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Sarasota News Leader November 23, 2012 There is an underlying assumption of sexual tension throughout There Where She Loves, but though the young dancers in the company easily handled the difficult, seamless choreog- raphy, there were only glimpses of the charis- matic element that transforms acrobatics into a passionate, emotional drama. Love and desire skirt the world of Paul Tay- lor's Company B, his tribute to the 1940s and World War II. It is set to the popular swing music of the period, and though the dancers whip across the stage in youthful enthusiasm, Taylor is intent on commenting on the frag- mented, disconnected world American teen- agers face as young men become soldiers. The ballet opens on a group of silhouetted dancers who slowly begin to react in unison to the in- fectious beat of the first of the 10 songs that are the basis of the stories to be told. A few soldiers shadowed in silhouette moved slowly along the back wall — miming shoot- ing, crawling, dying — while Sara Sardelli and Ricki Bertoni performed the polka with deft delight, swirling across the stage. The image of a single, shadowed line of sol- diers moving in slow motion across the back wall is repeated from time to time during the ballet. Taylor's message is obvious, and the im- age remained in my mind after seeing Compa- ny B performed by the Taylor Company in the past. In fact, I have always thought of this as one of Taylor's anti-war ballets. Now I do not know whether my memory is playing games or there has been a difference in the staging, as this time, I found the use of the silhouetted figures to be a self-conscious attempt at cre- ating a message. But the explosive, exuberant dancing and the toe-tapping ride through nos- talgic rhythms are exactly as I remembered. Page 72 The dancing never stops, and the cumulative effect of high energy substitutes for emotion in the solos, duets and group numbers that are counterpoint to the words and rhythms of the songs with the agony of war. Simon Mumme almost stole the ballet in his solo of subtle shifts of weight and high-spir- ited leaps as he threw himself into the tricky, fast-paced Latin rhythmic beat of Tico Tico. David Tlaiye's devilish sass and easy fluidity in Oh Jonny, O Jonny Oh made the cast of seven women happy. But the mood constantly shifts between hope and longing, as in Kirstianne Kleine's yearn- ing solo interpretation of I Can Dream, Can't I? and in There Will Never Be Another You, a love duet between Kate Honea and Jamie Carter. I do not think anyone could resist Rita Duclos' light-footed dancing to the Andrews Sisters version of Rum and Coca Cola. But it is Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (of Com- pany B) that sums up the essential message of the ballet. Logan Learned skimmed through the air and had fun with the rhythm until the last moment when he, as the Bugle Boy, dropped dead from a bullet wound. The ballet comes to a close as it opens — with a shadowy single file of men slowly crossing the stage and the rest of the cast jiving in uni- son to Bei Mir Bis du Schon. No question: Company B is a perfect ballet for this group of well-trained, energetic dancers who, I am sure, are going to love dancing to the Tchaikovsky score in the newly choreo- graphed version of The Nutcracker that they will be premiering in December. %