SINCE the interplay and interweaving between African and African-American cultures are potentially fascinating, one cheered the prospect of a collaboration between Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s Urban Bush Women – one of our most imaginative dance troupes – and the National Song and Dance Company of Mozambique.
Sadly, the result – a children’s tale called “Shadow’s Child,” which premiered at the Clark Studio Theater as part of the Lincoln Center Festival 2002 – left the cheer disintegrating into a discreet, embarrassed cough.
This story of a girl who leaves Mozambique with her parents to immigrate to Tallahassee, Fla., is simplistic in concept and choreography – the kind of venture that does more for international understanding than for art.The Clark Studio Theater, Lincoln Center, (212) 721-6500. Season runs through tonight.