Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Hubbard Street Dance has physical language that resembles Morse Code. Long, sinuous combinations are punctuated by jerks of the head, pelvis, arms, a kick. In an evening that featured three choreographers, two particularly evidenced this with the third successfully traveling off path.
Coltrane’s Favorite Things – Choreography Lar Lubovitch
Staged by Jonathan E. Alsberry
Stand-out dancers – Alexandria Best, Shota Miyoshi, Elliot Hammans
Alexandria Best, Jack Henderson, Shota Miyoshi, Elliot Hammans, and Abdiel Figueroa Reyes
Much like the saxophonist’s freewheeling jazz, a Jackson Pollack serves as backdrop. Costumes are loosely layered grey and ochre. The company moves in waves with solos and duets breaking free like rebellious colts. Overall feeling is expansive. Limbs constantly extend, move. Pony tails whip. Unfettered figures suddenly spasm. Shoulders shake, heads bobble, torsos buckle. Lifted bodies bend arms and/or legs as they do leaping. Smooth, contort, smooth, smooth, contort. It’s an exuberant piece, yet only some dancers smile. A bit unformed.
return to patience – Choreography Azure Barton. Music – Caroline Shaw—Performed by Ruogu Wen
Staged by Jonathan E. Alsberry
Lighting= Set Design – Nicole Pearce
Alysia Johnson, Cyrie Topete, Abdiel Figueroa Reyes, Matt Wenckowski, and Alexandria Best
The company wears loose white shirts and pants. They are expressionless. Invisible wind seems to bend planted forms. Movement is subtle. Heads jerk down. Shoulders rise. Again, the company moves in union with twos and threes escaping. Bodies often appear to be puppeted, as if figures have no control. Lots of floor work offers variety of visual levels. Transitions are smooth. Feet flex as couples step in pairs. Groups are more connected, holding hands, arms, almost tumbling over one another. There’s a sense of community here.
Aguas Que Van, Quieren Volver – Choreography by Rena Butler
Music – Milton Aguilar, Miguel Angel, Marcelo Barbel, Jane May, Valladares, Rebolledo.
Composed by Darryl Hoffman
Shota Miyoshi, Abdiel Figueroa Reyes, and Cyrie Topete
This is the most interesting of the three pieces. Dancers Alysia Johnson, Shota Miyoshi, and Cyrie Topete work as one organism. They intertwine, pull and push as if opposite magnetic poles trying to permanently connect. The program says, “Waters that go, want to return.” Hips and haunches are paramount. Infectious Portuguese vocal and rhythmic drums propel arms and buttocks. Dancers bounce. Some body part is almost always connected to that of another figure. Somersaults and cartwheels whoosh forms back when separated. Arms wave above heads or extend in front loose-fisted. Positions sometimes resemble insects. Arm over arm they hold, then pull apart kinetically.
Photos Courtesy of the company
Opening: Alexandria Best
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Artistic Director – Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell
Executive Director – David McDermott
Founder – Lou Conte
Through March 24, 2024
Joyce Theater
175 8th Avenue
