In its first local appearance since 1995, the Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago ignited a capacity crowd at the King Arts Complex last night with nonstop vitality, propulsive music and an array of striking costumes.

The company, celebrating its 36th season, shows no signs of slowing down nor any lack of initiative in exploring new material.

As one would expect, the program centered on western African traditions. The pieces featured the lively integration of call-and-response chanting, energetic drumming and dynamic, athletic dancing — all at the most upbeat tempos. Every selection turned into a celebration.

But there is more going on with Muntu these days than spectacle. Each selection last night gave glimpses of a social order in which a sense of community, cooperation and personal responsibility is part of the fabric of everyday life.

In choreographer Moustapha Bangoura's Sinte and Sorsone, for instance, girls frolicked aimlessly and without direction until the wise woman of their village took charge of their preparation for life.

Properly initiated, the girls ultimately returned to their villages in harmony — full of joy and respect for themselves and their elders.

The four Muntu drummers offered both a steady background against with the dancers could perform with consistency and an intriguingly complex fabric of changing metric patterns and pitches.

Just before intermission, one of the company directors engaged the audience in some rhythmic play as well, though the patterns she threw out for the crowd to copy stopped way short of the kind of challenging material the musicians had been playing.

The performers danced themselves on and off stage, making quick costume changes between numbers. The varied styles of the showy outfits and headdresses helped make the performance as exciting to see as to listen to.

Contemporary cultures tend to pigeonhole performing as an entertainment that can only be presented by a few designated “experts” while everyone else looks on in passive silence.

Muntu reminds us of what it's like to put music and dance back in the heart of society so that everyone can practice and enjoy them as part of the art of living.