Bodytalk Troupe Speaks to the Beauty of Lyrical Movement

Many good and wondrous elements were on view Friday at Highways Performance Space when Bodytalk Dance presented “On That Note ... an evening of dance and music.” In its short, five-part program, all choreographed by company founder Lauren Winslow Kearns, Bodytalk offered three premieres, including a dance video, “Looking” (2001). Kearns, a breast cancer survivor, dedicated that short solo piece--in which slow, crouching moves lead to her standing, naked and triumphant--to others like herself. Smartly photographed by Sallie DeEtte Mackie, with music by George Gomez-Wheeler, the work was crisply edited by P.J. Johnson. Providing live, mostly arpeggiated music (by composer Steve Moshier) for the premiere “Body by Number (2001),” were keyboardists Jannine Livingston and Cynthia Law. Here Kearns was joined by Sally E. Lambert and Rebecca Keyser-Houck in a successful series of fugal moves that isolated body parts--heads, shoulders, beseeching arms.

Also new: “Quartet” (2001), in which the above trio was joined by Angelina Wang Lee to taped music of Corelli. Lyrically accentuated by lunges and elongated backs, the hard-working dancers also displayed strong partnering, joyful leaps and energetic unisons as they staked out their physical territory.

The previously reviewed pieces, “My Hot Topic” and “Love Moments,” completed the program, an evening in which the body was celebrated, something for which the small audience was grateful.