The Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival, a Knight arts grantee, began with a flourish as Ballet Hispanico, a New York-based dance troupe, kicked off the eighth annual (and the city of Akron’s 41^st annual) dancing-in-the-park happening.

Ballet Hispanico, led by Eduardo Vilaro, sets as its focus Latino cultures. But as the leader of the group says, the company thinks about Hispanic traditions, but goes for the “essence.” And that’s what happened when the group performed at Goodyear Metro Park the weekend of July 18-19.

Friday night was beautiful for the outdoor event. Jane Startzman, director of the festival, said that 1,400 people showed up. Saturday night was not so fortunate; rain and cloudy skies all day kept many away, but those who braved the elements were treated to a magnificent performance with a contemporary fervor and spirit of rhythm that was a joy to watch.

The first dance, “Asuka,” choreographed by Eduardo Vilaro and set to the music of celebrated “Queen of Salsa” Celia Cruz, established the pace.

The work ostensibly deals with the notion of homeland – a motif carried by a solo lead female dancer who reappeared throughout several sections of the dance to change tone. She had incredible length of line and an amazing athletic control of her body.

Yet the real strength of the dance is that it is a study in layered dance – of small groups carrying the varying rhythms of the music. What Vilaro adds is dancers passing the burden of the dominant rhythm in the different sections – from one group to another – as no doubt a kind of metaphor of a community of experience that reflects the subject matter.

There was passion in the dance; there was humor; and there was an invigoration that lets the audience know there was much to come.

The second number, “Sombrerisimo,” choreographed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, is much darker. Taking as its source the paintings of Belgian artist Rene Magritte, who often drew men wearing bowler hats, the dance references issues of identity and belonging.

In this case, the dance – set on a sextet of male dancers – who all wear bowler hats and shirts that are the same except for slight changes in pastel color variation – gets at the idea of Magritte’s man against the wall through the dance imagery of the dancers passing the hat. They put theirs on each other; they throw them to one another, as if to pass off their issues; and finally, they stack them on one dancer, who may metaphorically be the scapegoat or the emblem of their frustration and alienation.

The dance darkens to the solo man falling to the floor and being dragged off by one leg by another man. The choreography focuses on precision timing and moving the gaze of the viewer from one nameless person to another, but it is a fundamental look at how ensemble work can define the meaning of the work of art. It’s an incredible piece.

William Whiterier’s “Tito on Timbales” was the next piece – and probably the weakest on the program. It’s set to the percussion music of Tito Puentes. That’s good, but the emphasis on social dancing with the duet performing it, probably lost some luster by coming after the outstanding first two works.

The dancers were obviously excellent – as they uniformly are in this company. The passion is certainly there. Yet the effect amid such joyous and symbolic fare may have muted the effect.

The last work of the evening, “Mad’moiselle,” was excitingly brilliant. This work again was by Anabelle Lopez Ochoa, and it explores the iconic male/female images and gender identity in Latin American culture: cross-dressing, a history of tradition of veneration of the Madonna, and the pageantry of drag shows. The dance came across as both tongue-in-cheek and serious icon splatter. The end, with a beautiful recording of Gounod’s “Ave Maria”  took on the full-blown feel of being at a happening, at seeing something new and outrageous, and fun and smart.

Kudos to the Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival for coming up with Ballet Hispanico. Such monumental art in a community metro park, that’s the stuff of innovation and freshness in a dance festival.

Ballet Hispanico. Photo from www.morningsider.com