Photo courtesy Herbert Migdoll

RECOMMENDED

The Joffrey closes their season on a Romantic note—the capital R specifically pointing to Edwaard Liang’s “Age of Innocence” and Jerome Robbins’ “In the Night.” Both pieces are favorite Joffrey standbys: the former a lush ensemble piece inspired by Jane Austen, in which white-clad dancers play out formal, yet passionate courtships before three red velvet curtains; the latter a series of duets depicting three different romantic dynamics. Read the rest of this entry »

Victoria Jaiani and Fabrice Calmels in "Before the Rain"

RECOMMENDED

Though he collaborated with John Cage, one of the musical titans of the twentieth century, the late choreographer Merce Cunningham famously created his work independent of the music; he believed in chance so much that he once did a piece wherein the audience created individual soundtracks using shuffle mode on their iPods. I thought about this a fair bit during the Joffrey Ballet’s “Winter Fire” program, so forcefully did the music shape my perception of the three pieces being performed. The opener, William Forsythe’s “In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated,” was an abstract work where the thrilling dancing seemed as much to background the harsh cacophony of Thom Willems’ ” dissonant soundtrack. I found myself in an aggressive mood by the end of the piece, in a football state of mind. Christopher Wheeldon’s “After The Rain” could not have offered a sharper contrast. One of the most perfectly beautiful works I’ve ever seen, it features couples dancing in graceful duets to the simple yet lush violin and piano of Arvo Pärt’s “Tabula Rasa” and “Spiegel Im Spiegel.” Read the rest of this entry »

Ricardo Santos/Photo: Sandro

RECOMMENDED

White, line-drawn figures walk across an LED screen running the length of the stage while below a few dancers create abrupt, angular lines to sounds reminiscent of subway stations and the beeps of a telegraph machine. Thus begins Wayne McGregor’s “Infra,” a piece he created for the Royal Ballet of London after the underground bombings in 2005. The Joffrey brings the piece to the U.S. for the first time, executing choreography that demands hyper-flexibility interspersed with quicksilver phrasing.

The cool precision of McGregor’s choreography can sometimes come off as devoid of emotion, but the currents of anxiety and fragility underpinning the subterranean “Infra” are very human. A series of duets that follow the opening sequence, set to strings and piano by Max Richter, are the embodiment of urban modernity: coolly flawless, detached, yet yearning just beneath the polished surface. When the couples line up across the stage, each pair executing their precise sequences in separate, constricted rectangles of light, digital figures passing overhead, never has perfection looked so quietly desperate. Read the rest of this entry »

THE JOFFREY BALLET ANNOUNCES 2012-2013 PROGRAMMING, A SEASON CELEBRATING MAVERICKS AND MILESTONES

Season to feature two mixed repertory programs including the 80th Anniversary of Kurt Jooss’ The Green Table, works by James Kudelka, Ji?í Kylián, Jerome Robbins and Twyla Tharp, a Chicago Premiere by Houston choreographer Stanton Welch, the return of acclaimed story-ballet Othello, and the Silver Anniversary of Robert Joffrey’s The Nutcracker

CHICAGO – Ashley C. Wheater, Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet, announces the company’s 2012-2013 season, launching in the fall with a mixed repertory program featuring James Kudelka’s Pretty BALLET and Ji?í Kylián’s Forgotten Land, along with the return of Kurt Jooss’ anti-war masterpiece The Green Table, celebrating its 80th Anniversary, October 17 – 28, 2012. Following will be the 25th Anniversary production of Robert Joffrey’s beloved The Nutcracker, December 7 – 27, 2012. In the New Year, the Joffrey presents a winter mixed repertory program featuring a Chicago Premiere by Stanton Welch and the return of Twyla Tharp’sNine Sinatra Songs and Jerome Robbins’ Interplay, February 13 – 24, 2013. The season is completed in the spring with the return of Lar Lubovitch’s acclaimed Othello, presented in honor of the choreographer’s 70th birthday, April 24 – May 5, 2013.  Read the rest of this entry »

Photo: Steven Caras

As the name professes, this all-male ensemble has street cred aplenty, especially on the major thoroughfares of Broadway and Hollywood Boulevard. Flashy moves and flawless technique have earned the Bad Boys accolades from across the high-profile entertainment spectrum, from competitive TV dance shows to Carnegie Hall, sharing bills with the likes of Lady Gaga and Elton John. Read the rest of this entry »

"Bells" rehearsal with Victoria Jaiani/Photo: Herbert Migdoll

RECOMMENDED

The Joffrey follows their winter narrative comedy of errors with a springtime plunge into the psyche. The rising stars in this case are Edwaard Liang, Julia Adam—both of whom have choreographed for the company before—and Yuri Possokhov, who makes his choreographic debut. By coincidence or design, both Liang and Adam explore the world of dreams, the former on a mass scale, the latter on the individual. Liang has been inspired by cultural consciousness before; his beautiful and strange 2008 “Age of Innocence” was about gender hierarchy and repression in the Victorian era. This piece, entitled “Woven Dreams,” is set to string pieces by Ravel, Britten, Galasso and Gorecki and abstractly pursues the collective consciousness. In “Night” Adam is content with following just one dreamer through her subconscious landscape, good and bad. Possokhov splits the dream worlds with “Bells,” a romantic, five-movement piece set to Rachmaninov’s 2nd. (Sharon Hoyer)

At the Auditorium Theatre, 50 East Congress, (800)982-2787. May 4-15, $25-145.

Here’s the press release from Joffrey Ballet:

THE JOFFREY BALLET ANNOUNCES ITS PREMIERE-PACKED 2011-2012 SEASON, NEW GENERATION
Season to feature the Joffrey Premiere of Possokhov’s Don Quixote; two mixed repertory programs, one showcasing a U.S. Premiere by McGregor and a Joffrey Premiere by Forsythe, the other featuring a World Premiere by Caniparoli; plus, the return of America’s #1 Nutcracker

CHICAGO —Ashley C. Wheater, Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet, is proud to announce the company’s 2011-2012 season, titled New Generation, which will launch with a Joffrey Premiere, the evening-length Don Quixote by Yuri Possokhov, October 12 – 23, 2011, followed by the timeless holiday classic, Robert Joffrey’s The Nutcracker, December 8 – 27, 2011.  In the new year, The Joffrey will present two mixed repertory programs, first featuring the U.S. Premiere of Wayne McGregor’s Infra along with the Joffrey Premiere of William Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, February 15 – 26, 2012.  The spring mixed rep program will feature a World Premiere by Val Caniparoli along with the return of Edwaard Liang’s Age of Innocence and Jerome Robbins’ In the Night, April 25 – May 6, 2012.  Read the rest of this entry »

Ronald Hynd with Fabrice Calmels & Valerie Robin in rehearsal/Photo: Herbert Migdoll

The first time a ballet company rehearses in costume, particularly if those costumes are lavish, late-nineteenth-century evening dress, is a great day to be a fly on the studio wall. While tugging at bustiers, flourishing capes, flashing garters to the mirror and general horsing around with top hats and canes, the dancers begin to truly inhabit their characters. And character provides the fluttering heartbeat of the Joffrey’s current production: Ronald Hynd’s 1975 comic ballet “The Merry Widow.” It’s a company premiere for the Joffrey, who have had the fortune to work with John Meehan, the principal dancer in the original production, and now the 80-year-old Hynd in the week before opening night.

The story originated as a turn-of-the-century operetta by Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehar. The action, comprised of intertwining romances, flirtations, infidelities and jealousy-fueled fisticuffs seems as ripe for adaptation into theater or a Jean Renoir film as an evening-length ballet. I sat in on a rehearsal of Act III, when the multiple storylines established in the first two acts intersect at a grand ball and comedic chaos ensues. Hynd’s translation of comedy of manners into formal choreography is remarkably nimble and spirited; he carries on a witty physical conversation with the score (adapted from the original by John Lanchbery), so the dancers move directly to the whims and moods of the music, performing their lighthearted farce like marionettes. Read the rest of this entry »

As the economy slowly lifts us back to our feet and we look around, we see a remarkable sight: a performance industry in Chicago that survived the worst recession since the Great Depression wholly intact. Sure, we had a few brushes with death, and no doubt a few very small, very new theater companies threw in the towel, as they do even in good years, but unlike many other cities across the country, we’re in pretty good shape. How good? The League of Chicago Theatres issued a press release last week proclaiming our town as America’s theater leader, with more than 250 professional theaters, including four Regional Tony Award winners, and a combined annual budget of $250 million serving five million audience members. Add in our thriving dance community, a comedy scene that’s the envy of the nation and two world-class opera companies and you’d have to say we’re doing pretty damn good. But neither the economy nor any cultural organization is fully out of the water yet, and the dramatic uncertainty injected into the political sea by Mayor Daley’s decision to call it a day means Chicago’s performance community will need some steady hands at the wheel these next few years. Accordingly, for this edition of The Players, we’ve broadened our horizon and taken a closer-than-ever look at the individuals in charge of the financial fitness of our local institutions. Read the rest of this entry »

Krapp's Last Tape/Photo: Liz Lauren

Top 5 Shows
“The Brother/Sister Plays,” Steppenwolf
“August: Osage County,” Broadway In Chicago
“Hughie”/”Krapp’s Last Tape,” Goodman
“1001,” Collaboraction
“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Steppenwolf
—Brian Hieggelke

Top 5 Play Revivals
“A Streetcar Named Desire,” Writers’ Theatre
“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Steppenwolf
“To Kill a Mockingbird,” Steppenwolf Young Adult
“Private Lives,” Chicago Shakespeare Theater
“After the Fall,” Eclipse Theatre
—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Performances
Brian Dennehy, “Hughie”/”Krapp’s Last Tape,” Goodman
Karen Janes Woditsch, “To Master the Art,” TimeLine
Tracy Letts, “American Buffalo,” Steppenwolf
Amy Morton, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Steppenwolf
Mary Beth Fisher, “Seagull,” Goodman
—Brian Hieggelke

Read the rest of this entry »