National Dance Theatre of Bermuda appeared at the gala performance on the last night of Dance II Black America last week.

Conchita Ming's `Earth Tones,' with its gombey dancers and drummers proved a popular choice to open the programme. As The Philadelphia Inquirer reported, "The National Dance Theatre of Bermuda kicked off the nine-act bill with what appeared to be a cross between a precision half-time marching band and very agile Mummers -- it was a tribute to Bermuda's indigenous street dancers: the Gombeys.'' Says artistic director Mrs. Ming, who accompanied the group to Philadelphia, "It was a wonderful experience! Our gombey costumes and the music is absolutely unique and the organisations thought it was a great way to open the proceedings. And for us, a basically amateur group who are not paid, to be chosen as the opening number in a programme of well-known companies, was quite amazing.'' This was the second time that Dance Theatre has gone to Philadelphia, the last occasion being in 1989, when they performed Conchita Ming's `Tubular Images.' This year, says Mrs. Ming, over 300 participants took part, with the Washington, DC Youth Ensemble sending 50 dancers and Detroit bringing their entire group.

Bermuda's Crystal Caesar who, along with fellow dancer Elizabeth Pimentel, has been offered scholarships at the Alvin Ailey Company school this year, led the cast of nine dancers. Manager of H & H Gombeys, Mr. Lawrence Hendrickson also took along three of his gombey drummers to provide the beat for Mrs. Ming's popular work.

The `well-knowns' included such groups as Lula Washington's L.A.

Contemporary Dance Theatre, Rod Rodgers Dance Company and Philadanco (who have appeared here in the Bermuda Festival), and performers such as Broadway star and former Ailey dancer, Carmen DeLavallade. In all, 27 companies appeared in the four-day long conference, which drew companies from all over the US, the Caribbean and Bermuda. It was hosted by Philadanco as part of their 25th anniversary celebrations.

The aim of the Association is to "open a dialogue for the 21st century. We present a dynamic programme which includes workshops tracked for important areas of concern, including artistic, administrative, educational issues, with additional events for dancers, critics and audiences.'' The Saturday programme was one of two `showcase' performances, organised as part of the 8th International Conference of Blacks in Dance, although, says Mrs. Ming, "The shows were integrated in terms of performers. This was really for everybody.'' Mrs. Ming and the Bermuda contingent took advantage of the wide range of seminars, workshops and classes that were available.

"They even had talks on things like `how to build a realistic management scheme,' how to fundraise, how to maintain a dancer's body, master classes for the dancers, and they even had dance classes starting at midnight.

As a sad sign of the times, there was one seminar devoted to `Developing Artists of the Future with the Loss of a Generation to AIDS.' But there were plenty of lighter moments, one of them being a spoof on `Giselle' called `I've Got the Willies,' with men dancing in tutus.

Says Mrs. Ming, "As might be expected, an awful lot of the talk sessions centered on threatened cuts in the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

There was absolutely no doubt about the popularity of dance in Philadelphia.

Every performance was sold out!'' DANCING IN PHILADELPHIA -- Members of the National Dance Theatre of Bermuda are pictured backstage at the Merriam Theatre. In back, from left, are Raquel Knight, Jenni Rowntree, Elizabeth Pimentel, Renee Lambert, and Amy Harvey. In front, from left, are lead dancer Crystal Caesar, Carlicia Brangman, Cathy Aicardi, and Erin Field.