Getting "Got Zulu!"

It's too bad that reviews can now be considered one of the barriers to attendance, comprehension and enjoyment of dance in New York City. Sometimes you just have to take the initiative and navigate your way around them, as I did, last evening, when I went to Dance New Amsterdam.

Watching Got Zulu!, I found myself considerably less offended than one of my Times-ward colleagues about a travel video that popped up in the middle of the production, the South African version of Riverdance. (Yes, there is one of these--a South African equivalent of Riverdance--and it's brought to us by the righteously talented Sduduzo Ka-Mbili/JUXTAPOWER, a dance-and music troupe based in New York.) Amid all of the hearty gumboot dancing, outrageous pantsula street dances, out-of-this-world hoofing by tap master Omar Edwards, heavenly choral call-and-response, and mindblowing drumming by Joshua Endlich, there comes a moment when the live proceedings pause for what could be read as a commercial break--except that the expected hard sell never actually arrives.

Yes, we're treated to tempting video images and captions that make South Africa look like the planet's most colorful, resourceful and rewarding place for visitors--neatly gliding over some of the lingering social problems to which the concert itself briefly alludes--but, unless I missed something, we're never hit with the travel firm's name, URL or phone number. And, after reading the Times review, I was kind of bracing myself for that hit.

In JUXTAPOWER's program notes and promotional materials, RA Travel--along with other supporters--is credited and thanked. But this does not seem to me terribly different than most credit and thank you notes (and is considerably less jarring than most New York Times ads, for that matter). And, frankly, if founder Sduduzo Ka-Mbili has secured a reliable source of funding to uplift his crew and keep their bodies and souls together, then good on him. The show gives a lot back, and most people will find that the short video break neither distracts from nor compromises that achievement.

I'm writing and posting this less than a half-hour away from the troupe's last performance at DNA (3pm). So, it's too late to urge you to get there. But keep eyes peeled for your next opportunity.