Philadanco brings back audience favorites this weekend at the Perelman Theater

Joan Myers Brown handed over the artistic directorship of Philadanco in 2020 to her former dancer and longtime assistant, Kim Bears-Bailey.

But as she said at the time, “I’m number 1, Kim is 1B.”

And at 92, Brown, the founder and artistic adviser, still has lessons to teach her dancers.

On Friday night, Philadanco opened Roots & Reflections (Director’s Choice) at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater. It was comprised of four ballets that audiences have long been asking to see again, Bears-Bailey said in a preshow announcement.

But also, Brown added in a postshow talk, “I’m on my way out of here. I want to do what I want to do while I can remember.”

One thing she wants to do is teach young dancers where they came from — dance history. Philadanco was founded in 1970, so Brown chose works that were choreographed from the 1970s to the 1990s.

They all looked as fresh, significant, and beautiful as ever.

The program opens with Gatekeepers, which Ronald K. Brown choreographed for Philadanco in 1999. It is about six soldiers “walking toward heaven, searching for the wounded, and looking out to make a safe haven for others to follow.” Set to a score by Wunmi Olaya, it has the six lined up toward a bright light, then leaping, stretching, bowing, searching, first in a more serious section and then giving way to a jazzy section where others would feel welcome joining in.

George Faison’s 1971 Suite Otis is pure entertainment and crisp impressive dancing — many high kicks, leaps, and split jumps — a vision in bright pink set to music by Otis Redding. Philadanco has brought it back many times over the years, and for good reason: It’s a delightful piece and Philadanco does an especially good job with a suite ballet (see also its occasional Christmas show, Xmas Philes), which shows off many personalities and styles in one quick piece.

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The title piece of the show, Harold Pierson’s Roots & Reflections, is a 100-year journey through African dance traditions. It was choreographed in 1977 and an excerpt was recreated for the occasion by Bears-Bailey and Philadanco rehearsal director Tracy Vogt (also a former company dancer). It’s a moving, exhilarating, emotional piece for the full company as well as dancers from D2, the apprentice company, making for a large, lush cast.

But the most moving section was a gorgeous solo that on Friday was danced by Kaylah Arielle, while former Philadanco dancer (and Broadway actor) Dev L. Roberts sang “Kumbaya” on stage.

To break the tension, there was also a fun section of cartwheels and high kicks. One dancer dove over two others and then climbed on their backs.

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The program wraps up with Talley Beatty’s 1976 Pretty Is Skin Deep, Ugly to the Bone, which is anything but ugly. Philadanco is more or less a museum of Beatty works, and this one is a stunner. It has the dancers in jewel tones in a highly aerobic, jazzy work. The centerpiece is a female soloist performing on and with a six-foot ladder, more artist than aerialist, finally winding up in a full split on the ladder carried overhead offstage by four men.

Philadanco performs all over the world (five continents and 20 countries, Brown noted) and recently sold out New York’s Joyce Theater. And yet, as both she and Bears-Bailey noted, there were empty seats in the Perelman Theater. Philadanco is as good as dance gets in Philadelphia, the company performs at home only a few times a year, and this program is as accessible as it comes. Catch it if you can.

Philadanco in Roots & Reflections (Director’s Choice) through Sunday at the Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center, 240 S. Broad St. Tickets start at $29. 215-893-1999 or ensembleartsphilly.org