Cindy Case and Alicia Williams, Ballet Theatre of Maryland and Full Circle Dance Company (2024). Photo by Brion McCarthy, courtesy of The Gordon Center for Performing Arts.
“Lineage” Thursday night at the Gordon Center was a one-night-only performance with the Ballet Theatre of Maryland and the modern dance-based Full Circle Dance Company at the Gordon Center. Having collaborated on performances in the previous two seasons, this double bill is becoming a welcome tradition, bridging different dance forms in a single show. The evening began with a dedication in honor of Women’s History Month and “the labor of mothers and matriarchs,” recognizing that the performers, on stage and off, and the companies themselves were “shaped by generations of women.”
…a welcome tradition, bridging different dance forms in a single show.
Full Circle Dance Company’s “She Did That!” was the first dance work of the night. As the familiar vocals of “Down To The River To Pray” echoed throughout the theatre, three dancers stood on stage in white with green or red skirts and were quickly joined by six more dancers. With movement contributions from dancers Julia Beroš, Hope B. Byers, Liz Pelton, Jennifer Seye, and Morgan Sledge, and orchestrated by Full Circle Artistic Director, Donna L. Jacobs, the piece had a meditative simplicity. It was also extremely well-rehearsed, especially in the second section which featured several youth performers.
With eight works on the program it would be impossible to unpack everything, but there were a few standouts. My favorite work from Ballet Theatre of Maryland came near the end of the program. It is easy for work composed exclusively from traditional ballet vocabulary to fall into the trap of classical empty calories—divertissement without the supporting context of a narrative, rolling away in an endless sea of happy balancés and waltz-turns scaffolded only by classical, hit parade music. It was nice to see the companny escape this trap and stretch their more contemporary legs in Isaac Martinez’s “Sombras del Amanecer.” Inspired by ‘soft shadows and the brilliance of new beginnings, it began in silhouette, the dancers at the center of the stage, lying on their backs with arms and legs in the air. Against a blue-lit backdrop, hands and feet flexed and twitched in a cluster of limbs like an eldritch anemone. With music by Carl Friedrich Abel, Mayte, Leonardo Catricala, and Antonio Vivaldi, “Sombras del Amanecer” morphed from silhouette to low lights to a warm but still stygian glow, all with an ethereal umbrageousness. I’m looking forward to seeing more work like this from Ballet Theatre of Maryland.
The most individual work on the program was the penultimate solo, “Radicant,” choreographed and performed by Josette Chang, with music by Maneesh de Moor. Chang was sensational. As a low spotlight rose on Chang in a muted green leotard and black shorts, the atmospheric score dropped soft bloops into the darkness. The choreography was perfectly tailored by Chang for herself, with extreme contorted positions blending seamlessly into liquid modern and contemporary floor work. “Radicant” was crepuscular and creaturely in the best way, as Chang seemed to find herself in impossible positions with ease before drawing small, thematic circles with flexed ankles or hands. The solo never escaped the floor, and from its low level it didn’t build to an obvious resolution. Rather, it opened a small window onto the spooky ecosystem inhabited by this movement and the intelligence behind it.
The evening closed with the only choreographic collaboration that featured dancers from both companies onstage in the same work—an excerpt from “Sin Shakers and Shouters,” choreographed by Full Circle’s Travis D. Gatling. With two sections featured and set to music by Aretha Franklin and Mahalia Jackson, “Sin Shakers and Shouters” was not the longest work on the program, feeling like just a taste, but it was one of the most joyful. A set of low benches on the stage functioned as pews, and the work dramatized a coming together to dance in praise in a church. Despite the wide variety of dance backgrounds on stage, “Sin Shakers and Shouters” felt fully coherent and it was delightful to see some of the Ballet Theatre of Maryland dancers truly cutting loose and getting down as dancer Michael West Jr. danced clean out of his suspenders with a grin on his face a mile wide.
Running Time: Approximately one hour and 15 minutes with no intermission.
“Lineage” ran March 12, 2026 presented by Ballet Theatre of Maryland and Full Circle Dance Company at the Gordon Center for the Performing Arts 3506 Gwynnbrook Avenue, Owings Mills, MD 21117. More information about Ballet Theatre of Maryland is available here. More information about Full Circle Dance company is available on here. For more information and tickets for upcoming events at the Gordon Center, please go online.
