"VISTAS," RIRIE-WOODBURY DANCE COMPANY, Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, additional performance tonight, 7:30 p.m. (355-9225).
Maybe it was the dancing or the white-noise-induced score or perhaps the dramatic shadowed stage lighting. But when the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company began the powerful and balletic "Series 1" — the second segment of its "Vistas" performance — the audience knew it was in for a treat.
The 2004 work, choreographed by Wayne McGregor, captured sleek lines and birdlike gestures, and the piece was quite minimal compared to McGregor's other multimedia productions. "Series 1" was simply movement, lights and sound. And it earned the biggest cheers on Thursday night.
Of course, that work isn't the only highlight of the program. The four works that make up "Vistas" each have their own way of drawing in the audience for a nice conclusion to the company's season.
Opening the evening is a revival of David Rousseve's 1997 trademark work "Bittersweet Chocolate." The flowing sweeps are enhanced by Rousseve's recorded narration, which pinpoints much of the life of Rousseve's aunts. The African-American experience emerges throughout the script, but the dancers don't merely interpret the words through their movements, they capture the rhythm of the vocal cadence to embody the delivery.
Associate artistic director Charlotte Boye-Christensen has created another world premiere — "Never Again!" — a captivating number done to the smoky, moody music of Nina Simone. Boye-Christensen's expressive style rings true. Heartfelt and joyful segments come alive, and the company's members dance as if their souls are trying to break free of the confining flesh and bone.
Wrapping up the evening is the return of Carolyn Carlson's 2004 epic "Down by the River," which was inspired by poet A.R. Ammons' "River."
The work, which does get a little long toward the end, takes each movement and pieces it directly to the music in a fitting style.
Abstract images of riverbanks, water creatures and ice are mingled together through dance with wide strips of white tissue paper.
Dancers Juan Carlos Claudio, Melissa McDonald, Jill Patterson, Ai Fuji and Caine Keenan are joined by Stevan Novakovich (in for Jo Blake, who broke his foot). Novakovich took a crash course last week and on Thursday he blended in seamlessly.
E-mail: scott@desnews.com