A new world dance aesthetic is blooming, with a living taproot in San Francisco. Both events were emblematic of the high levels of technical expertise and humanistic experience of the companies' artistic directors, and accentuated their immense talents as collaborators.
Dancers move in gracefully undulating swan wing beats, a rendering of spirit-possession.
The metronomic polyrhythmic percussion calls directly igniting dance responses characterized the whole evening and was a performance common thread from Brazil to Haiti to Cuba. Another connection was the theme of African dieties in the New World, each orixa or loa displaying gestural characteristics specific to local cultural conditions. At times, the theatricality of spirit-possession dance ran too long to maintain the ethnographic illusion of a real seance without straining credulity. But the dancers conveyed the deities' personalities with panache. That Ms. Brown could bring together three groups who have never performed together, except in the international variety show context of the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, and pull off both the musical and spiritual themes in such a stylish manner, is testament to the stature she holds in the community and the strength of her spiritual vision.