Dance Companies

"I never thought I would dance for so long," said Mikhail Baryshnikov.Mr. Baryshnikov, 48, remains one of the most extraordinary dancers of this century. He continues to receive high praise for his dancing, as he has done since he was an 18-year-old living in Russia."Encouragement from Merce [Cunningham] and Martha Graham, even Mark [Morris] and Twyla [Tharp] and Paul Taylor gave me a new life," he said recently.Unlike Rudolf Nureyev, another great 20th-century Russian dancer who danced classical roles deep into middle age with depressing results, Mr. Baryshnikov knew when the days of white tights and leading romantic roles in ballet were over.

If you want to see truly exceptional, big-name dance this year, you'll have to hop in your car and head south on I-95. Major league dance companies are coming to the area -- such as the Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, the Martha Graham Company or the Jose Limon Company -- but they'll be appearing in Washington.Despite the fact Baltimore is not a required stop for most national companies, it does have a dance scene.Several local dance companies will perform -- in spite of funding problems and inconsistent audience development.

Mino Nicolas knew next to nothing about modern dance when he responded to an audition notice during his student days at Towson State University in the early 1970s.Raised by Greek immigrant parents in Hamilton, he remembers being "dressed in a flannel shirt and blue jeans and walking into a room [at TSU] where the dancers wore leotards. I had no idea what this was all about. I had no idea who choreographers like Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey were -- which is funny now."It's funny because Mr. Nicolas is now artistic director of the Doris Humphrey Repertory Dance Company, which is dedicated to presenting the late choreographer's work.

The second showcase of local modern dance companies, seen at the Baltimore Museum of Art Saturday night, was a notch above last year's endeavor in both professionalism and choreographic invention.The three companies that performed were the Baltimore Dance Collaborative, Nancy Havlik's Dance Performance Group and Chris Dohse/Toothmother.One of the stronger works on the program of nine dances was "Vow: A Line Dance for Women, Black Dresses and Popular Culture" by Baltimore Dance Collaborative's Kathleen Murphy.

Our American heritage and its diversity are the themes for this weekend's Family Program by the Kinetics Dance Company.This is not an ordinary history lesson. Your history teacher was never this animated.The five-part program is comprised of music from Scott Joplin to Bobby Short, with themes on topics such as American Indians and blacks. The program will be performed by seven professional dancers and seven apprentice dancers of Kinetics, along with a guest dancer, Jill Blizzard."This is geared toward those who have an interest in the American heritage.

* Dottie Green, the savvy, strong-armed catcher for th original Rockford (Ill.) Peaches, who dominated the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from its inception in 1943 to its demise in 1954, died on Monday of cancer at her home in Natick, Mass. She was 71. Although Miss Green had the same first name, and played the same position on the same team as the character portrayed by Geena Davis in "A League of Their Own," the 1992 movie based on the famous women's league, that was merely a coincidence.

The biggest news in the 1992-1993 dance season isn't who is dancing, it's who isn't going to appear in Baltimore this year. In one season, the city has managed to lose the Maryland Ballet, Kathy Wildberger's contemporary Path Dance Company, and Juliet Forrest's company, the Forrest Collection. Economic strain and funding cuts have wreaked havoc on an already precarious dance community. Those companies still standing and dancing count themselves fortunate, but struggling.Kathy Wildberger's flight to New York isn't that surprising.

Dance enthusiasts had good reason to be enthusiasticSaturday night when the Phoenix Dance Company of Leeds, England, splendidly opened Dance on the Edge at the Series' new home theater at Towson State University's Stephens Hall.In its first U.S. tour, Phoenix showed itself to be a company of extraordinary talent that held the celebrity-sprinkled audience captive for all four works on the well-conceived program. Under the touring artistic direction of American-born choreographer Tom Jobe, the company provided an evening of dances that offered outstanding intellectual, artistic and emotional interest.

Translating the history of Annapolis into dance was a daunting task for Ann Brown.By her own admission, the Arnold dance teacher was nervous about creating a program for children that tells the city's early history."

The Next Ice Age, Baltimore's ice dance company, opened its six-evening engagement at Columbia's Ice Rink last night.Choreographers/skaters/artistic directors Nathan Birch and Tim Murphy, along with guest artist Dorothy Hamill, have put together a program that blends the best of skating with modern dance, guaranteed to take the chill out of the ice rink temperature.The program of seven dances at the transformed ice rink -- there are wings, as with a true proscenium stage -- was split between the premier of Mr. Birch's nearly hourlong "Sisyphean Victory" and six shorter dances.