The first and newest work on the program, Morris’s 2002 Resurrection is a strong introduction to MMDG if only because it gives the dancers of the company leave to do what makes them truly remarkable: relax, have fun, and move together as if they were one being. Sometimes synchronized, sometimes in a canon of motion, their timing is always delectably spot-on, and their awareness of each other hypersensitive. The score, Richard Rodgers’ “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue”, plays up the goofier sections, such as a pantomimed murder, and the dancers appear to revel in the entertaining lightheartedness of the work. - See more at: http://rogovoyreport.com/2011/08/27/mark-morris-jacobs-pillow-review-anna-rogovoy/#sthash.uRD1bIvr.dpuf

As audiences saw in the Mark Morris Dance Group’s annual performances at George Mason University on Friday and Saturday, the best of Morris’s works offer wholeness. The musical response is fluid and handled lightly. No distractions, rhythmic or otherwise, take us out of an unpredictable but effortless meeting of sound and movement. The dances simply feel right, to the eye, intellect and nervous system.

The company’s anniversary program at the Pillow this week explodes with a joy and unabashed beauty rarely seen in contemporary dance these days. There’s something innocent about pieces like “Resurrection,” from 2002, and “Dancing Honeymoon,” from 1998, a purity and playfulness despite—but really because of—Morris’ remarkable artfulness. What you feel watching a Morris dance is a delighted satisfaction in the fact that everyone always ends up exactly where they should be at just the right moment, time after time. It’s a kind of magic, and Morris is the magician who makes it all seem simple.

We blinked, and suddenly the Mark Morris Dance Group is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Another blink, and it’s the last week of this year’s Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, during which Morris’s jolly troupe is performing four of the master choreographer’s works. The giddy program, too, flashes by: Time really does seem to fly when you’re having fun.