Washington Shows ‘Next Generation’s’ Promise

The importance of the Lula Washington Dance Theatre as a local community resource needed no greater proof than her “Next Generation” program at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre on Saturday.

Here, children from Washington’s Youth Dance Ensemble performed pieces prioritizing positive, cooperative action and talent, with Landry Barb II especially prominent in Washington’s new group piece “All Same to God.”

Here, too, Washington’s dancers presented new pieces of their own in the kind of showcase that’s been all too rare this summer due to the cancellation of the Feet Speak series and the drastic curtailment of Dance Kaleidoscope.

In “An Addiction,” for instance, Alexander Pelham gave himself a Ricky Martin-style pop showpiece in which he sang and strutted as company women hotly pawed his chest. In the company premiere of Robert Gilliam’s “Orange,” six masked dancers adroitly swirled long, scarflike sleeves, though the result looked rudimentary compared to what Korean and Chinese dancers have done for centuries with skeins of fabric.

More intriguing: two new pieces by Tamica Washington-Miller, Lula’s daughter and a leading dancer in the company. Her “Work” slowed familiar hip-hop combinations to focus on movement flow and found a splashy role for her mom as well. “Kaella” featured seductive live accompaniment by the BouJouBumbastick trio (Badialy Cissoko, Mark L. Simms and Marcus L. Miller, Tamica’s husband) and developed mercurial linkups between the four dancers.

The exciting speed, sharpness and flair of Sandy Alvarez proved a highlight here and in Lula Washington’s new “Om,” set to dense, wailing jazz by John Coltrane.

This indoctrination ritual jammed together intense modern dance confrontations, flashy ballet steps, African folklore and endless silent screams to no great effect, despite a committed performance from everyone--especially April Thomas as the lead victim.