Hubbard Street Dance Chicago Spring series elevates weekend

When your Spring Series closes with a world premiere commission by Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, expectations are high. From the moment the curtains opened, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago proved once again that there are no expectations too high for these performers.

Sarabande opens with all the male dancers performing with female dress forms floating above them. The dress forms could have walked out of a 19th century British royal court. The men don’t dance as much as they prove how many ways they can use the human body for artistic means. The audience laughed at different times as the men incorporated humor in unexpected places. During Sarabande the music reminded me of 1980s techno-pop dance music. I was surprised to read that Johan Sebastian Bach composed the score. Dick Heuff’s electronic arrangement made it sound like an entirely new work.   

Third Coast Percussion provides a rhythmic melody for Falling Angels. In this piece eight women take the stage to come together, move apart and find their way back together. It’s a rhythmic dance that is at times soothing and jarring. At first the percussion seems loud, but as the dancers move in mesmerizing ways on stage the percussion seems to dance on stage as well.

Cloudless is described in the program as “a pair of women echo, reflect and shadow each other in Alexander Cerrudo’s intimate, encrypted first duet for female dancers.” The beauty of dance is that you interpret it through your own lense. When I watched Cloudless, I saw twins mirroring each other, intertwined in a way that no person can break apart.

After the flowing Cloudless, A Picture of You Falling is jarring. A single man moves to the command of a narrator. As he shifts on the stage, he is both familiar and unusual. He jerks and falls without actually hitting the floor. The distortion of basic, every day movements makes the dance personal for audience members. A friend watching said that distortion made her think about how she felt after a recent back surgery. As the dancer moved she saw an illustration of her pain and struggles. It’s the beauty of Hubbard Street Dance. You sit in a place where you are both in awe of their nuanced performance and relate to the story.

By the time the curtains opened for I Am Mister B, the audience was primed for the commissioned, world premiere. The Tchaikovsky score set a tone for the tribute to George Balanchine. Choreographer Gustavo Ramirez Sansano said that Balanchine‘s Theme and Variations was a ”favorite work of mine.” It was clear that I Am Mister B was a modern interpretation of a love letter to Balanchine. The layered ceiling to floor curtains created three separate rooms where the dancers moved in beautiful ways. The audience could hardly wait to give Hubbard Street Dance Chicago a standing ovation.

The Spring Series run at the Harris Theater through March 15. This is a show families with tweens and teens. There are aspects that might not be suitable for younger children. You can find more information or purchase tickets at www.hubbardstreetdance.com.    

Disclosure:  I received media passes