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One of King’s most admirable qualities is his collaboration musically with a variety of cultural traditions, a trait extended in the past decade to include movers in those arenas. This was exemplified in his collaboration with BaAka pygmies and more recently with the Shaolin monks, enriching the range of his artists. Without question such interest arouses interest and support with major funding organizations. In May 2008 King will regroup with the Shaolin monks.

With members of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, King created the sixteen part Irregular Pearl, a title totally suited to King’s capacity for matching musical emphasis with body accents outside classical ballet norms. King confines most of his choreography to the voice tone of the selections, pas de deux, or more accurately two dancing at the same time; trios, a quartet and a concluding quintet with two striking male solos.

Four of the sixteen pieces were new compositions by Roy Wheldon, drone- line compositions which neither matched or challenged the glories of Handel, Vivaldi, Corelli, Marais,, Scarlatti or Sainte-Colombe. The first Wheldon composition served to introduce Cory Scott-Gilbert's presence. The remaining three included Keelan Whitmore, Brett Conway, John Michael Schert and Meredith Webster.

King gave Scott-Gilbert a solo to Vivaldi providing the audience a display of fluidity, unusual in a tall dancer, the reach of his extraordinarily sculpted legs, his self-possession and dignity. Scott-Gilbert, a Juilliard graduate with two seasons at the Lyon Opera Ballet behind him, gives King’s invention a challenge.

At some a given point the men donned filmy approximations of 17th century cavalier tunics; but I felt the tunics harkened to the earlier Morris production of Mozart. The women were assigned a variety of visual body overlays, their variety perhaps calling attention to the musical antecedents; with one or two exceptions, they were decidedly unflattering. One wonders the choices while trying to tune it to the essence of the dance where it appears; economy and last minute selections from other works? Assymetrical lace tunics gave several dancers wonderful freedom; the minute ruching on Maffre’s tunic enhanced her evocative partnership with Scott-Gilbert.

One of the charms of this program was King’s providing the dancers with on-stage moments respectfully engaged in watching other company dancers perform. It lent a note of company intimacy frequently absent in some of King’s other works. Also, at one point King created the closest I’ve seen to a classical pas de trois with Patricia Rocher in tutu participating and observing. Her company debut carried a warm and savvy presence to the baroque intricacies.

Musicians Cynthia Roberts, Gonzalo Xavier Ruiz, Katherine Shao, Tanya Tomkins and Roy Wheldon, provided passionate renditions of the baroque selections.

King usually mines a streak of gold when collaborating with Zakir Hussain; Rasa was no exception. He created a specially intricate extended pas de deux for Laurel Keen and Brett Conway where the bends, pushes and spirals were augmented by Keen’s physical manipulation of Conway as he seemed unable to move forward; the combined singing of Kala Ramnath and Hussain followed the pair with singularly evocative tones and the occasional rhythmic accent on the tabla.

Expectedly, the dancers ended with individualized jam sessions to the rapid-fire tabla beat. It would be interesting if King helped his dancers extend their port de bras vocabulary with lessons in Indian mudras or introductory exposure to abhinaya. There is more to that language than forefinger and thumb joined in what some Western cultures is considered the a-okay sign. That might also require King to rethink his choreographic patterns.

Maffre served King well; she and Scott-Gilbert formed a special partnership, Maffre lost in extended emotion, Scott-Gilbert deftly, gently propelling her through King's off-balances and intricacies.

It would have been nice if the Hindi phrases sung by Zakir Hussain and Kala Ramnath in Rasa were given a translation in the program, but they certainly were enhanced by Alain Lortie’s sensitive lighting and design; a black scrim which opened up to reveal a side lit copper hanging, narrowing or expanding depending upon the dance sequence.

Each performance was dedicated to some one of the quarter century supporters, from dancers to board to staff. It’s a pity King could not have extended this acknowledgment by naming them and dating their years of service. Those laborers deserve it.