Chicago Dance Digest

A magnificent collection of athletes commanded the Harris Theater stage during Dancing at the Harris on the third evening of the tenth annual Chicago Dancing Festival. The evening began on a high note with Rennie Harris Puremovement performing Harris’ crowd-pleaser “Students of the Asphalt Jungle.” The audience went wild, gasping, cheering, and standing in ovation, much as they did during Night Two.

The Martha Graham Dance Company, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary (yes, 90th!), performed the Graham classic “Diversion of Angels.” The work, first performed in 1948, featured three gorgeous women—Konstantina Xintara, Xin Ying, and Charlotte Landreau—enchanting their partners—Ben Schultz, Lorenzo Pagano, and Lloyd Mayor, respectively. Graham once described this work as the three aspects of love: mature love (dressed in white), erotic love (red), and adolescent love (yellow). Each pairing displays a distinctly different chemistry, echoed by a chorus of supporting dancers. “Diversion of Angels” is beautiful, lyrical, and timeless.

Photos: April Daly & Fabrice Calmels of The Joffrey Ballet in Othello by Lar Lubovitch. Photo by Cheryl Mann.

The Joffrey Ballet’s April Daly and Fabrice Calmels brought the drama with their performance of the pas de deux from Act III of Othello. It was a treat to see this lovely pairing of Daly and Calmels, in spite of (or perhaps because of) the poignant anguish of this particular scene, which, in this setting, has been ripped from the full-length ballet and thrust, full-force, into the audience’s faces.

Photo: Hubbard Street Dance Chicago performing “Solo Echo” at Chicago Dancing Festival’s Dancing at the Harris at Harris Theater for Music and Dance. Photo by Cheryl Mann.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago closed the program with a very different work, Crystal Pite’s Solo Echo. The stage is set in darkness, with illuminated snowflakes descending softly across the back curtain. As the dancers move, lighting, designed by Tom Visser continues to illuminate the snowfall, while also brightening the limbs of the exposed arms and heads of each performer, otherwise clad in black. Solo Echo reminds me of the drifting of the mind during a solitary walk on a winter night. Dancers move like thoughts, alternately vibrating together, separating quickly, or interweaving in shifting patterns across the stage.

Dancing at the Harris also featured Aszure Barton’s “Trio (excerpt from Awáa)” a sassy piece which I reviewed in more detail after Night Two of this year’s Chicago Dancing Festival.

Photo: Rennie Harris Pure Movement performing “Students of the Asphalt Jungle” at Chicago Dancing Festival’s Modern Men program at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Photo by Cheryl Mann.

Cheers, wild applause, and a standing ovation concluded Modern Men, aka Night Two of the 2016 Chicago Dancing Festival, on Wednesday evening at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The thrilled applause exploded from an audience that had just soaked in a rousing hip-hop performance, “Students of the Asphalt Jungle,” danced by Rennie Harris Puremovement. Inspired by the House Clubs in Philadelphia, Harris’s signature work showcases an array of unbelievably physical feats as each dancer of this energetic group takes his turn in the spotlight. The athleticism and fearlessness of Puremovement produced audible gasps from the house. Popping, locking, upside down pirouettes, headstands, head spins, gymnastics – this performance had it all.

“Jungle” closed a series of five works featuring all male dancers, each with a distinctly different personality. The program opened with “Concerto,” a solo choreographed and performed by Josh Beamish to the music of Bach. It feels like an ironic take on the music, with Beamish’s “come hither” gestures and rolling hips contrasting against the structure of the concerto.

A duet from Brian Brooks’ Wilderness brought together Brooks and Matthew Albert for what felt like an improvisational interaction, characterized by a series of fleeting connections. The pair moved across one another like silk scarves, never committing to a physical connection for more than the briefest moment. It was a lovely effect, even if the eccentric music felt piercing at the start.  

Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Reiner brought a very different pairing with their “Desire Liar” (extended). Set to wilderness sounds, such as frogs and crickets, Mitchell’s and Reiner’s creation explores dancing on different planes, placing and stacking bodies in unexpected ways.  

Photo: Aszure Barton + Artists performing a trio selection from Awáa at Chicago Dancing Festival’s Modern Men program at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Photo by Cheryl Mann.  

Modern Men also featured a sexy, sassy trio from Aszure Barton + Artists in Barton’s “Trio” (excerpt from Awáa).  Awáa means “one that is a mother” in the language of the Haida, an aboriginal Canadian people, so one might at first feel surprised to find oneself staring at three male dancers. Yet, Jonathan Emanuell Alsberry, William Briscoe, and Oscar Ramos, infuse Barton’s hyperbolic accentuation of the chest and hips with such attitude, you might mistake the three, topless male performers, for a trio of confident moms. By setting this work on male dancers, Barton seems to challenge definitions of femininity and motherhood in a most delicious way.

The Joffrey Ballet is keeping it fresh by bringing us a new version of a favorite holiday classic this December, when it debuts Christopher Wheeldon’s The Nutcracker. Tony Award-winning choreographer Wheeldon brings new imagination to the beloved story, setting it in Chicago's mysterious 1893 World's Fair, as seen through the eyes of a child.

If you’re excited about the new ballet and curious to learn more about Wheeldon’s vision, then plan to take a longer lunch break on Thursday, September 8, grab your phone, tablet, or laptop, and find a comfy chair. Because The Joffrey Ballet is offering you a first glimpse of the production, as it livestreams rehearsal from 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM (CT) on The Joffrey Ballet’s YouTube channel.

If you’ve wished you could spend more time taking in the arts in Chicago, but you’re watching your pennies, Audience Architect’s new “Dance Around Town” Sampler Pack might be just what you’ve been looking for. With “Dance Around Town,” you’re invited to choose your own subscription from among many different performances Sept.30 - Dec. 16, 2016. Ticket buyers will save up to 58% when combining three different performances.

Participating companies include Dance Theatre of Harlem (November 18); Thodos Dance Chicago (October 15); Giordano Dance Chicago (October 28 and 29); Natya Dance Theatre (October 1); Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater (December 16); Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre (September 30); and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (November 18).

Photo: Diana Yohe of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre at Chicago Dancing Festival 2015

Did you snag tickets to the 2016 Chicago Dancing Festival, yet? Chicago’s annual festival of dance will feature an array of free performances each evening from Tuesday, August 23 through Saturday, August 27. There are still free tickets available for most of the programs. Plus, both Friday’s and Saturday’s outdoor programs do not require tickets.

Ballet Preljocaj's visually arresting "Snow White." Photo by Jean Carbonne.

Rory Hohestein and Christine Rocas in "Romeo & Juliet." Photo by Cheryl Mann.

April 30, 2014—Krzysztof Pastor’s modernized Romeo & Juliet made its U.S. debut this week, when the Joffrey Ballet debuted the work at Auditorium Theatre. Pastor’s concept illustrates the timeless struggle of star-crossed love, portraying Romeo and Juliet’s love affair reaching across decades and cultural situations.

David Wolfe, recent recipient of a scholarship to Hubbard Street’s Youth Dance Program, with fellow students at Mitchell Elementary School. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

CHICAGO, April 16, 2014 — National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa today announced Hubbard Street Dance Chicago among 886 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive NEA Art Works grants. Hubbard Street is recommended for a $100,000 grant — the maximum single amount provided to Art Works grantees — in support of its Movement as Partnership (MAP) Program.  

MAP Education Programs, providing long-term engagement in Chicago and Oak Park Public Schools, are projected to serve 60 classrooms in 13 locations in 2014–15, reaching approximately 2,364 students in grades K–6, 70 teachers and five teaching artists, 19 administrators, 200 family members and, through professional dance performances, an additional 1,000 students. In MAP partner schools, in-classroom dance instruction sessions lasting 40–60 minutes are combined with dance integration during other classroom activities, and conclude with performances by participating students.  

The Houston Ballet in Aladdin. Photo by Amitava Sarkar.

Break dance fans, get ready to for the Flying Steps to bring their world renowned moves to the Civic Opera House in June with Red Bull Flying Bach. In Red Bull Flying Bach, you'll experience Johann Sebastian Bach like you never have before. The Flying Steps will perform eye-popping urban dance – power moves, head spins, flairs, freezes, popping-and-locking – paired with Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier performed live by Christoph Hagel, opera director and pianist extraordinaire.  Red Bull Flying Bach has sold out theaters around the world, including in Austria, Australia, Canada, Chile, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Russia and Sweden. Check out the Flying Steps on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FlyingSteps.Official.