamless combination of traditional West African dance and percussion with his own, distinctive movement vocabulary.

There is an obvious spiritual and emotional dimension to these short vignettes — as the dancers raise their arms, hide their faces in their hands, or kneel as though in prayer. This powerful effect is enhanced, at several points, by the outstanding work of dancer William E. Burden.

Tommie-Waheed Evans created Withinverse… in 2018. In Friday’s “refreshed” version, dancer Kaylah Arielle embodies the deep emotions mentioned in the program. Sometimes she and her fellow dancers appear as supplicants, responding to sad, slow gospel music. Yet at other points they seem frantic, their bodies reflecting the heavy, insistent beat of electronic club music.

Evans has included a series of complicated and innovative lifts, which the dancers execute seemingly without effort. They are equally expert when performing challenging passages in unison.

The evening begins with Everybody by Donald Byrd. Billed as a parody, it seems more like an uneasy hybrid than, say, the comedic works of Mark Morris or Les Ballets Trocadero de Monte Carlo.

This work contrasts a harpsichord piece by J.S. Bach with hip-hop music by Ruffhouse, and Natasha Guruleva’s costumes reveal foppish men (notably the statuesque Yasir Jones) dressed in ruffled tunics, while the women wear tutus. Yet everyone is barefoot, alternating between impeccable ballet technique and decidedly non-classical body language.

The comparison is amusing, and — as a classically trained flutist who, in his youth, spent six years studying with the celebrated ballerina Mia Slavenska — Byrd knows his way around both Baroque music and classical dance. He enjoys himself by inserting sly touches of physical humor, here and there, and excels at creating intricate and unusual partnering sequences for two or more individuals.

In a brief pre-performance introduction, Tommie-Waheed Evans (who is also the company’s co-artistic director, along with Kim Bears Bailey) noted that Philadanco had just returned from a successful, multicity tour of Germany. This troupe, which the indomitable Joan Myers Brown established 55 years ago, has many reasons to be proud. But, next time, I hope that ‘Danco will include the work of at least one female choreographer.

Philadanco, “Then and Now!” through Dec. 7, Perelman Theater, 300 S. Broad St., Tickets $43-$63. (215) 387-8200, ensembleartsphilly.org