Dance Theatre of Harlem will present two programs in four performances at City Center starting Wednesday. The theme for Wednesday evening is What’s New!, consisting of Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven by Ulysses Dove, a new production of Balanchine’s Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, the company premier of Nacho Duato’s Coming Together, and the New York Premier of Vessels by Darrell Grand Moultrie.
The Classic DTH program, presented Friday and Saturday evenings, consists of Agon, Coming Together, In the Mirror of Her Mind by Christopher Huggins, and Return by Robert Garland. The Saturday afternoon program is Family Matinee.
I reviewed the company’s performance at Jacob’s Pillow last July and a performance from their New York season last April. Both were very entertaining and I look forward to seeing What’s New! on Wednesday.
The company is both an old and a new company. DTH was founded by former New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Arthur Mitchell in 1969 after the assignation of Dr. Martin Luther King. The company had financial problems in 2004 and stopped touring, with the pause intended to last only a few months; however, given the recession, the performance drought lasted eight years. The company is back performing with a slimmed down company consisting of 18 dancers, led by Artistic Director Virginia Johnson, who has been with the company for nearly 30 years. From my several viewings of the company last year, she has been successful in assembling a fine cast of dancers showing off their talents with an innovative and interesting repertory.