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To April 14. 8pm. Premier Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay W. $25-$35/$20-$25 for students and seniors. 416-973-4000. www.balletcreole.org.

Watching a performance of the Ballet Creole is an electrifying experience that will have your heart racing, your stomach lurching and your head spinning in reaction to the pure energy and astonishing force of the troupe.

In this, the 17th year of the Ballet Creole, the company continues to fuse Caribbean and African dance with ballet and modern dance. The current program consists of four short pieces, beginning with the premiere of the title piece by internationally renowned Alvin Ailey choreographer Milton Myers. Divided into five sections, Contemporary Voices is set to music by the West African composer Famoudou Konaté. With the sparse white lighting, a plain black-painted set and simple black-and-white costumes, the traditional rhythms driving the movements of the dancers are entirely the focus. Through this fusion of sound and motion, we see a collision of cultures resolve itself into melodious accord.

Suspended: Desire in Time, choreographed by Gabby Kamino, uses music by Godspeed You! Black Emperor for a sensuous, heart-wrenching duet by Sharon Harvey and Kevin Ormsby. Kamino’s other piece, St. Elsewhere (actually a collaboration with Colleen Freeman), is set to a trio of tunes by Gnarls Barkley. Apart from the fact that some of us were wishing to never hear “Crazy” again, this was the most accessible and whimsical portion of the evening, with the dancers in shorts and superhero t-shirts looking truly happy during their strenuous display of endurance and talent.

Ballet Creole’s founder and artistic director, Patrick Parson, dedicated his piece, Ritual, to Katherine Dunham, the pioneer of African-American modern dance and the originator of the Dunham technique, who died at age 96 last year. Dressed in flowing white, the dancers explore dance as an essential element of ceremony and custom. Ritual starts slowly but — fuelled by the live percussion that accompanies it — builds into a frenzy of emotion. This beautiful dance is a fitting tribute to the woman once known as “dance’s Katherine the Great.”

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