NEW YORK BAROQUE DANCE COMPANY; "NEW BALLET CHOREOGRAPHERS"

This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on September 15, 2006.

Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Dancers in 18th-century dress playing ancient Greeks, socially pretentious Europeans and an occasional supernatural facilitator like Cupid will be celebrating Mozart's 250th birthday tonight and tomorrow at Florence Gould Hall.

Catherine Turocy's esteemed New York Baroque Dance Company, which brings painstaking scholarship to life, is presenting ``Invisible Dances'' (a suite from the opera ``Idomeneo'') and ``Les Petits Riens'' (the composer's only ballet). The reconstructed choreography reveals the genesis of classical ballet as we know it.

The women in ``Les Petits Riens,'' dressed in wide, ankle- grazing gowns, concentrate on bouncy filigreed footwork gently accented by hands tracing curlicues in the air. The men bare more of their white-stockinged legs and have lustier jumps and beats, but they move with the same fine precision. In the seaside idyll of ``Invisible Dances,'' the celebrants' dancing shuttles between aristocratic formality and a freer lyrical style.

Instrumentalists from Concert Royal, James Richman's early- music ensemble, will provide the accompaniment and play the quartet version of Mozart's Piano Concerto in A Major as well.

Florence Gould Hall, 55 E. 59 St. Tickets: (1)(212) 307- 4100. See http://www.nybaroquedance.org.

``New Ballet Choreographers,'' at Columbia University's Miller Theater tonight and tomorrow, is a misnomer. It's a showcase for work by Brian Reeder, Edwaard Liang and Tom Gold, all of whom have had considerable experience.

Reeder, who's performed with both the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater, has made his mark with fanciful pieces for ABT's farm team, the Studio Company.

Liang, known for his deeply nuanced dancing with the NYCB, has contributed to its repertory as well as to that of other troupes in the U.S. and abroad.

Gold, a spunky NYCB virtuoso, has the most modest local track record, but he's no beginner.

The choreographers will be putting on their show with a little help from their friends, both rising and established NYCB stars (Wendy Whelan among them) and cream-of-the-crop newbies from the Studio Company. The music -- by Jefferson Friedman, Philip Glass, Arvo Part and John Zorn -- will be played live, a luxury in the dance world.

The choreography was commissioned by the Miller Theater and the Guggenheim Museum's Works & Process program.

Tickets: (1)(212) 854-7799. See http://www.millertheatre.com

© 2006 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.