The Chicago-based Luna Negra Dance Theater and Turtle Island String Quartet performed Thursday evening, the latest event in the Fort Hays State University Encore Series. Their show, appropriately titled "Danzon" after a popular Cuban art form, featured Latin-American and Spanish flavored music and dance with a "contemporary twist" (program note). For their first two dances, Luna was accompanied by recorded guitar and vocal music. Turtle Island performed solo and accompanied them in their third dance.

Luna's first number, "Nube Blanco" (white cloud), found the company wearing black and white with knockout red shoes. In the course of the dance, the shoes became interesting in their own right -- the performers took them off and put them on again, used them as cell phones and castanets, danced barefoot with shoes on their hands, and even with one shoe off and one shoe on. I eventually discovered the shoe game was a humorous commentary on the traditional flamenco "zapateado technique" or the artful stomping of shoes. And, lo and behold, there was finally a white cloud in the form of a dancer clad in a white ruffle from chin to knees -- and barefoot.

This number had lasted only 25 minutes, but the company had to take a 15-minute intermission to get on with the second, "Sugar in the Raw." According to the program note, the dance "is an exploration of who we are in our purest form -- our raw beauty." The gents wore brown trimmed with red, the ladies brown with lighter streaks and red panties to express their outer and inner selves by gyrating about separately and together for another 25 minutes, after which there was another 15-minute intermission.

Following that, people greeted the Turtle Island String Quartet with applause before they had played a note of their solo. The quartet, specialists in fusing classical and popular forms, rewarded them with a performance of "Wapango" by Paquito D'Rivera. The music, a combination of jazz and Latin motifs, was immediately accessible to all, yet rich and complex as all good arrangements should be.

Dancers and quartet collaborated on the last number, "Danzon." This was structured more like a classical ballet with male and female solos, a pas de deux and a conclusion with the entire company onstage. The music, though, was again a fusion of jazz and Latin, mostly arranged by David Balakrishnan, Turtle Island's moving spirit and violinist.

The audience gave Luna Negra mixed reviews. Friends Warren and Pam Shaffer thought Luna Negra was wonderful. Warren exclaimed, "I can just see the barrio! All these fresh, young dancers with attitude -- brilliant choreography!" Others were not so keen. Friend Connie Wilson said, "If you give (Luna Negra) a good review, I'll never believe you again." On the other hand, the Turtle Island Quartet received enthusiastic applause.

I agree in part with everyone. The Turtle Island String Quartet pleased me greatly. The dancers were indeed young, beautiful and talented, and the show innovative and well-performed. But the intermissions were too long and too frequent, and the dances, along with the recorded music, tended to be too repetitive.

* The next event in the Encore Series is "The Blind Boys of Alabama" at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 10 at Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center.

Ruth Firestone is a supporter of music and theater in Hays.