Dance: 'Pittsburgh Connections'

It's all about expectations when watching Playhouse Dance Company perform, and not only ones the performers place on themselves. Comprising Point Park University dance students, this group can range from young professional to student level in one performance, depending on the expectations and expertise of the choreographers who work with them.

"Pittsburgh Connections," as the title suggests, assembled five dance-makers at The Playhouse with the city in their past or present.

Although the young performers needed more variety and depth of expression in Point Park alumna Whitney Moncrief's percussively taut jazz piece, "Faraualla," and faculty-member Nicolas Petrov's burlesque of a ballet, "Soiree Musicales," the rest of Sunday afternoon's program had a maturity that was especially satisfying.

Erin Halloran's "La Jeune Fille et la Mort" led off with a piece that summed up Halloran's signature style as principal dancer at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Capturing the ebb and flow of Schubert's quartet, she paid particular attention to a subtlety in the arm movements, balanced by sharp footwork and turning sequences.

Slippery Rock University's Jennifer Keller set "Shelter" on three different couples. The movements, both athletic and detailed, were shown first with fear and anger, then with a comforting nuance. Sunday's performers (Natalie Mackessy and Luke Murphy) had to overcome a height difference that caused some timing issues, but their commitment ultimately conquered any problems.

Jason McDole, newest addition to the Point Park faculty, made a profound impression with "Conscious." Cast in a Paul Taylor mold with weighted runs, sculptural jumps and an interlocking ending, "Conscious" elicited a dedication to detail from the young cast. There was also a swift and unending musicality from McDole, and that is something that cannot be taught.

-- Jane Vranish, Post-Gazette dance critic

Dance: Mary Miller

Mary Miller Dance Company performed "TOGETHER" with Philadelphia's SHARP Dance Company at Open Stage Theatre over the weekend. Although the two groups share a history -- SHARP artistic director Diane Sharp-Nachsin was a former Miller company member in the '90s -- they were worlds apart in focus.

Labeling itself as a "hip-hop-infused company," SHARP should eliminate its sporadic and elementary street-dance moves and concentrate on what it does best -- clean modern dance movement with a strong technique. Only two years old, this group has a good basis in that area and needs to explore a more concise artistic vision with these performers, who obviously love to move.

Miller, on the other hand, continues to pare down her dance as she advances in her career, perhaps to reveal its essence but gradually limiting it until much of the movement borders on dramatic staging. Nonetheless, she goes on to refine her trademark happy-go-lucky whimsicality, even in the politically charged "Recipe: Freedom."

Although it didn't offer much that was new ("instead of going to war, we should dance"), Vanessa German, Ellen Gozion and Miller exhibited a communal glow in this folksy paean to the American spirit.

-- Jane Vranish

Comedy: Lewis Black

Comedian and occasional "Daily Show" ranter Lewis Black answered "the call of the bitter people" Saturday night at the Benedum, riffing on the general theme of anticipation, which works for both the holiday season and the year before a presidential election.

Black brought his irascible finger-wiggling and lavish ear-splitting profanity to the strangely interrelated topics of sex, waiting for marriage ("If you waited, my hat is off to you, because you are a gambler on a level I never imagined"), golf ("a game designed for people who don't hate themselves enough in their daily life"), gambling and how many months it takes to celebrate Christmas.

He saved a lot of the political material till the end, heightening the anticipation, when he scolded both major parties for offering such poor choices and got topical on Chinese toys, technology, terrorism and Social Security. He handles hecklers the way a long-suffering dad handles a drunken college kid, with a crusty old-guy contempt that keeps interruptions to a minimum.

Lynne Koplitz, who opened for Black, was dressed to kill and did so. None of what she said was printable in a family newspaper, but all of it was very, very funny, especially to single women weary of the prying questions of cab drivers.

-- Samantha Bennett, post-gazette.com columnist