MANILA, Philippines - For French spring in manila this year, Alliance de Française brought in two dance companies ?to promote the French culture in the Philippines.?

But what audiences saw on two separate nights at the CCP was far from the usual éclat of a place more popularly known for its champagne and Christian Dior.

The usual ?Frenchness? in Compagnie de Hervieu-Montalvo and Etha Dam seemed to end in the fact that both groups were established in France (1981 and 1998, respectively) and all the dancers speak the tongue-twirling language.

Both productions (fresh from tours all over Asia and some parts of Europe and US) were more eager to show France?s eclectic side as a melting pot of dance. Theirs were much-appreciated fusions of diverse elements, including various cultural influences and dance styles.

Fun show

Compagnie Hervieu-Montalvo?s ?La Bossa Fataka de Rameu? at the CCP Main Theatre was worth braving the rains, floods and winds for. And was it fun? You bet.

In sketchily mundane skits, eight performers in everyday wear infused hip-hop, classical ballet, African and street dance with sound poetry and moved in time to Baroque music, life-size photomontages and quirky metamorphoses, all shown on a massive screen at the center of the stage.

The successful union of the stage and virtual reality (or insanity) was heavy with influences from the Dada movement founded by Jean-Philippe de Rameu. It was an affectionate tribute by choreographers Dominique Hervieu and José Montalvo to the 18th-century composer.

While there was no actual story, Hervieu and Montalvo?s intense imagination alluded to a hedonistic dance utopia (conveyed by the background of blue sky and clouds showed on the video) as a way of saying that the extreme differences in dancing and movement could still bring people together.

Animals, both real and imaginary (unicorns!), also played a large part in the 50-minute performance, which had galloping horses, camels and zebras, roaring lions, strutting peacocks, a giant stomping chicken, and an elephant balancing on a tight-rope.

Of the outstanding numbers, Muriel Henry as a shy clown earned the most applause and had the audience heaving with laughter. At one point, she outwardly ogled a shirtless male dancer?s physique and endeared herself to the audience by saying salamat (thank you) many times during her highly amusing monologue on her love for dance.

Completing the interesting mix of playful spectacles were African dancer Tsakap Dupont, classical ballerina Marjorie Hannoteux, street dancers Hammani Foued (electric boogaloo), Lady Severigne (popping) and Hakim Hachouche (locking), and ?hip-hoppers? Benhalima Simmamed (breakdancing) and Blade MC (human beat-boxing).

Excessively soulful

Etha Dam?s ?Aduna, Land of Adventures? at the packed CCP Little Theatre was nothing new or spectacular. Interpretative hip-hop has long been widespread among local audiences. But the dancers? excessively soulful movements combined with a highly-appreciative?and generally foreign?audience gave the one-hour performance an illusion that it was bigger than it actually was.

The show had a simple story: seven warriors (six, in this performance because one dancer was injured) would endure equal bouts of joy and suffering in their quest to find a land called Aduna, without being separated from one another.

Choreographer Ibrahim Sissoko mixed African dance, contemporary energy, yoga, hiphop, tableaux poses with techno beats and new age music in this minimalist show of pure dancing and lights (plus an exploitation of the fog machine).

The result: Liquid-looking and sweeping movements adeptly executed with easy grace by Abu Bakr, Modi, Akeem, Loic, Messaud, and Syleymane. (Jean Michael was supposed to be the seventh).

Dressed in beige billowy long-sleeved shirts and baggy brown pants, they even made somersaults, helicopters and no-hand cartwheels that looked so effortless and light.

The six chunky dancers were incredibly mismatched. They hardly moved in unison and their height differences were very distinct. Yet it didn?t seem to matter in this case. They all earned applause after applause during the 20-minute curtain call.