By June S. April

NEW HAVEN — Both innovative thinkers, Julie Taymor and Ralph Lemon bring together disparate cultures and offer audiences an opportunity to experience various heritages in their current production, Tree: Part 2 of The Geography Trilogy. In her monumental Broadway production of The Lion King, Ms Taymor uses masks and movement; in Tree: Part 2, Mr Lemon adds body/dance movement. Both draw from Asia, Africa and Indonesia, and the multiple sub-traditions of those cultures. Whereas Ms Taymor’s choices are more culturally narrative, Mr Lemons’ works reflect more, including his personal spiritual journey of discovery.

Tree: Part 2 is being performed, through May 13, at Yale’s University Theatre. (This is the theatre located at 222 York Street, not the one on the corner of York and Chapel.) It is such an exciting and innovative experience that this reviewer hopes to see it a second time, which itself is a telling statement.

Even before a recent performance began, the set designed by the award-winning artist Nari Ward caught one’s eye and imagination. Using wooden palettes and painted Plexiglass, Mr Nari has captured a sense of earth-space connection using non-traditional concepts and materials.

Part of the wonderful art installation that he created for Geography 1: Africa/Race will be on exhibition this fall at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minn. It was made from hundreds of glass bottles of various sizes and shapes all attached as a curtain. Metal bedsprings were also used in that first production.

Falling and levitation were also part of the choreographic elements in Tree: Part 2. With the fusion of song, commentary and conversation into the dance process, elements harkening to cataclysmic events are explored through symbolic movements.

Four of the performers are Asian. Wang Lilang and Li Wen Yi make their living as both farmers and musicians. They are also teachers of ethnic culture at the Yunnan Ethnic Culture Institute, the first of its kind.

The institute was formed six years ago among 25 villages which make up the Minority Nationalities Protective Zone of Culture. The object of the organization is to preserve the folk culture, religion and literature of the 25 minority populations in the Yunan province.

From that province comes Wen Hui, an independent Chinese dancer and choreographer. Originally from Taiwan, Cheng-Chieh Yu is an acclaimed teacher, choreographer and dancer who serves as a cultural bond between China and the United States.

Indian dancing is represented by the Japanese-born Asako Takami, Guru Manoranjan Pradhan and Guru Bijaya Barik. All specialize in an ancient form of Indian dance known as Odissi. Odissi emphasizes graceful expression and fluid movement; it was almost extinct but interest brought a revival by educated scholars and dancers in the 1950s.

African Djedje Djedge Gervais is from the Ivory Coast along with his talented colleague, Yeko Laezekpo-Cole, whose heritage is Ghanian, Volta Region in West Africa. They bring to Tree: Part 2 the male and female traditions of that part of the African continent.

David Thomson, Carlos Funn and Ralph Lemon are from the United States, bringing the blues heritage and the contemporary visions into this unusual ensemble.

Sound designer David Budries played a vital role as the binding flow of one segment to another. Nature’s sounds might meld into blues music, a ticking clock, an amorphous din of a crowded city, or the whooshing noise emanating from the wings, all heard at just the right decibel levels.

Water running from a portable sink was meshed with a verbal botanical description and graceful gesticulations. Weird? Maybe for some, but many in the audience for a recent performance instead seemed to find the effect mesmerizing.

Artistic director Stan Wojewodski, Jr, and managing director Victorian Nolan are to be congratulated for fostering such a unique production.

Tree: Part 2 is the joining, the connection of spirituality, sexuality and cultural meldings that span time and all sensual awarenesses. It is one of the highlights of Yale Repertory’s offerings and very much worth the time and cost of the ticket.

(Tree continues through May 13. Performances are 7 pm on Mondays, 8 pm Tuesdays through Saturdays, with 2 pm matinees on Saturday, May 6, Wednesday, May 10, and Saturday, May 13. Tickets for Tree: Part 2 of The Geography Trilogy range in price from $10 to $34; group discounts are available. To purchase, call the Yale Repertory box office at 203/432-1234.)