Dance Theatre

Carole and Michael Lehan had a touch of theatrics in their fox trot and Jordan and Ivette Naftal offered some sizzle in their tango, but Ron and Joanne Eyre's energetic swing dance kicks and big smiles won the crowd's approval - and the top prize - at Howard County Tourism's first Dancing with Dazzling Howard County Stars contest. The contest was an addition to the tourism group's annual Soiree fundraiser Wednesday night, and it proved to be a hit with several hundred guests who crowded around the dance floor to cheer the fancy footwork.

Country singer LeAnn Rimes meets the Dance Theatre of Harlem on PBS' In Performance at the White House series tonight, and the result is proof positive of art's ability to span cultural divides. Rarely has the East Room shone as brightly as it does when Rimes' sublime interpretation of "Over the Rainbow" is further voiced through the perfectly pitched movements of a young dancer on In Performance at the White House: Dance Theatre of Harlem. Not to make too much of the moment, but on paper, Rimes' inclusion in a program billed as a "celebration of the Dance Theatre of Harlem" seemed questionable.

When 17-year-old dancer Camille Workman's ballet slipper broke during her routine with three other dancers, it didn't stop her. She tossed the slipper across the room and kept going. It's that drive and determination that allowed her to endure the tough criticism doled out by renowned dancer Arthur Mitchell, co-founder of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, and other teachers in the program Saturday in the Eisenhower Theater Rehearsal Room at the Kennedy Center in Washington. An early start Workman, who will be a Howard High School senior in the fall, has been dancing since she was age 4. Along with ballet, she has studied modern, jazz and lyrical dancing.

John Carroll School students raise $16,500 for tsunami relief Students at the John Carroll School in Bel Air will present a check for $16,500 to the Catholic Relief Services to be used for tsunami relief efforts. The check will be presented to Joan Neal, vice president of U.S. operations for Catholic Relief Services, during a 9 a.m. ceremony tomorrow in the school gymnasium. Susan Greig, a spokeswoman for the school, said students contributed money and solicited donations from their parents, neighbors and businesses.

Artistic director Dianna Cuatto began Ballet Theatre of Maryland's 2004-2005 season at new artistic heights in the neo-classic "Italian Symphonette" and innovative "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Her choreography for the performances Friday and Saturday at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts challenged and showcased the dancers, moving the company in exciting new directions. Felix Mendelssohn's "Italian Symphony" is a romantic work that evokes the color of the Italian landscape. This was reflected in Cuatto's choreography, created in 2001 to honor choreographer George Balanchine.

WASHINGTON - On a stage full of ballerinas, Alicia Graf stands out. Maybe it's because she looks different. At 5-foot-10, she's taller than most professional ballet dancers. Maybe it's the way she moves. She has to be faster so her longer limbs stay in time with the other dancers. Maybe it's raw talent, or, as Dance Theatre of Harlem co-founder Arthur Mitchell suggests, her "God-given gift." Dancing a lead role in George Balanchine's Agon at the Kennedy Center this week, Graf sent her long, sinewy limbs swiftly and gracefully though the air. She held seemingly impossible positions - one leg stretched toward the ceiling while balancing on pointe with the other - for long, luxurious moments.

With few words, no dialogue or plot and lots of highly evocative movement, Naoko Maeshiba Performance Collective's The Voyage is more dance than theater. But this Theatre Project presentation is also the type of work that deliberately defies categorization. The style might be described as surrealistic, and the subject matter appears to be nothing less than the voyage of life, with an emphasis on the stresses of relationships and change. Along the way, director/choreographer Naoko Maeshiba (a member of the theater faculty at Towson University)

The Howard County Arts Council knows what audiences like: talented performers, healthy competition and a chance to participate. It works for television shows such as American Idol and Star Search, and it worked for the council last year. So the Rising Star Competition - which lets the audience vote on its favorite of 10 performers with local ties - will return Saturday night as part of this year's Celebration of the Arts in Howard County. "I think people are ... really impressed with performers who have that kind of raw talent," said Coleen West, executive director of the arts council.

MANY DANCERS dream of going to New York to make it big. But recently, New York came to three teen-age dancers from Long Reach. The girls participated in the Dance Theatre of Harlem's residency, an education program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. Camille and Kalen Workman and Kaitlin Davin spent two hours on most Saturdays, February through last month, learning technique from Lorraine Graves, a former principal dancer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Artistic director Dianna Cuatto's first season with Ballet Theatre of Maryland closes this weekend with two performances of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Cuatto caps an exciting season of contemporary, classic and neoclassic choreography with a flesh-and-blood heroine from an American literary classic, far removed from the usual formulaic, Cinderella-like ballet subject. Hawthorne's mid-19th- century novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, perhaps the first feminist heroine.