The Bermuda Festival presented Les Ballets Africains and their 50 Years Golden Jubilee show for the first of their two nights performance on Friday night at the Ruth Seaton James Centre. Les Ballets Africains is the national dance company of the Republic of Guinea.

What is impressive about the company is the preponderance of raw talent. The performers danced, played instruments, sang and acted their way through a number of pieces depicting life, customs and folklore in Guinea. Props were often and effectively utilised becoming extensions of the movement. The costumes were authentic, colourful and dramatic although I did find the riding shorts worn under the shorter skirts of the women and loincloth-like costumes donned by the men in some portions to be somewhat distracting and quite frankly unnecessary, undermining the integrity of the artistry.

The African dancing throughout was exuberant and spirited and some of the many short solos, riveting. The abandon, especially exhibited by the women as they gyrated, arms akimbo, chests heaving in contraction and release, was very exciting to watch. The skill of the men was demonstrated in their effortless creation of clever human pyramids and their mastery of flips and other acrobatic moves, with one dancer even showing off popular hip-hop and break-dancing techniques.

The passion and enthusiasm of the performers seemed to leap off the stage and their easy smiles warmed. Quick costume changes from dyed fabric to animal print, masks and beautiful headdress took the audience on an engaging journey through themes of corrupt colonial rule, female mutilation, sexuality, poverty and the differences between city dwellers and village folk.

Act II, scene III, "Cathedral of Rhythms: Optimism and Perseverence", the powerful finale, had the audience enthralled as the performers, male and female, with the females taking centre stage, playing drums and creating awesome, infectious music that constantly evolved seamlessly and kept building. The females danced with complete freedom as they showed off their excellent drumming skills and precision sense of rhythm. The audience took to their feet to reward the company with a standing ovation.

That said, and as multi-talented as I found the cast, as beautiful as the costumes were and as astonishingly transcendent as the drumming and other music was I thought the show was a bit rough around the edges. The highly moralistic stories and vignettes were shallow in their depiction and many times the lines in the ensemble dancing were a bit off. The potential was staggering but even after making allowances for cultural differences and the encouraged individualistic nature of expression through African dance I found the show lacking in polish.

I must say that possibly because of inadequate directing and obvious lack of honing and fine-tuning the performance, although spirited, was not up to the standards I have come to expect from the Bermuda Festival.