January 29-February 4, 2004

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Mark Morris Dance Group

dance

Everything about Mark Morris is magically oversized -- his talent, his persona and especially the way his small modern dance troupe seems to fill up stage space like it was the Bolshoi Opera. Two new-to-Philadelphia dances highlight his company's Kimmel run this weekend. "Serenade," a new solo for Morris, danced to live Lou Harrison music, promises to be the highlight. Here you'll be able to relish the talent of a master who, like Cunningham and Baryshnikov, is able to mesmerize an audience by doing virtually nothing.

"All Fours," Morris' other local premiere, sets his ensemble moving to the challenging, often atonal sounds of Béla Bartík's String Quartet No. 4. Here the mood will be somber with the dancers in black and white, reflecting, one supposes, the forces of light and dark, or perhaps good and evil. (Actually, it's not safe to presuppose anything about Morris.) There'll also be "Grand Duo," augmented by primal stomping feet and clapping hands with another Harrison musical setting, this time for violin and piano. Then just to keep things from getting tooooo serious, we have the larky "Going Away Party," Morris' tribute/send-up/celebration of Texas, two-stepped to Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, the evening's only recorded music.

Mark Morris Dance Group, Thu.-Sat., Jan. 29-31, 7:30 p.m. and Sat., Jan. 31, 2:30 p.m., $38-$58, Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad St., 215-893-1999.

—Janet Anderson

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