Arts patrons were treated to an edgy performance featuring romance and rooster-inspired movement last night at the Templeton-Blackburn Memorial Auditorium.
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, a dance company that features modern, ballet and musical theatre, performed as part of the Performing Arts Series.
Dressed in suits and rhythmically bouncing on the stage, the dancers opened with a work called SF/LB
choreographed by Daniel Ezralow to music by Leonard Bernstein. The high-energy piece highlighting brass instruments was full of synchronized movements as well as chaotic improvisation.
The first piece set the tone for the rest of the show, which engaged the audience, said Bradley Campbell, a graduate student who received his undergraduate degree from Ohio University in dance and now works for the Performing Arts Series.
The creation process was pretty difficult for all of us said Patrick Simoniello, a company dancer for two years.
Part of the inspiration for the piece sprung from the roots of dance, attempting to answer the question of why dancers jump and turn and its meaning, Simoniello said.
We do things other people can't do because it's amazing he said.
Hubbard Street, which has 21 dancers, gives a personal performance similar to acting and singing. The dance company was started in 1978 by dancer and choreographer Lou Conte. It is much more personal than ballet, said Simoniello, who danced for eight years in the Geoffrey Ballet.
Following SF/LB was a contrasting piece called Kiss
choreographed by Susan Marshall with music by Arvo Pärt. The piece began with two dancers, Cheryl Mann and Tobin Del Cuore suspended from the ceiling in an embrace that introduced a theme of love, which was used throughout the show.
Campbell said the piece gave an ethereal
angelic sense of reality. He could see the couples in the audience get closer, he said.
Natalie Mackessy, a dance major at OU, said she could hear the breath of the dancers in Kiss. They displayed a lot of emotion, she said.
Following Kiss was Love Stories
choreographed by Lar Lubovitch, which used jazz music performed by Kurt Elling and steamy choreography in duets to various love songs.
The show ended with music from the Rolling Stones in a piece called Rooster
choreographed by Christopher Bruce.
The male dancers again wore suits, this time with colorful shirts, and the female dancers wore black costumes accented with red, though most of the costumes used throughout the show were simple, using mostly monotone colors.
Campbell said he liked their use of colloquial movement -the kind of dancing one would do at a club -as well as pedestrian movement, such as strutting across the stage.
The rooster-influenced choreography woven throughout the piece portraying a cockfight evoked laughter from the audience.
Hubbard Street reached a broad audience, Campbell said. This is an element the Performing Arts Series considers when choosing acts.
They've chosen some eclectic versions from their repertoire
said Campbell, who has seen Hubbard Street perform before. That way everyone takes something with them.
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