Dance Theatre

Mark Morris. Pilobolus Dance Theatre. Twyla Tharp's new company. Tap Dogs, from Australia. And a rich variety of ballet at the Kennedy Center in Washington.Any way you look at it, the 1996-1997 season promises to be a memorable one for fans of ballet and modern dance in Baltimore and Washington.One of the fall's most interesting dance events is the Mark Morris Dance Group's appearance at the U.S. Naval Academy's Alumni Hall in Annapolis. Morris, once called the enfant terrible of the dance world, will present several of his works and perhaps raise a few eyebrows when he and his company dance Oct. 18-19.

For 17 years The Dance Theatre of Harlem's annual appearance at the Kennedy Center has been a harbinger of spring. Like the season, the company's opening night performance at the Kennedy Center's Opera House was sunny one moment and ominous the next.Under the artistic direction of the legendary Arthur Mitchell, Dance Theatre of Harlem has won well deserved accolades for both the dancers' strength of technique and its diverse programming. But this performance makes one believe that the company has been dancing on its laurels too long.

Entertainer looks ahead and back; George Horn: Woodlawn 0) resident, 90, ran a Punch and Judy show,Ninety-year-old George Horn made his living from puppeteering until he retired in 1987. One of his earliest jobs, about 60 years ago, was running a Punch and Judy show at a place called Club Charles (no relation to the present Club Charles)."When the Club Charles opened up, they built a special bar with a one-way mirror. I did my show from behind it. No one ever saw me or met me. The bartenders helped me with the names of patrons who spoke to the puppets."

Eva Anderson's Baltimore Dance Theatre is marking its 20th anniversary in a city in which dance companies have a precarious existence. Not only did the concert at the Baltimore Museum of Arts Saturday night attest to Ms. Anderson's perseverance of spirit, but the nearly packed house also confirmed her popularity.The event also served as a ceremony -- as the torch of the company's artistic director was passed from Ms. Anderson to longtime company member Dr. Charles Carter.Featured on this program was Ms. Anderson's "Beginnings," which premiered last spring, plus excerpts from several of her other works.

In an effort to connect with each other, Pilobolus dancers pile on top of one another, transforming themselves into a human sculpture before moving as one, huge clump. Or they lift a fellow dancer off the floor before flinging him across the room.Such choreography -- the trademark of Pilobolus Dance Theatre -- will be presented at the Columbia Festival of the Arts in two sold-out performances tonight and tomorrow at the auditorium of Wilde Lake High School at River Hill in Clarksville.Because of the innovative dance company's reputation for originality and fun, all 1,460 tickets to both performances sold out more than two weeks ago. But a free lecture demonstration explaining the company's creative process will be presented at 2 p.m. today at Wilde Lake High.

Violence, fear, loss and running water are just some of the themes Kinetics Dance Theatre explores in three performances this weekend at the Howard County Center for the Arts in Ellicott City.The first performance will be presented at the company's 11th annual Gala Concert at 8 p.m. today. The black tie fund-raiser will feature a champagne and dessert reception after the performance.4 The concert will be repeated at 8 p.m. tomorrow.A free student concert, featuring a lecture and demonstration by the Kinetics Student Company, will be performed at 3 p.m. Sunday.

Dance fans were reminded again in 1994 that quantity and quality are separate issues. During the first part of the year, the Baltimore area had more dance to see than in the past few years. But more can sometimes be less.Most disappointing were the tried and true companies, such as Dance Theatre of Harlem, Hubbard Street Dance and the Washington Ballet. All turned in flat, non-memorable performances this year.On the other hand, our local independent companies have been on a steady course of improvement.

Jumping and twisting their bodies, the African dancers seem more like pulses than performers, colorful animations of the drumming that surges like a river through the old mill building in Dickeyville.As they are lifted and swept by currents of sound, these dancers are a reminder of how little separates artists from the source of their art."African dance opens you up to become the art," says Kibibi Ajanku, a principal dancer with Sankofa Dance Theatre. "In Africa, traditionally, there's no break between life and art. We don't make a painting to hang on the walls, the painting is the house.

Financial problems are threatening the future of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre's residency program, which has brought world-class ballet to Baltimore and introduced thousands of area students to dance.The foundation that runs the program is laying off two of its four staffers and will not bring the famed New York dance company to the Morris Mechanic Theatre this year, said Richard Hackney, chairman of the group's board.No decisions have been made yet about the future of the residency's educational programs.

Arthur Mitchell, who created the Dance Theatre of Harlem 25 years ago, believes in the power of youth. On Tuesday, his company opened a two-week engagement at the Kennedy Center Opera House with "Bach Passacaglia," a dance that featured 40 young local dancers along with DTH principals Christina Johnson, Tai Jimenez, Eddie J. Shellman and Donald Williams.It was one of those performances when the dance was secondary to what was actually happening -- 40 children were given the chance to become part of Mitchell's dream, to become one of his "seeds" of the future.