By Christopher Grobe

There was a ghost stalking the stage on June 12th on the top floor of Gotham Citi, where the resurrected Martha Graham -- or rather choreographer Richard Move (pictured) in a wig, thick makeup and a seemingly endless procession of gauzy, sequined gowns -- curated the first installment of the Arts and Ideas Festival's Dance Salon.

With regal diction and deadpan self-aggrandizement, "Martha" introduced the audience to a series of solos and duets that, in her mind, were not to be judged by categories of the "modern, postmodern, or post-postmodern," but rather by those more enduring and fateful categories -- "good and bad." As the presiding spirit of the night, Martha assured us there would be "none of the latter."

Move was particularly funny when imperiously coaching his young minion (the delightfully overeager Katherine Crockett) through some of the revered repertoire that made Martha "the Mother of Modern Dance," and when bestowing upon the guest artists "partial scholarships to study at my school (pause) in New York."

This shticky frame, charming as it was in its own right, made it difficult to appreciate each of the guest artist's pieces on their own terms. I suppose this is the beauty and the greatest pitfall of variety-show-style presentation.

For instance, the inwardness, the defiant solipsism of Niki Cousineau's "Naked If I Want To" seemed of a piece with the kind of earnestness that Move and Crockett had just finished satirizing before Cousineau entered the stage. Seen in another context, Cousineau's work may have seemed richly expressive, even confessional -- but in this setting, it suffered from the distorting effects of lingering irony.

The brightest spot in the night, far and away, was the final featured piece: "Can't Get Started," choreographed by Petter Pucci and Carol Parker, and performed by Yoav Kaddar and Maureen Mansfield. In this endearing piece, a cartoonish couple in Technicolor '50s garb enact a comic courtship to the pounding rhythms of old-timey swing.

"Can't Get Started" shone not because its stylization matched Move's campy tone as emcee (in fact, the piece managed to dispel the Martha's hovering spirit for a brief time), but because Kaddar and Mansfield displayed extraordinary precision, not only in their comic timing and their Dick Van Dyke-ish jerks and tumbles, but also in the outsized expressions on their faces.

Ultimately, the Dance Salon achieved its stated purpose: to put us "up close and personal with some very intriguing dance artists." The intimacy of the venue allows the audience the rare opportunity to witness talented dancers in all their subtlety of expression. From my seat, I could see the drops of sweat, the tremors, the smallest movements of the eyes. All of these contributed to the delicacy and richness of the evening's fare.

The lineup will change completely for the next rendition of the Dance Salon, on June 19th, when the precociously clever members of the Headlong Dance Theater will call the shots (see the Independent's review of Headlong's Cell for more on them). For more information, click here.