Path

In a time when super-hype and glitz overshadow fundamental sensibilities, Baltimore's Path Dance Company is refreshingly basic and honest in its approach to dance.Local choreorapher, dancer and artistic director Kathy Wildberger presented a program of dances at the Baltimore High School for the Arts last evening to a disappointingly small but nevertheless appreciative audience.All four dances choreographed by this gifted artist shine with autobiographical material and a sense of parable. Even when the dance is abstract as "Winter Dances," the movement's impetus is clearly visible.

IN 1987, when Kathy Wildberger disbanded PATH, her Baltimore dance company, she choreographed a farewell piece, "Snakes Don't Wear Shoes." The dance, performed at the Theatre Project, was a way to shed the past and get on with the now.It seems like Wildberger is always saying goodbye to friends, family, schools and Baltimore -- and hello again. On a cool September morning, she is in a dance studio tucked into an odd Ellicott City cul-de-sac. She is rehearsing the elegant and elusive "Snakes," with three other members of PATH, reborn in 1988.

Path Dance Company is one of those troupes that makes you wonder why they don't draw larger audiences, and why they don't perform more often and in more visible settings.This weekend at the Baltimore School of the Arts, Path gave a program titled "Out on a Limb" to benefit the Jeff Duncan Memorial Scholarship Fund, which will aid high school-age dancers. The performance was solid and moving."Snakes Don't Wear Shoes," which opened the program, is like most of artistic director Kathy Wildberger's works both allegorical and deeply personal, and draws heavily on gestures for its movement base.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- They found him in a U.S. Sprint office, which is a fitting place for a running back one supposes, but Barry Word has not often found himself free to run.That is not because he lacks for talent, as he proved a year ago by rushing for 1,015 yards in 204 carries for the Kansas City Chiefs, an average of 5 yards per rush or a first down every two rushes. Normally that would not only make you the fourth-leading rusher in the AFC, as he was last season, but also a fixture in your backfield.

In the increasingly unpredictable world of the 1998 elections, here's one sure bet: Patricia C. Jessamy will remain in office as Baltimore's top prosecutor.That's because no one signed up by Monday night's filing deadline to oppose Jessamy in either the Democratic primary or November's general election.Jessamy -- a longtime deputy who was appointed city state's attorney in 1995 after her boss got a high-level state job -- said she was "very pleased" to have a clear path in her first election.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- North Carolina sweated out its jitters and got a feel for this National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament on Friday night in its 35-point rout of Northeastern in the Carrier Dome.Now, it's time for a different kind of sweat, the kind the NCAA tournament brings out, especially in games such as the top-seeded Tar Heels' 12:10 p.m. meeting today with dangerous Villanova.When coach Dean Smith said when he heard the tournament brackets announced, he immediately looked at the Tar Heels' second-round game and felt a knot in his stomach.

In the middle of an East Baltimore neighborhood torn by drugs and violence and persistent poverty, there stood yesterday an unlikely new center of peace. A garden labyrinth, with its curving prayer path echoing those found in French cathedrals, stretched across a city lot once pocked by abandoned rowhouses and trash-filled alleys. Begonias spilled out of nearby flower beds and from a newly built community nursery. At a dedication ceremony, area leaders called the quiet oasis a hopeful sign of revival.

Maryland bike riders are being taken for a ride by Montgomery County park officials who are arguing that a 2.4-mile gap should be left in an 18.8-mile bike path planned to accompany the new Intercounty Connector between Montgomery and Prince George's counties. Bike users are stunned by the challenge, with gas prices high, traffic jams common and cycling being pushed by governments as an environmentally friendly form of transportation. Park officials argue that to protect county parkland from potential environmental damage, this piece of the path should be diverted to nearby local roads.

A Westminster man who ran into the path of a car Tuesday died Wednesday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, state police said.Mark D. Tipton, 37, of the 3100 block of Littlestown Pike suffered head and neck injuries in the accident and was airlifted to Baltimore at 3: 21 p.m.Police said a Cadillac Deville driven by Mary Frances Tolle, 65, of New Windsor was traveling west on Old New Windsor Road, east of Fenby Farm Road, when the accident occurred....

A 16-year-old Columbia boy was beaten and robbed while walking on a bicycle path in Columbia's Oakland Mills village Friday afternoon, Howard County police said.The boy suffered bruises but was not seriously injured, police said.The robbery occurred about 3 p.m. near the 9600 block of White Acre Road on a path between the Shadow Oaks condominiums and tennis courts at the development, police said.Two teen-agers grabbed the victim from behind, hit him in the head with an object and kicked him before taking his wallet and running, police said.