In call-and-response encounters with the guitar or drum, he lays out an idea, waits for the musician to answer it, comes back with something different. In dance duets, he lets Davis take the lead and rolls out the basic rhythm in the background; then they come together in unisons and interlocking counterpoints.
Not even looking winded, he announces the final number, "Starz & Stripes for the SaiNTz." With Hermida maintaining a constant ostinato rhythm on the guitar and the other two musicians joining in, he taps a string of different patterns — inventions, marches, songs — until he joins up with Hermida again. He's standing straight and still for the first time, saluting, as the curtain goes down.
Related:
Golden years, Both ears and the tail for this Carmen, Photos: Boston Ballet's World Passions, More 
- Golden years
The last thing I had in mind when I went to the Opera House Tuesday was raining on Alvin Ailey's parade — particularly since the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which he founded in 1959, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year while making its 41st annual Celebrity Series appearance in Boston.
- Both ears and the tail for this Carmen
"World Passions," the collection of four works that Boston Ballet opened at the Opera House last night, was more pleasant than passionate until Kathleen Breen Combes sashayed out as the title character in Jorma Elo's Carmen .
- Photos: Boston Ballet's World Passions
Photos of the Boston Ballet's "World Passions" collection, including Jorma Elo's Carmen ; Helen Pickett's Tsukiyo ; Viktor Plotnikov's Rhyme ; and Marius Petipa's Paquita.
- John Harbison plus 10
Classical music in Boston is so rich, having to pick 10 special events for this winter preview is more like one-tenth of the performances I'm actually looking forward to.
- Play by Play: March 19, 2010
Boston's weekly theater schedule.
- Theme and variations
George Balanchine was famous for “non-story” ballets, but when you put three of his works — the usual number to fill up an evening — together, you always get some kind of narrative.
- Photos: Boston Ballet presents Black & White (2010)
Boston Ballet's reprise of Jiří Kylián’s Black & White
- Review: Wicked; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; The Real Inspector Hound
"It's a bit much," acknowledges the Wizard of Oz, emerging from under the neon-blue-eyed Lion King mask behind which he does his heavily amplified business in the Broadway blockbuster Wicked .
- Review: Boston Ballet's fifth 'Night of Stars'
Now that Boston Ballet has settled into the Opera House (after nearly 30 years at the Wang Theatre) and its "Night of Stars" gala has turned five — well, the thrill might not be gone, but the novelty has worn off.
- Review: Boston Ballet's La Bayadère
The Ballet's opening-night performance confirmed that La Bayadère should visit the Hub more often.
- The Best Boston Dance Stories of 2010
Some of the past year's most interesting dance events recaptured iconic moments in our history, either as usable texts for today's dancers or as a springboard into reinterpretation, parody, and nostalgia.
- Less
Topics:
Dance
, Cutler Majestic Theatre, Opera House, Opera House, More
, Cutler Majestic Theatre, Opera House, Opera House, Savion Glover, Savion Glover, Celebrity Series, Cirque du Soleil, CRASHarts, Canadian, Michael, Less
