Dianne McIntyre's 'In the Same Tongue' powerfully melds poetry, music and dance

The world premiere of "In the Same Tongue" at the Walker Art Center by the Dianne McIntyre Group brings together a frenetic, inspired score, loose, expressive dancing, and scintillating poetry.

McIntyre doesn't appear in the performance. Instead, her voice is ever present through the speakers (she also came out for curtain call and gave a speech after the show on opening night).

In her voiceover, McIntyre brings the audience along for the ride through the social, artistic and political movements she's lived through, and her travels and discoveries along the way. Hearing McIntyre's voice creates an intimate feel to the presentation. It's like getting a private view into how her artistic voice came to be.

Co-commissioned by the Walker and Northrop, the piece features an original score by Diedre Murray, performed by a tight group of jazz musicians led by music director and trumpeter Gerald Brazel.

The late poet Ntozake Shange's poem "I Live in Music" gets a charming performance by dancer Brianna Rhodes, who moves to and speaks Shange's text. "i live on c# street/my friend lives on b-flat avenue," she recites, moving dreamily through the stage, almost as if she's swimming.

Soon, Rhodes is joined by the other four main dancers, dressed in tulip-colored costumes designed by Devario Simmons. They dance with the musicians, who move away from the band area to play in and around the dancers. It's joyful and celebratory, and speaks to McIntyre's deep connection to music.

Later, dancer Demetia Hopkins performs Shange's poem "box & pole" while Cleave Guyton Jr. plays a flute solo. Hopkins wears a microphone for the work. It amplifies her speaking voice and also her breath, highlighting the work her body has to do as she moves and speaks at the same time.

A number of the pieces in the show investigate the struggles of communication between humans. In "What? What about?" a large group of dancers (including trainee dancers from local company TU Dance's Cultivate program) shout over each other as they run directionless around the stage. Eventually they learn to slow down, and find ways to be with each other physically and emotionally.

The final number evokes enslaved people on a ship. The musicians call out different languages, indicating the dancers can't understand each other's language. McIntyre's choreography finds transcendence in the communion the dancers find with each other.

Throughout the evening, McIntyre and her collaborators meditate on human interaction and listening as the key to surviving this world. Listen to the music, listen to each other, McIntyre seems to say with her dances.

'In the Same Tongue'

When: 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat.

Where: Walker Art Center, 725 Vineland Place, Mpls.

Tickets: $20-$40, 612-375-7600, walkerart.org