Washington Troupe Dancers Show Power

There was something reminiscent of a religious revival in the program presented by Lula Washington Dance Theatre Saturday night at the El Camino College Center for the Arts in Torrance. In terms of choreography, that meant that the message was familiar and often went on too long, but for the dancers--the real strength of the company--the electric thrill of testifying jolted their technique at every turn.

The exceptions to overlong compositions were two tightly crafted pieces by Donald McKayle--”Songs of the Disinherited” (1972) and “Rainbow Etude” (1996)--that gave the company a chance to shine in short dances to taped spirituals and a work song. Each offered a fine mix of stretched lyricism and West African weight and bounce.

Jho Jenkins’ “Wauyacanyaga” was more a jubilant hash of dance styles, with Haitian, Cuban and African accents overpowered by bits of pop dancing and acrobatics. The dancers, ever faithful, performed these feats like prayer, and soloist Nabachwa Ssensalo managed to weave a particularly vibrant spell of her own.

In Washington’s “01997-8,” Kim Borgaro and Anthony Wayne Johnson showed off fabulous form and attitude in a kind of drawn-out competition/bionic mating dance.

Concluding the program was “Ode to El Camino College,” an hourlong collective collaboration between the company and E.C.C. students. It was another kind of testimony, this time to the power of education to effect positive change in the lives of community college students of theater and dance.