African ballet from Harlem

Supply and demand works as well in the theatre as it does in the shops. Provide too much, and audiences easily tire. Supply small helpings, and they're booking their next visit before this one is done. Arthur Mitchell knows this in his bones, and his Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) holds us in thrall.

The American visitors performed their second and final programme on Friday, and how you wish they would stay. Rarely was an audience so reluctant to leave, cheering for encores that never came. The short evening had a strong African-American theme (programme one was more Euro-American), spanning the savannas to soulmeister James Brown. South African Suite opened the show, a piece inspired by the troupe's historic tour of South Africa in 1992. The music was by the Soweto String Quartet, and the movement mostly "a terre", the men in warrior poses, the women feline in gesture. Choreographically, it hardly innovates, but it is a powerful evocation of Africa refracted through a balletic lens.

Next was Dougla, Geoffrey Holder's celebration of a Trinidadian wedding ceremony. Part pageant, part voodoo ritual, this distillation of Caribbean life includes tiny shimmies of the hands and head, alternating with generous promenades and twirling skirts suggesting the froth of waves.

Last came Robert Garland's Return, a fabulous dance-off to tunes from Aretha Franklin and James Brown. Peekaboo dresses provide sensual allure, although DTH's good taste makes us sigh with pleasure rather than shout. And among the funky steps was, I think, a homage to Mitchell's mentor George Balanchine, a gentle Apollo spoof, with streetwise muses teasing a beautiful but mischievous black God.