Miami City Ballet is performing George Balanchine's "Serenade" this week at Jacob's Pillow. It featured on Wednesday night, from left, Hannah Fischer, Samantha Hope Galler, Ariel Rose and Ashley Knox. (Photo by Christopher Duggan)

​For those of you who are missing the old days when New York City Ballet spent more than a few days in the region each summer, it’s time to take a trip over to Jacob’s Pillow to see Miami City Ballet.
 
Certainly, Miami doesn’t have the same scope or history of City Ballet. But they do have the warmth and the chops to perform what local balletomanes long for -- George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. And the Pillow is a gracious host, one that is so commitment to the art that it renovated its main stage at the Ted Shawn Theatre to install an orchestra pit this year.
 
Musicians filled the pit for the first time Wednesday night for the Miami dancers who did not disappoint with their renderings of Balanchine monumental “Serenade” and a moving world premiere by Margarita Armas. The company, as directed by former City Ballet principal Lourdes Lopez, also danced Martha Graham’s “Diversion of Angels” and Robbins’ “Antique Epigraphs.”
 
“Serenade” was the evening’s knockout. On the smaller intimate stage, the ballet that is cast in a cloud of blue grew in power. Every nuance, the flick of the feet to first position and then in tendu, the turning of the ballerina on her one leg and the melting of the arm over tilted, inquisitive heads, felt enlarged. And thus the beauty, the sadness, the romance and the final ascent to the heaven was also elevated, suspending time and whisking its audience away to another otherworldly dimension.
 
The orchestra in the pit, performing the Tchaikovsky score with both tenderness and verve, sounded wonderful in the theater. It leaves one hoping that the Pillow, which sought extra donations in order to host Miami City Ballet there, can do the same with other important companies. The live music was expensive, but it added so much.
 
Interestingly, the Debussy flute and pianos carried Robbins’ “Antique Epigraphs,” which is new to the company. While the flutist Linda Toote and pianists Francisco Renno and Ciro Fondere enchanted, the dancing failed to call forth the plasticity necessary to portray Greek bas reliefs coming to life.
 
Still the ballet looked beautiful with the all-female cast dressed in long, sheer, sepia-toned tunics with side lighting by Jennifer Tipton that made the dancers glow.
 
More absorbing was Armas’ “Geta.” Set to Nina Simone’s rendering of “Ne Me Quitte Pas,” the solo featured Renan Cerdeiro appeared to grasp onto a lost cause. It was poignant, heart-felt and Cerdiero cut a striking, sympathetic and memorable figure.
 
Graham’s “Diversion of Angels,” set to music by Norman Dello Joio, was both a surprise and a triumph. Graham’s works are notoriously difficult for anyone not trained in her technique. Still, the dancers, especially Dawn Atkins and Chase Swatosh in white, were strong and solid, holding endless, difficult poses, among those who frolic with the angels.
 
Miami City Ballet performs at the Pillow through Sunday. It’s a must-see performance.

​A lot can change in 50 years – and that is certainly the case with Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble.
 
Performing this week on Jacob’s Pillow main stage, the Denver-based contemporary dance troupe is offering a full scope of its half-century with works dating back to its earliest days -- including a piece by Katherine Dunham and its founder and Artistic Director Cleo Parker Robinson.
 
But it is the newer works, specifically two from 2017, where the appealing and stirring artistry of this mainly African-American company can be found. Donald McKayle’s “Crossing the Rubion: Passing the Point of No Return” and Garfield Lemonius’ “Cartharsis” are stunners – with gut-wrenching duets at their heart – that I promise one would want to see again and again.
 
Both seed their power in the group that elicit images of humanity’s struggle – McKayle in expressing the fear and anxiety felt by refugee and Lemonius, the need for a mental health release from the world’s fraught with ever-mounting pressures.
 
McKayle, a recognized choreographic master, captured the plight of those forced to leave their home because of war, famine and natural disaster in “Crossing the Rubicon.” To music by Anoushka Shankar, a dozen dancers flee. At first, it’s a slow bedraggled and orderly effort. Then later on, their patterns shift to a full-on reckless exodus.
 
Cast in earth-tone shades, they look dusty, tired, but determined in their flight.
 
The central duet with Tyveze Littlejohn and Yoojung Hahm was tentative, but also signaled a surrender. As they rejoin the crowd onstage and become separated, one also felt the pain of lost loved ones.
 
Hahm was also a featured player in “Catharsis,” this time with Corey Boatner. However, instead of connection, in this duet she become, literally, a thing that clings, which he struggles to shed. As he reached out for escape, Boatner’s honesty lured the audience in and thus we all went on the path to deliverance with him.
 
Even more impressive was the ensemble as a whole. Moving to an eloquent music selection from David Lang, Ezio Basso and Arvo Park, the dancers performed with abandon, evoking a flash of ecstasy.
 
Unfortunately, the older pieces on the bill felt dated, including “Salome Daughter’s,” by Nejla Yatkin. The 1998 dance was the evening’s final work for seven women that underscored female repression. While predictable, I did like the piece’s message – never underestimate a woman.
 
Dunham’s piece, the opener, was a jazzy ode to Scott Joplin while Robinson’s was a nod to her church-going youth. I could have lived without both – especially Robinson’s which seemed like an unfortunate spin-off of Alvin Ailey’s “Revelations.”
 
I mean no disrespect to any of the choreographers – especially Dunham who is so important in the history of Black dance in the Americas. But McKayle and Lemonius tapped into something deeper and that is one reason why Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble could and should thrive for another 50 years.

Ajkun Ballet performed its "Don Quixote" at The Egg on Friday night.

​“Don Quixote” is one of ballet’s most beloved works – mainly for its humor and its technically difficult, and therefore, often brilliant dancing.
 
Ajkun Ballet Theatre’s version, as choreographed by its Artistic Director Chiara Ajkun and performed on Friday night at The Egg, has its charms. Mainly, the dancers are well-trained, enthusiastic and often superb. The costumes, for the most part, are appropriately colorful and frequently beautiful. But this stripped-down rendering, without scenery, is missing one essential that makes “Don Quixote” a favorite – perfect comedic timing.
 
Thus, much of the antics between Gamanche  (Ariel Correa) and Kitri’s mother (Bianca Delli Priscoli), which is central to the humor, felt forced and didn’t generate the belly laughs it should.
 
However, that little upset didn’t overshadow the fine dancing from the Momoko Burbine as Kitri and Klevis Tafaj as Basilio and others like Telmen Munkherdene as the toreador and the main couple (unidentified in the program) at the gypsy camp. Watching these dancers navigate their roles was a delight.
 
Burbine was outstanding. Petite, light and appropriately feisty, she threw herself into the arms of her lover as well as laid down the most delicate, but speedy petite allegro from the grand pas de deux.
 
Tafaj, though he doesn’t sport an elegant ballon, flung himself across the stage in a series of jumps and turns that expressed his joy in his hard-fought nuptial with Kitri. And when the two came together, it was magical. He easily lifted her – with one arm – high above his head. He also tossed her and caught her too, showing that Burbine and Tafaj obviously enjoyed their roles and each other.
 
Munkherdene was interesting to watch as he pushed so much energy into his dancing that it was nearly impossible for him to control. He has the technique, but now he needs to reign it in to give him the power to hypnotize his audience with it.
 
The unidentified lead couple in the gypsy camp were equally amazing. The man angerly deployed a whip as she acquiesced, ending her solo in a submissive backbend. Though  part of the original 1869 Alexander Gorsky ballet, the duet is terribly outdated. For one thing, gypsy is pejorative, so that needs to change in every version including American Ballet Theatre’s.
 
And more troubling is a man with a whip. This is domestic violence. Despite the outstanding dancing, this pas de deux begs for an update as watching a man dominate a woman with a weapon is cringe-worthy, if not traumatizing.
 
Also, the four-member corps de ballet during the camp scenes needed to do more. They just stood in the background and moved their arms to and fro. They looked too stiff and not part of the action at all. (Maybe they were upset by the whip too.)
 
Finally, though the comedy didn’t always tickle, Correa as Gamache was physically all in. He was both clumsy and self-absorbed as he feigned sophistication in his over-the-top frills. In the end, I applauded his efforts.
 
While I’m being nit-picky, Ajkun Ballet’s “Don Quixote” is among the best of its full-length works. But it could be better.

Ballaro Dance's "Embedded Memories" replaces fear and shame with pride and strength.  (Photo by Becky Osborne)

Wounds not only leave physical scars, they leave emotional ones too.
 
But healing those scars, taking them to a place where fear and shame are replaced with pride and strength is where choreographer Marisa Ballaro is trying to inspire all to go.
 
Her message of hope and healing is strong in Ballaro Dance’s “Embedded Memories.” As seen on Saturday night at Universal Preservation Hall, the site-specific work is inspired by Kintsugi, the Japanese art of pottery repair that emphasizes the breaks by filling them with luminous gold.
 
In “Embedded Memories,” those cracks or scars were represented by lights – strung inside costumes and clustered in glowing balls along the floor and ceiling. Ultimately, these lights, Ballaro seems to suggest, guides one from despair to confidence.
 
The work was offered up with a trio of dancers whom the audience encircled, a reference to connectedness and wholeness. But as the three dancers first appear, they look to run or shed something. They move in place, unable to flee. They wipe and wipe and wipe themselves, only to find that the scar is still there, adhering to their bodies.
 
Music by a number softly plays in the background while Ballaro reads snippets of stories collected in communities where the company has performed. She speaks of the hurt of injuries, the pain of recovery and the relief and joy in ultimately overcoming.
 
There are symbolic gestures as when one dancer took the light from another’s head it placed it near her heart. Yet another dancer stripped off a layer of clothing, thus stripping away some of the pain. But no matter what the dancers did – eventually running freely through the space and embracing the glowing balls of white light — the scars remain.
 
The work ended with the dancers in a prayerful scene, quietly breathing and seemingly accepting their damaged parts.
 
After the program, Ballaro asked audience members to share their own experiences of trauma by writing an anonymous note and perhaps attaching a Polaroid photo (a camera was available) of the author. Those stories, left on a table in an adjoining room, could end up being told at Ballaro Dance’s next stop.
 
The program was preceded by a work developed by 13 young dancers who spent a week choreographing their own piece with a similar theme. Led by Nacre Dance Group Artistic Director Beth Fecteau with Ballaro, their work gives one hope that dance, which bears its own scars of blatant disregard, is secure in the dedicated bodies of these budding artists.

The Israeli dance ensemble Vertigo, with Sian Olles and Daniel Costas, brought its dark and dramatic "One. One & One" to PS/21 in Chatham. (Photo by Steven J. Taylor)

Noa Wertheim describes her work “One. One & One” as an “individual’s wish to be whole whilest being challenged constantly by a fragmented reality within the personal, existential and spiritual realms of one’s being.”
 
But the dramatic piece, as performed on Friday night at PS/21 by the amazing Vertigo Dance Company, is so much more. To me, the hour-long work, was a powerful indictment on the direction of the world at large, one where societies across the globe are ravaged by war and climate change – and each one (and one and one) is a victim.
 
This excellent Israeli dance ensemble gripped the viewer with its poise and presence. And with music composed by Avi Belleli, which swung from beautiful to frightening, the work held sway.
 
The piece opened with Sian Olles centerstage, twisting and reaching with her limbs like a strong sapling seeking the sun. Upstage was another dancer who steadily and neatly shook out a bucket of soil. In gray and brown costumes, by Sasson Kedem, that referenced the everyday worker, the line of dirty made one consider farming, the neat rows of a field with Olles as the elegant tree in its center.
 
The serene scene quickly turned when the ensemble of nine took the stage for what felt like a fashion show catwalk. They strutted to the edge, stared at the audience and quickly turned around to strut off the other way. If "One. One & One" is about individuals, here the one showed the superficial side – a side that the world wants to promote strength and sass.
 
However, it’s all a cover for what followed, a violent search for meaning and unity as well as endless self-reproach as one navigates a dirty world – literally portrayed by the soil that was by now spread over every inch of stage.
 
There were many raw moments in the dance including when Olles threw herself again and again at Daniel Costa who seemed to ask for her as he slammed his hands on his chest, beckoning her. He caught her mid-air, protecting her in a flight she seemed compelled to make. This was repeated with all the cast including a section where the women caught the flying men.
 
All this sent my mind reeling to war and ecological destruction as the music startled with explosions and the dirt dust plumed around the dancers who were falling and staggering. Yarden Oz’s solo, in which she could barely stand and eventually fell lifeless into the others dancer's arms, was especially compelling.
 
In the end, all but one, Etai Peri, rose above the gritty world like graceful birds or  swaying trees. Wertheim signals hopes for not just one, but all.

For Jacob’s Pillow’s 90th anniversary, the dance haven is celebrating another anniversary – the 75th of the Limon Dance Company – one of the nation’s oldest and most respected modern dance ensembles.
 
It’s appropriate as the dance farm and the company, founded by the late Doris Humphrey and Jose Limon, have had a long relationship – one built on providing a stage for those who are willing to take dance to the next level.
 
It is obvious that the Pillow continues that tradition. And as seen on Wednesday night in the Ted Shawn Theatre, the Limon Company is also moving forward, this time with a commission from the Pillow of a work by West African choreographer Olivier Tarpaga.
 
While I continue to admire the historic works the company performs, which are touchstones of heart, symmetry, grace and musicality, the new piece, “Only One Will Rise,” offered a pathway to Limon’s future.
 
The work, set to a live musical trio featuring a percussionist, guitarist and bassist, preserves all the best aspects of the Limon tradition – connection between dancers so often seen in the hand-holding circles, a sense of spirituality that looks beyond the earthly and a construction that captivates the eye. Tarpaga, while offering a nod to that tradition, then takes it to our contemporary world – one where dystopia is on the door step.
 
“Only One Will Rise” dresses that dancers in gray and places them on a shadowy stage in which a single center stage light feels hot. There, 12 dancers appear to wipe away something foul from their bodies as well as compress, fight off or contain a separate invisible force.
 
The music, as played by Tim Matzer, Daniel Johnson and Saidou Sangare, is at time driving, at other times haunting. And these amazing dancers – particularly the chosen one, MJ Edwards – attack the struggles, inherent in their movement and the music, with intensity and vigor.
Thus, “Only One Will Rise” intrigues.
 
The program opens with Humphrey’s delicate “Air for the G String.” From 1928, the work for five women wearing long skirts and hooded robes with voluminous trains is a gorgeous dedication to Bach’s Suite No. 3 in D Major with Savannah Spratt leading the sculptural display.
 
This is one thing I really admire about the Limon ensemble – they are not afraid of stillness. In that way, they insist the audience really see the lines and shapes they form. That was evident in both Limon works shown, “Psalm” from 1967 and “The Waldstein Sonata” from 1971.
 
“Psalm,” in which Joey Columbus performed as the Burden Bearer, is a prayer set to percussive music by Eugene Lester. Frances Lorraine Samson starts the work, leaping across stage like an angel offering protection. The Burden Bearer needs it as he falls continuously to the floor, reaching out and seeking a hand to uplift him. In the role, Columbus is earnest and sympathetic, and thus bring the viewer with him on his journey of singular despair.
 
Finally, “The Waldstein Sonata” is another beautiful Limon dance to Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 21 in C Major. The balletic ensemble work for eight, that sparks visions of amorous Greek deities, shows off the company’s strength and style.
 
The company will perform at the Pillow through Sunday. I highly recommend it.

Roman Mejia is Puck in George Balanchine’s masterpiece "A Midsummer Night’s Dream." (Photo by Erin Baiano)

There is not a more suitable ballet for Saratoga Performing Arts Center than George Balanchine’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
 
The 1962 ballet set in enchanted forest blossoms on this outdoor stage. It’s as if Balanchine foresaw his company’s arrival in Saratoga Springs just four years later when he and his company inaugurated the SPAC stage with that very ballet. And at the ballet’s 60th anniversary, none of the magic of that work, in that location, has waned.
 
That was evident again on Friday night when the ballet returned. It has everything – a fast-moving comedic tale with engaging characters like the impish Puck, a bevy of spritely child butterflies and fairies, glowing sets, sparkling costumes and dancing in the second act that  takes one’s breath away.
 
Truly, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is among Balanchine’s most masterful works. And Friday night’s cast honored his vision and the beautifully lyrical Felix Mendelssohn score.
 
The first act flies through Shakespeare’s comedy of parallel storylines that center on feuding forest royalty – Titania as danced by Unity Phelan and Oberon as danced by Anthony Huxley — and mismatched lovers who desperately chase each other through the dark and foggy woods. Of course, also amusing is Puck, as danced by Roman Mejia, who hypnotizes them all – not just with his dancing aplomb – but with his mischief including bewitching Titania to fall in love with a donkey.
 
Puck, as directed by Oberon, and his antics are the heart of the first act. And each time he appears, the audience knows that the fun and laughter will begin. Mejia didn’t disappoint. His full-on attack of the jaunty creature lit up the stage every time he leaped to Oberon’s call.
 
I was most impressed, however, with Sterling Hyltin who is performing her last SPAC season with the company. In the second act, she and Andrew Veyette danced the central pas de deux and she was a paragon of light and gentility. She floated through every bouree, penchee and pirouette. And in the end, when she fell backwards into the arms of Veyette, one could only be amazed by her depth of emotion and understanding that I have never seen brought to the fore in this role.
 
Hyltin was the real magic of the night and she will be sorely missed.
 
Of course, that spell Hyltin cast is broken as the audience is returned to the forest where the fireflies and fairies frolic and Puck rises up into the sky.
 
It’s a perfect ending for a perfect ballet. I urge all to go at 2 p.m. Saturday, sadly, the last day of the company’s stay.

Emilie Gerrity and Chun Wai Chan are the central couple in George Balanchine’s wonderfully innovative "The Four Temperaments." (Photo by Erin Baiano)

Innovative music requires innovative dance.
 
One of New York City Ballet’s newest works to two pieces by jazz composer Wayne Shorter’s should fall into that nexus. But Jamar Roberts’ “Emanon – in Two Movements” mysteriously falls short on Thursday at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
 
It’s rather difficult to say why. There are many excellently crafted and performed solos, duets and trios that build to an explosive finale for the eight dancers. The dancers all, especially the confident and commanding Jovani Furlan, allude to the fire and high-flying mythology that primed Shorter’s “Prometheus Unbound” and “Pegasus.” Moreover, the music was energetically played by a quartet with Chris Hemingway leading the way on soprano saxophone.
 
Yet the work didn’t pique the imagination like George Balanchine’s 1946 “The Four Temperaments,” which demonstrates what modern music can inspire. The piece, to Paul Hindemith's score, was groundbreaking in its time and it’s remains groundbreaking today. No matter how many times I see the ballet, I see something new. Certainly, it’s a testament to Balanchine’s genius.
 
Each variation is a revelation. Sebastian Villarini-Velez engages as he looks to both push way and protect himself from an invisible force. Emilie Gerrity and Chun Wai Chan also fascinate in their off-kilter and angular pas de deux. Moreover, Christopher Grant is dramatic in the woeful “Phlegmatic.” It’s an emotionally poignant variation that his heightened by the presence of four women who surround him, forcing him to struggle to not go under.
 
The ending is the best, with the ensemble onstage with four of the women lifted and arching over the busy formations below, making for an exalted ending.
 
Thursday’s program also included the company’s Resident Choreographer Justin Peck’s “In Creases.” This was his first ballet for the company, commissioned by SPAC in 2012. The piece, to piano Philip Glasses “Four Movement for Two Pianos,” demonstrates Peck’s eye for ingenuity. But aside from Taylor Stanley, who is amazing in everything, the work felt a little stale.
 
I think part of the problem might be the hour. SPAC pushed showtimes to 7:30 p.m., a full 30 minutes earlier when it’s still daylight. Sadly, the lighting effects that help the audience zero into the magic are lost. (This likely affected “Emanon” too.)
 
Thursday’s shows also included the last-minute addition of “This Bitter Earth,” a Christopher Wheeldon duet that featured Sara Mearns and Andrew Veyette. Mearns, as expected, was perfect in the soulful work set to the mournful music by Max Richter’s “On the Nature of Daylight,” which is overlaid with Dinah Washington’s performance of “This Bitter Earth.”
 
Unfortunately, Veyette was unprepared at the matinee to partner Mearns, nearly dropping her off of his shoulder, at one point. The evening performance was better, but he still looked to be struggling to partner her.
 
One has to wonder why Tyler Angle, who originated the role, wasn’t dancing the pas de deux. He would have held Mearns steady as he did on Wednesday in “Chaconne.”
 
Regardless, the power of the music and Mearns sincerity wins over Veyette’s fumbles.
 
One other thing. Thursday’s matinee and evening shows attracted a painfully slim crowd. On the other hand, Wednesday’s program, with the popular “Glass Pieces,” looked full. And it’s likely that “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” will also bring in ticket buyers. Maybe it’s time for SPAC and City Ballet to rethink what sells at SPAC.
 
While new works are important to keep the art form progressing, it appears the majority of summer ballet goers prefer the tried-and-true.

Tyler Angle and Sara Mearns danced the opening pas de deux in George Balanchine's "Chaconne." (Photo by Paul Kolnik)

It’s been nearly three years since New York City Ballet fully graced the stage at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. And the company’s return on Wednesday night, after a pandemic-driven absence, was a welcomed one. The large crowd greeted the dancers and musicians as only Saratoga audiences do – with cheers as soon as the curtain rises.
 
Truly, there is a special relationship between City Ballet and its devotees — City Ballet’s dancers and musicians always perform their hearts out – with more drive, abandon and flourishes at SPAC. And in exchange, the audience goes wild with gratitude.
 
But for the first time in my 30-plus years of reviewing City Ballet at SPAC, I saw something on Wednesday night that I never saw before – a slight wobble from the corps de ballet. I’m not sure if it’s the months of uncertainty during the pandemic, dancing in isolation, or new artistic leadership. Yet the body of dancers who frame all of the historic repertory looked under-rehearsed. Out-of-synch glimpses could be seen in the second section with the female corps in George Balanchine’s romantic “Chaconne” and in the men’s percussive takeover of the stage in Jerome Robbins’ “Glass Pieces.”
 
On Thursday morning, I’m taking that as an anomaly because the lead dancers in the triple bill, including Merce Cunningham’s “Summerspace,” were what one expects from City Ballet. They were excellent.
 
Let’s take Sara Mearns and Tyler Angle in the opening duet in “Chaconne” to music by Christoph Willibald von Gluck that has not been seen at SPAC for years. With clouds in the background, the two enter on opposite ends of the stage. As the sounds of a soft flute rises, the two slowly raise their heads, seemingly noting a passing breeze. They approach each other magically, not really looking at each other, but drawn by an invisible cord. And what unfolds is one of the most touching and tender pas de duex in all of Balanchine’s canon.
 
Mearns is made for this. With her hair down, she’s an ethereal being who floats along with Angle as her gentle guide, lifting and escorting her in a romantic, spiraling haze. It is sublime. Mearns and Angle are all one needs to enjoy “Chaconne.”
 
Emma Von Enck and Harrison Coll also are noteworthy in the other “Chaconne” pas de deux. Dressed in a costume that looks like her center was swirled in ribbon candy, Von Enck is a dynamo in the lead-up to what evolves into a boisterous, super-fast finale.
 
Even more enjoyable is “Glass Pieces,” an audience favorite. The dance, with its propulsive Philip Glass score, makes the audience feels like they are (safely) dropped into New York City's rush hour. In the first section, dancers walk fast with purpose in every direction. In the last, the dancers appear like trucks and cars converging and maneuvering at a busy intersection.
 
Unity Phelan and Jovani Furlan danced the central pas de deux. While they didn’t express the usual otherworldly quality this duet usually elicits, they carry through another sensibility – impressive strength and power that can calm the most chaotic waters. Together, the two look like they could conquer any city.
 
The evening also included a surprise from 1966, Cunningham’s “Summerspace.” While I’m no fan of Cunningham, Balanchine who invited the modern dance pioneer to City Ballet, obviously was. And City Ballet premiered the 1958 work, with music by Morton Feldman, the same year it inaugurated the SPAC stage.
 
While I find Cunningham’s works as something to be tolerated rather than enjoyed, I was impressed with the cast’s ability to master its challenges – basically rehearsing without music as their compass. While, I came to appreciate the work that transports its viewers to a summer meadow, I’m not sure I would choose to see it again.

Of course, City Ballet is another story. The company is only there until Saturday and worth a trip.

Paul Taylor Dance Company opens its PS/21 program with the breezy and blissful "Airs." (Photos by Ron Thiele) 

For decades, the late Paul Taylor has been an entry point for joy and contemplation — creating a space that has been guaranteed to please.
 
Now, his dances, as performed by his incomparably astute Paul Taylor Dance Company, have expanded their influence, becoming a haven to shield us from the overwhelming ills of our world. And when seen at the beautiful PS/21, an amphitheater that rises on a hill in an orchard, one can’t help but feel that paradise is found.
 
Consider “Airs,” a work from 1978 that opened Wednesday’s night program at Chatham theater. Set to excerpts from Handel’s uplifting Concerti Grossi, Opus 3, the work brims with a breezy bliss, in which seven dancers fly through the delights and the serenity of heaven.
 
The ensemble, with Jessica Ferretti as the muse that beckons them forth, is a skipping sculptural delight with dancers moving quickly through patterns that are slightly off-kilter, thus keeping all eyes pinned to their genteel and courtly formations.
 
Madelyn Ho and Alex Clayton are standouts in the duet in which he holds her aloof as she cartwheels overhead. The first time they do it, it’s breathtaking. But they do it again and again, synchronized in a swirl of legs and fabric that astonishes for its precision and beauty.
 
Equally thrilling, if not heart-stopping, is the wild “Syzygy,” from 1987. This is an electric dance in which the ensemble of 13 embodies the idea of celestial worlds drawn together by a gravitational pull. The dancers, at first, appear wobbly, shaking out arms, heads and feet in a non-stop trajectory that bounce up, down and all around.
 
To a strong score by Don York, the work is explosive, constantly surprising as the dancers race, tumble and shutter forwards and backwards across the stage. At one point, couples look to battle for either control or freedom in squirmy aggressive duets. Ultimately, Ho once again holds sway as the others break away and she is left center stage, rotating on one leg, the center of the universe.
 
The evening also featured “Cloven Kingdom,” Taylor’s 1976 dance that explores social norms that are sometime ritualistic, sometimes lovely, but often ridiculous. Taylor frames it by emphasizing humans are animals, just more dressed up, in this case, in tuxedos and evening gowns.
 
The group dance for the men, to thundering percussion, is especially memorable as they march, squat, hop, fling their arms about like swords and pound their fists. At the same time, the four monitor each other, a signal to comply as well as to mark their territory. It’s fascinating to watch.
 
“Cloven Kingdom” ends with a ballroom like setting, couples swirl in mirrored, but blinding masks, reflecting each other’s acceptable behavior without actually seeing/understanding their own.
 
It’s deep, but highly entertaining. That’s classic Taylor.