Dance On the Wind

Eno Washington is a bright man who can dance with incandescent energy, but his presence is dulled here by sloppy filmmaking. We are witness to his amazing talent as an African-American dancer in short clip after clip: Washington leaping, groveling, spinning, twisting his body into pretzel-like contortions and jungle imitations; really amazing and entertaining stuff. His intelligence and commitment to his art is glimpsed in the interview segments where he seems to be addressing an audience, although we never see more than him on the bare stage. But what he has to say is sabotaged by over-modulated sound that makes his comments unintelligible; so that while he appears to be a master of his subject, both physically and mentally, we can only guess at what he is saying most of the time. This is really too bad, as he seems to be drawing quite distinct parallels between traditional African dance and modern day moves, demonstrating the origins of the "James Brown Slide" and the "Temptations' Walk." The ideas presented by Washington may be of interest to dance students, but the general population will have difficulty getting past the mostly stationary camera and awful sound. Not recommended. (E. Druda)