Donald Byrd/the Group was founded by North Carolina-born dancer Donald Byrd in 1978 in Los Angeles. They relocated to New York in 1983.

Donald Byrd/the Group presents work, ranging from dance to dance theatre that embodies the vision of its Artistic Director. He has developed a distinctly American movement style integrating black vernacular dancing with classical ballet and modern.

The company opened at the Ruth Seaton James Centre for the Performing Arts last night with its contribution to the Bermuda Festival. The opening night audience was not as large as one might expect and sadly by the end of the performance there were even less people present.

The dancing technically was quite amazing, exhibiting mastery of ballet, jazz and modern. There was also impressive athleticism evident as the dancers leaped, lifted, and hurled their partners. All choreography was devised by Donald Byrd.

The piece performed was entitled "In a Different Light: Duke Ellington" and comprised of three acts.

The first act, "Not the Shack", was a hyper cartoon-like parody (I hope) of dancers during the 20's. With bright costumes, bug-eyed and smiling, the dancers re-created Vaudeville style characters seemingly from an old cartoon.

Madcap tumbling and lifts featuring females with legs splayed and arms akimbo were the repeated movements during this surreal act.

Act 2, "A Gentle Prelude", was quite the opposite, all affected gentility, with the females in pastel gowns and the males in vests and tuxedo styled tights and white ties.

Theatrical and sombre, this portion featured long lines and relied more on ballet technique. During lifts the women were in more traditional postures, although the lifts throughout were impressive for their diversity and innovation.

The dancing and music became more sensual as the act ensued, although initially the music was like background dinner instrumentation and did not connect with the movement.

"In a Different Light", Act 3, was whimsical and exuberant, the best of the three. It featured mostly modern dance and quirky choreography. Here I for the first time saw the potential for a great show had better selections of Ellington's music been selected and the choreographers vision been easier to discern.

Donald/Byrd/the Group is a company of remarkable dancers but I found this piece a bit self-indulgent and had a difficult time following and connecting with it.

Obviously the members of the audience shared this view somewhat or found the acts too long.