Dance Theater

Pilobolus Dance Theater again showed why it has drawn standing-room-only audiences for more than 20 years while performing at Wilde Lake High School at Riverhill as part of the Columbia Festival of the Arts.The New England-based company's Friday night concert was sold out, and the resounding applause proved that these five talented dancers had something for everyone on their program of five works.Opening the evening was "Quatrejeux," a young-as-spring romp with dancers Rebecca Anderson, Adam Battelstein, Rebecca Jung and Darryl Thomas.

With rapt attention, 4-year-old Alexis Gamble fixed her eyes on three teenage girls, bare-footed in vibrant-colored dresses, as they danced to traditional African beats on Saturday, the fourth day of Kwanzaa. The Gamble family, of Owings Mills, lights a candle each day of the seven-day holiday that was created in 1966 by Eastern Shore native Maulana Karenga to reflect on African culture. They were among more than 350 who turned out for the annual celebration at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum.

This Baltimore dance season opens earlier this year than last, but don't expect as big a splash as 1990-1991 promised.The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre continues its residency here but won't be fully on the scene until January; the Maryland Ballet plans winter and spring performances at the Lyric Opera House but will skip its usual fall concert in a belt-tightening move; and the Soviet Union's Donetsk Ballet won't return for a planned series at the...

Here's great news for Howard County's dance fans: Columbia's sweetheart ballerina Alicia Graf Mack has rejoined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. So folks will again be able to see her perform live in some genuine Ailey classics at the Kennedy Center during the coming winter season. Even before she begins a 10-week tour with the world-renowned professional troupe, however, she has agreed to teach a master class with hometown dance students at the Ballet Royale Institute of Maryland.

Members of Congress are often elected after years serving in state legislatures, major league ballplayers are fostered on farm teams, and, in the competitive world of professional dance, the major companies cull from a second string. Tomorrow and Saturday, Ailey II, one of the best known of the dance feeder companies, will perform in Maryland. Tomorrow night the group dances at a sold-out performance at the Johns Hopkins University. On Saturday dancers will present two performances at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Black Rock Center for the Arts in Germantown.

In yesterday's announcement of the Kennedy Center's dance schedule, a contact number was omitted. For tickets and information about Kennedy Center events, call 202-467-4600.The Sun regrets the errors.Next season at the Kennedy Center features some smashing dance, including the American debut of the Stanislavsky Ballet from Moscow and the local debut of the Royal Swedish Ballet, which until now has performed its U.S. engagements only in New York.The center's "America Dancing" series will present four nTC commissioned collaborations between noted American choreographers and jazz composer-performers.

Members of Surge Dance Company began offering instruction last spring at Harbor Arts Center in Federal Hill and will expand its program this season.Classes for children and adults at all levels of experience are now being offered in swing, ballroom, jazz, ballet and modern dance, as well as theater and singing, Tuesdays and Thursdays through May 15. The teachers are Ruth Skrzesz, a singer and actress, and dancer Stephanie Thibeault.Harbor Arts Center is in Olive Branch United Methodist Church, Fort Avenue and South Charles Street.

When last we met up with Alicia Graf, back in April, the tall teen-ager from Columbia had just finished six months with Dance Theater of Harlem and was about to perform with the ballet company on its annual spring trip to Washington's Kennedy Center.She hadn't made her New York debut yet. When it came last month, it brought forth a fanfare of superlatives from Anna Kisselgoff, chief dance critic of the New York Times, who praised Graf's assured and serpentine performance as the Siren in "The Prodigal Son."

How many times can we hear the music of "Porgy and Bess"? Luckily, many, as the opera is ubiquitous in this year of George Gershwin's centennial.Dallas Black Dance Theater is bringing a ballet version of Catfish Row to the Kennedy Center this weekend, featuring a legendary performance of the music.Hope Clarke, who choreographed the Opera America/Houston Grand Opera co-production of "Porgy" that toured the country in 1987, created this dance interpretation. The score is the jazz recording made by Miles Davis in 1958, with additional music by pops conductor Richard Hyman.

THUMBS UP Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre kicks off Baltimore residency. Hopefully a boost for area dance.Dance on the Edge series. Brought outstanding talent to Baltimore.Next Ice Age. Choreographically inspired.Hubbard Street Dancers. Chicago's best-kept secret.Path Dance Company. High-geared performances.Baltimore Dance Theater. Artfully combined dance and sculpture.THUMBS DOWN Baltimore Dance Network. Area troupes need organizational support.Kinetics. "Spartacus" was not ready for prime time.

The Talent Machine Company's July show, The Wiz, a retelling of L. Frank Baum's classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, is an excellent vehicle for the skills of the energetic young performers who make up the musical's cast. TMC is a family phenomenon rooted in the traditions of founder Bobbi Smith, who formed the company in 1987 to create a supportive environment for children as young as 5 to participate in polished musical theater performances. After Smith's death in January 2001, her sister, Vicki Smith, and her daughter, Lea Capps, continued the tradition.

Common Ground on the Hill will present its 10th annual Roots Music & Arts Festival from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. July 7 and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 8 at the Carroll County Farm Museum in Westminster. Headline acts include guitar legend Doc Watson at 7 p.m. July 7, Appalachian balladeer Jean Ritchie at 6 p.m. July 7 and 3 p.m. July 8, and Grammy Award winner Tom Chapin at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. July 8. The festival features blues, folk, bluegrass, Native American, Celtic, Appalachian music and dance, gospel, African drumming and dance, world percussion, storytelling, poetry, performance art, juried arts & crafts, ethnic foods and a Family World Village.

Masculinity of dance The lowdown -- It's a man's world at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County this week. The Edgeworks Dance Theater all-male ensemble will present "Project: Cold Case," an installment in the company's Negro Dance Theater Project. The predominantly African-American ensemble hopes to draw its audience out of prejudice and fear by exploring black masculinity and identity on stage. If you go -- The performance starts at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Theatre, 1000 Hilltop Circle.

Nadia Chilkovsky Nahumck, 98, a performer and transcriber of dances by Isadora Duncan and an influential teacher, died April 23 in Blue Bell, Pa. Born in Kiev, Ukraine, Ms. Nahumck came to the United States as a child and grew up in Philadelphia, where she established the Children's Dance Theater in 1944. Later known as the Philadelphia Dance Academy, it became part of the University of the Arts. Her students included Judith Jamison, now the artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Eva Anderson watches her own image appear on the television monitor in the kitchen of her Columbia home - the powerful energy of the dance caught in her figure straining under a taut cloth, like a swan snared in a net. "I like cloth," she says. "I like Spandex especially because it can do things. It can dance almost by itself, if you manipulate it right." Anderson is previewing the documentary Chronicles of a Dancer: How We Became Artists, a video retrospective of the 32 seasons of the Eva Anderson Dancers, which will premiere today at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Anderson, who has always been a creative, inventive choreographer, has been a wizard at keeping a professional dance company afloat for three decades in Maryland.

NOW OR NEVER Explore the culture of Taiwan at the program "Lion Dance and Drums," presented by the Hung-Sheng Lion Dance Theater of Taiwan, Saturday at Towson University's Stephens Hall Theatre. Costumed members of the troupe will present acrobatics, dancing, rhythmic drumming and more. Acts will include "Glowing Night Dragon," "Walking Lion Gong and Drum Dance" and "Grab the Green," lion dances, dragon dances, temple rituals and more. "Lion Dance and Drums" takes place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Towson University, Stephens Hall Theatre, 8000 York Road, Towson.

Illusion show Abracadabra, alakazam - You will take your children to the Ace of Hearts' "Abra-KID-Abra" magic show, Tuesday 10:30 a.m- 11:15 a.m. at Federal Hill Park. See magic tricks designed to entertain children and adults. Tricks use animals, props and children from the audience. The event is part of the Baltimore Office of Promotion's Kids' Stuff program. The magic show takes place on Warren Street across from the Inner Harbor's Rash Field. Admission is free. For more information, call 1-888-BALTIMORE . Dance theater You should be dancing!

Naohiro Amaya, 68, the vice trade minister who introduced Japan's voluntary controls on automobile exports to solve disputes with the United States in 1979, died of lung cancer Tuesday in Tokyo.Walter Raines, 54, artistic director of the Dance Theater of Harlem's school and a charter member of the company, died Sunday in New York of an AIDS-related illness. He danced with the Pennsylvania and Stuttgart ballets before joining the new Dance Theater of Harlem in 1969. After he stopped dancing, he joined the faculty of the City University of New York and served as chairman of the ballet department of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center.

Whether it's The Nutcracker productions, performances of Handel's Messiah or classic tales recast in Baltimore that you are craving, this holiday season has a production for you. Check out our roundup of some of the many theater, music and dance events taking place in the next few weeks. THEATER Bottom Dollar: It's Christmastime, and Jason, the manager of a department store, has a plan to save the corporation he reveres while helping the town he loves. Presented by the Mobtown Players through Dec. 19 at the Mobtown Theater at Meadow Mill, 3600 Clipper Mill Road.

Members of Congress are often elected after years serving in state legislatures, major league ballplayers are fostered on farm teams, and, in the competitive world of professional dance, the major companies cull from a second string. Tomorrow and Saturday, Ailey II, one of the best known of the dance feeder companies, will perform in Maryland. Tomorrow night the group dances at a sold-out performance at the Johns Hopkins University. On Saturday dancers will present two performances at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Black Rock Center for the Arts in Germantown.