Slow figures wander on stage against nothing but a glooming red backdrop. They stop occasionally in a lounged position with arms softly outstretched overhead. Halted in motion for brief moments, they were succumbing, stuck in gravity. This calm opening scene introduced a dance piece that held nearly no pauses in motion for its 30-minute entirety. As The Wind Blows is the first piece set to Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s full-length Joyce Theater performance, an impressionable first section that set a powerful bar for the show to be presented on that Saturday matinee. In this work choreographed by Amy Hall Garner, we are taken on a colorful ride just as the title implies.
Suddenly, the stage becomes slowly lit as more dancers enter and we are bulldozed with variations of strong whirlwind arms and deep focus. A light figure enters the stage and brightens us with her airiness. It is a graceful and piercing Alexandria Best who soared with every lift and soothed with every stare, convincing us her moments were too pinnacle to forget. As the piece progresses, the music begins to build and so does the mood. If the piece began in deep focus, troubled by trajectory, then at this point the figures have now completely succumbed, joyfully being taken on a route full of spontaneity and decided by the force that is pulling them. The dancers hover across the stage, being whisked away in countless weightless lifts. The pattern of movement almost seemed to imply a journey of travel that may have begun hesitant, but is now growing with more acceptance of the unknown future. The arms were intriguing puzzles, the partnerwork intellectual, and the movements bound with wit. From snaps as a musical transition to whiskful touch and goes. This opening section had it all, as it told a dear story through its sequences. Multiple trios, full company combos and a heart melting solo, each portrayed the rightful tumult the wind does carry. How it can be daunting, crippling but in the end, also joyous and optimistic.
Succeeding the intermission, one could not prepare the audience for what we would see next. With the profound work of lighting designer Dan Scully, the drama from the lights only exponentiated the drama brought to the stage. Show Pony is a solo piece choreographed by Kyle Abraham and performed by Cyrie Topete. Throughout the performance, Cryrie was in complete control; control of her body, control of the room and control of our emotions. An agile master, she executed technique in varying intersecting styles with swiftness. The piece, having a classical foundation was equally filled with street style acrobatics and movements integrated spontaneously all while keeping a continuous flow. As she moved she developed more and more ligaments in her body, and her metallic bodysuit articulated every muscle she engaged and every ripple she controlled. Kyle Abraham’s work is a stream of consciousness, one movement eternally linked to the next like a run-on phrase that we do not wish to hush. For this performance, the statement of that phrase was power, and with Cyrie Topete’s extreme villainous focus, that point was made clear. She was the most powerful body in the room.
Ne Me Quitte Pas is a duet brought to us by choreographer Spenser Theberge. Set to the emotive and alluring voice of Nina Simone, this work that seemed to play on co-dependency was a humorous contradiction. Staged almost as a play, a few moments into the piece, the audience learns it is actually the story of two dancers rehearsing. The contradiction comes in when the playful and light rehearsal atmosphere is interrupted by the entrance into a melancholy performance holding a serious tone. The movements spoke to a sense of codependency and challenged this notion through partner initiated movements and continuous contact. The two dancers pushed the limits of aerodynamics with extenuating lines and teetering turns and balances. In their “rehearsal” they were connected. However, they also challenged this connectivity with a contradicting introspective dance approach that showed necessary in order to attack the full range of their movements and successfully workshop the rehearsal process. With every teeter away, they escaped back into connectivity, as if they needed each other to move. In the end, breaking the concentrated focus of the audience into their movement story with another call to the stage technician, they nonchalantly yell “Thanks Kasey” and exit the stage.
The show overflowed with a diverse rigor of energies, moods and flows. A robustly curated itinerary that satiated our palates. B/OLERO was the fourth act, a duet that brought a different air through simplistic and dynamic syncopated movements set to a blend of eclectic, rhythmic, hypnotizing and relaxed electronic music. Choreographed by Ohad Naharin and danced that afternoon by Michelle Dooley and Alexandria Best, the two were both in synchrony, and equally lost in their own worlds. With neon lighting, the two wore flattering and simple short black, sleeveless dresses. The piece stretched the bounds of simplicity with contrasting dynamics. The duet would change from full body heavily thrown movements to playful, coordinated repetitions. Dancing both together and apart, their bodies were completely transparent having no recognition of the other or possibly two halves to one whole entity. Did they see each other or was their presence merely felt?
In a culminating, full cast finale, BUSK openings up a pensive conversation with its words unsaid. All of the character presented by each dancer throughout the entire night is reimagined in this dramatic, exciting and inquisitive piece. The cast wore all black, oversized and baggy costumes from head to toe, but illuminated brightly with colorful mime-like facial and body expressions that satirically described their pains and struggles. They were brave and boisterous caricatures of humans, telling the story of paranoia, livelihood, neglect and fear. Telling the stories of our lives. BUSK equally fuses many styles showing the intricacy, versatility and athleticism of the Hubbard Street dancers. With amazing spectacles and full body movements, BUSK was lively like an action packed film, melding together an array of musical arrangements to match the piece's expressiveness. From dramatizing choral voices to emotive guitar strums, and somber piano nodes, each arrangement matching the moods each section brought. Through its comical and whimsical sequences, the piece also delivered musicality, elongated technical lines set to violin strums and athletic stamina just the same. With the loud exaggeration of the movements, the dancers were precisely us. Reflections of the insanity within that can be at times crippling, at times comical, and at times joyous in our human experience.
