The music could have passed for American pop, with a few Asian accents, and the dancing had a fluid ballet quality.
Then the members of the Tucson Sino Taiji dance troupe, dressed in crisp white uniforms, snapped their large fans open.
Thwack!
The sound reverberated Friday night and startled many in the audience filling two-thirds of the intimate Berger Center for the Performing Arts.
It's a safe bet that it was the first time most of the audience had ever seen Tucson Sino Taiji, whose dances are rooted in the ancient martial art of tai chi.
It also was the first time many had seen the Korean Arirang Dance Group dancers, the Philippine Mabuhay Cultural Foundation of Tucson choir, or the Tucson Youth Marshallese Choir.
In the intimate space of the Berger, these groups and about a dozen others were tour guides on a trip around the world with Reveille Men's Chorus.
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It was an exhilarating, life-affirming two-hour journey.
You didn't need a passport.
You needed an open mind.
That was the intent of Reveille choir's "Dim Sum & Then Some." Check your preconceived notions at the door and open your heart and mind to new experiences during a multimedia, multicultural feast of song and dance.
Reveille's 24 choristers were standing among the audience for the opening number "Come Travel With Me," extending an invitation to visit China, Israel, Africa, Japan, Korea, South America and beyond. They closed the night back in the audience, singing the computer-generated "World Anthem," which culled 193 national anthems into one united pledge, sung beautifully by Reveille chorister Joseph Gouge.
The chorus, under the commanding guidance of conductor Linus Lerner, made it look easy, singing the West African folk song "Kpanlongo" in the native tongue, and backing up the Philippine Muguhay Cultural Foundation in the folk tune "Paruparong Bukid," also in the native language.
Lerner wanted "Dim Sum" to truly send a message of diversity and unity, which is why he insisted his choristers perform in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Tahitian, among other languages.
Lerner moonlighted on stage as band leader, conducting a small ensemble that included a fine pianist in Kyungsun Choi, a violinist and a flutist. But his primary focus was on Reveille, which was superb on many levels and in many languages.
The performance's only clunky moments came from two dancers who accompanied the choir in four numbers to close out the evening. The pair were woefully out of sync. At one point, the male dancer bobbled his female partner when he lifted her during the Brazilian pop tune "Mulatê Do Bundê."
Review
Reveille Men's Chorus "Dim Sum & Then Some" Friday at the Berger Center. Concert repeats at 3 p.m. today at the Berger, 1200 W. Speedway.
