TV REVIEW : Beauty of ‘Still We Dance’ on PBS Overcomes Its Flaws

Labeled a portrait of the annual Ethnic Dance Festival in San Francisco, “And Still We Dance” includes scattershot backstage interviews and rehearsal clips--most of them hand-held, arbitrary and incoherent.

However, the core of the hourlong telecast (11:30 tonight on KCET Channel 28) proves entirely different: 10 performance sequences shot with meticulous care in a gleaming black studio space.

We’re never told where this footage was filmed (the credits list four different stage facilities) but, clearly, producer/director Ashley James is less interested in documenting the festival than providing a cavalcade of Bay Area multiculturalism.

James’ unusually deep choreographic sense often leads him to clarify stage geometry for the camera. And most of the time he not only makes the dances look gorgeous on screen, he leaves them unmolested: no disruptive editing effects or camera tricks, no voiceovers.

For example, watch members of the Chinese Folk Dance Assn. swirling giant scarlet and green ribbons in the air and appreciate how close James brings you to the essence of the moment--its energy, body design and spatial calligraphy.

Elsewhere, however, major lapses occur: disorienting overhead shots a la Busby Berkeley during the Kalilang Kulintang Ensemble’s pole dance, fragmentary views of an artist making a whole-body statement in Cruz Luna’s flamenco solo, an awkwardly truncated peek at Rosa Montoya’s Bailes Flamencos, plus endless spoken commentary on top of group performances by the Sun Eagle Southern Singers and Dancers.

Although this kind of narration always destroys the immediacy of the dancing it accompanies, we do need to learn more about the cultural context of what we’re seeing. The answer? A longer program, perhaps. Or more pertinent rehearsal/interview material. And, ultimately, a greater number of telecasts focusing on traditional performance.

“And Still We Dance” may not be a genuine documentary, but it brings to us achievements of the Balle-Saba Traditional West African Company, Fua Dia Congo, Kennelly Irish Dancers, Khadra International Folk Ballet, Los Lupenos de San Jose and others that otherwise would not exist on television.

As an index of consistently overlooked cultural resources and a foray into media access, it is long overdue.