Ensemble taps its considerable resources

Like a fine wine that improves with age, so too does Lynn Dally, artistic director of the esteemed Jazz Tap Ensemble. Still choreographing, hoofing and even crooning a bit as her locally based company celebrates its 25th anniversary, the eternally mellow-with-a-mission Dally wore her huge heart on her sleeve at John Anson Ford Amphitheatre on Friday.

And the audience loved it.

The 16-part program -- half Los Angeles premieres and all accompanied by JTE’s incomparable musicians -- was sparked throughout with brilliance, especially in the solo arena. Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards sizzled in slinky dress, fishnets and heels, kicking up a storm of intricate steps to Rimsky-Korsakov’s manic “Flight of the Bumblebee.” Strains of “April in Paris” filled the night air as Channing Cook Holmes traded riffs with Rich Eames on piano, alternating a bit of one-heel balancing with toe-tripping time steps.

Charon Aldredge picked up steam in her premiere of “Over the Hump,” shuffling in place before upping the percussive ante by ending in a flourish of pirouettes. Joseph Wiggan’s latest solo proved a fast, furious study in traveling, with the dynamo traversing the stage on his heels. Dally, showing mettle in her new “Ask Me Now,” churned out cool, crisp tones to the music of Thelonius Monk, her unexpected jumps breezy as the tropics.

With the next generation poised to assume the tap mantle, Cook Holmes and Sumbry-Edwards choreographed two numbers for JTE’s ebullient youth group, the Caravan Project, who zipped through “Chan’s Dance” and “New Dance” as if to the tap shoe born. Cook Holmes showed percussion prowess on the former, with JTE musical director Jerry Kalaf on drums.

Another Sumbry-Edwards JTE premiere, “My Favorite Things,” featured a quintet of dancers (including an animated Josette Wiggan) grooving with military precision to Rodgers and Hammerstein.

A loving, albeit long video tribute to the late Gregory Hines, and a bevy of JTE signature works, including Jimmy Slyde’s classic “Interplay,” Eddie Brown’s “Doxy” and Hines’ 1998 “Groove,” completed the program. Plaudits to Dally and company: Long may you tap.