New troupe makes a strong debut

A breath of fresh air blew into town over the weekend when PostHouse Dance Group made an auspicious debut at Venice’s Electric Lodge with three nights of performances titled “Summer and Shadows.” The locally based company, founded by former Bella Lewitzky dancer Diana MacNeil, looked assured, snappy and eager to please Saturday in a trio of new works (all choreographed and costumed by MacNeil) that showed soul and finesse.

The ambitious “The Fall of the House of Usher” (based on Poe’s story), with Jeff Rona’s requisitely eerie music on tape, featured a dramatic Roger Gonzalez Hibner as the grief-stricken Roderick Usher, an equally adept MacNeil as his ailing twin sister, who is eventually entombed in the cellar, and veteran dancer Sean Greene leaping capably as Usher’s friend.

Acting as a kind of Greek chorus, Lora Anderson, Jennifer Astredo, Kristen Wilkinson and a luminous Yolande Yorke-Edgell offered spirited unison dancing that moved between the demonic and the ethereal, with a lot of fluttering hands, in a 15-minute narrative that packed a lot of dance punch.

“If All Else Fails ...” was a buoyant four-part work set to a Paris-inspired, neo-tango, klezmer-like score by Raymond Scott, with the company (including Stephanie Scott, Ricardo Martinez and Christine Chrest) pairing off, doing the cancan, bunny-hopping and making like a choo-choo train. A dozen sneaker-anchored balloons enhanced the gaiety.

“Cello Suite #2: You Are for Me,” a lyrical opus set to Bach’s D-minor work, showcased seven dancers, with swooping arms, top-like spinning and nice line formations the dominant motifs. Unfortunately, the accompaniment by cellist Jon Joyce, performing live, was often flat and wobbly, detracting from the beauty of the heartfelt dance.