Imaginative engagement between dance and history sustained the opening night of "Tapestry'' -- a collection of seven works choreographed by Conchita Ming and assembled in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of The National Dance Theatre of Bermuda.

"Bermuda Tapestry'' tells the story of Sally Basset, a slave convicted of poisoning her master and burned at the stake on one of the hottest days of a Bermuda summer. The performance recreates town life and the relationships between slaves and masters in the early 18th century in Bermuda. Amy Harvey danced the role of Sally Basset with orange tassels of costumes shivering around her as she is absorbed into flames.

Dancing the role of Mrs. Morrell, one of the heroines in the battle for women's suffrage, Julia Richens' classical elegance captures the essence of the refined dignity and determination of the suffragettes in "On the Same Terms As Granted to Men''.

Scratchy sound quality during these first two performances was distracting for the audience and unfortunately detracted from the dramatic impact of the dancing.

One of the strongest and most imaginatively engaging performances of the evening was "Cetacean'', a drama about whaling in Bermuda the early 1900's.

The dancers created a lyrical underwater kingdom of whales, led by the strong and supple Shomeiko Ingham, whose compelling stage presence focused the performance. The haunting quality of whale songs woven into the music hinted at the tragedy for the great graceful creatures that followed whenever whale boats appeared on the horizon. In imitation of their death, the whale danced by Ms Ingham is rolled torturously across the stage as she is hauled in by the hunters.

"A Woman Named `Prince'' crystallised the story of the nineteenth-century Bermudian slave Mary Prince -- the first woman to publish a slave narrative -- excerpts of which were read by Grace Rawlins during the performance.

The opening, pared down to only narrative and the lovely Crystal Caesar dancing the role of Mary Prince, showed true imaginative fluidity between historical narrative and the art form of dance.

With light and joyful movements, she evoked the weightlessness and gaiety of childhood until maturity brought sobering realities. As she realised her state of bondage, she slowed, became bewildered and her body curled in on itself, reflecting psychological shock and disbelief. The emotion was raw and swift-changing as light, moving between horror and despair and rising back through hope. This was dance telling a story, graphically and dramatically, and was highly emotionally charged.

The sudden intrusion of a Michael Jackson song into Ms Caesar's beautifully expressive routine -- while perhaps intending to evoke a triumphant victory of the spirit over slavery -- disturbed the sanctity of the dramatic experience.

The five supporting dancers were energetic and crisply synchronous, but the emotional and dramatic connection between Crystal Caesar and Mary Prince was powerful enough to stand alone.

Sympathy between music and dance was perhaps greatest in "Church Cave'', which breathed life into an old legend of a 17th century sect of religious dissenters who secretly gathered in a Tucker's Town cave to worship.

Sombre church bells chiming, a hatted shadow emerged in the centre of the stage behind an altar of rocks, arms raised above his head, palms pressed together. Women's shadows entered the cave, approaching the altar of rocks in single file, pausing to bow reverently before the altar.

Continued on page 18 Tapestry unfurled Continued from page 17 Legend, mystery and religion made a powerful brew, and the atmosphere built in power and intensity, climaxing when spirits rose out of the altar in the form of stalactite dancers, grabbing the women worshippers, tousling them and fluidly casting them off the stage. When the women reemerged, their costumes were transformed into the stony features of the stalactites. This communion between worshipper and nature, resulting in their ultimate merging into a unified form, mirrored the relationship between history and dancers throughout all the performances.

In "Remember the Circle in the Sky'', Sophia Cannonier played the role of the wife of a Native American chief, Metacom, slaughtered by the British in 1676.

She offered a heartfelt performance of the trauma of grief and the terror of capture as she and her child are sold into slavery in Bermuda.

Her grief is savage -- powerfully communicated as she pounds her heart and curls into a fetal position. Later, mother folds her body around child as they cross the sea -- a rippling cloth that shivers low over the stage and then slips away, callously depositing the Indian woman on the shores of a foreign land. As the sea and her homeland are wrenched away, her body recoils from the brunt of the impact. It is subtle nuances like these that give psychological depth and heart to the performance and make the experience of Metacom's wife seem tangible to the audience.

A rousing troupe of gombeys stirred the audience in the final performance -- "Earth Tones III''. Dancers mingled with actual gombeys, the H & H Junior Gombey Dancers, in a vibrant jumble of colour. While they managed to make convincing whales, the dancers seemed a little lacklustre and dainty for gombeys, and the pace lagged at moments amongst the row of background dancers as the gombeys danced in the front. Musicians -- three drummers and a piper -- kept the energy high and the audience clapping.

There were moments in the seven performances when less would have perhaps been more. For example, the gombeys were a little long-winded and sometimes the dramatic communication between dancer and historical figure seemed cluttered by a small stage brimming with dancers. At the finest moments, however, the souls of historical figures rose from the past, seeming to commune with the bodies of the dancers, compelling the audience to partake in the emotional and dramatic connection with Bermuda's history.