Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's "Extremely Close"/Photo: Todd Rosenberg

By Brian Hieggelke

Dance exploded in the zeroes, fueled on by successful transitions at major establishments and the opening of significant new venues. Any consideration of dance in Chicago starts with our world-renowned homegrown company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC), which commenced the decade with the transition in its artistic leadership from Lou Conte, who’d founded the group in 1977 and built it into one of the city’s leading cultural exports, to Jim Vincent. Vincent didn’t miss a beat, building on Conte’s foundation, and greatly expanding the company’s formerly rather limited performance presence in its hometown by expanding to quarterly Chicago engagements, thanks in part to the opening of the perfectly sized Harris Theater for Music and Dance in November 2003. By 2008, HSDC had grown to a seven-million-dollar operating budget and Vincent himself was moving on, returning to the Nederlands Dans Theater, where he’d spent much of his career as a performer, passing the artistic reins at HSDC to his former associate, Glenn Edgerton.

Meanwhile, Chicago’s national reputation as a dance center was being augmented by its resuscitation of the esteemed Joffrey Ballet, which, in a state of financial crisis in the mid-nineties, had thrown something of a Hail Mary pass by departing the nation’s cultural capital of New York to see if it could make it in Chicago (it had long been extremely successful here on its tours, a tradition mirrored today by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which sold a whopping 14,416 tickets to its annual engagement at the Auditorium Theatre in 2009). Make it here it did, and by the dawn of this decade, it had established itself as a pillar of Chicago’s cultural community, even becoming the subject of a Robert Altman film, “The Company,” in 2003. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo: Jérôme Delatour

RECOMMENDED

One year after the Beatles shocked middle-American parents with shaggy hair and driving pop on the Ed Sullivan Show, Anna Halprin had dancers slowly stripping down to the buff, smearing themselves with paint and performing ritualistic movements with massive sheets of brown paper. Winnetka native Halprin was a seminal figure in the 1960s avant-garde and her work “parades & changes” was quickly banned from the U.S. after its 1965 New York premiere. French choreographer Anne Collod worked with Halprin to revive the piece, casting established dancers and choreographers to present a work that contains devices and images, shocking at their time, now familiar in contemporary dance: desexulized nudity, appropriation of inexpensive, fabricated objects, an unpredictable electronic score (re-mastered and performed live by Sebastian Roux). This is the first time “parades and changes” will be seen in Chicago—a rare opportunity to witness a hallmark in the history of performance art. (Sharon Hoyer)

At the MCA Stage, 220 E. Chicago, (312)397-4010, Nov 5, Nov 7 at 7:30pm, Nov 8 at 3pm. $25.

By Dennis Polkow

June 16, 1816 remains a legendary night in literary circles. A group of writers and their friends that gathered at Villa Diodati, Switzerland—including Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (soon after to marry Shelley), Claire Clairmont and John William Polidori—were read stories aloud by Lord Byron, after which Byron suggested that each member of the group try to write a ghost story.

Although Percy Shelley and Claire Clairmont lost interest in the contest, Byron himself wrote “The Vampyre”—itself a precursor to Bram Stoker’s later “Dracula”—and Polidori wrote a now-forgotten untitled story about a skull-headed lady who was punished for peeping through a keyhole.  Meanwhile, Mary Shelley wrote one of the most famous novels of all time, “Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus.”

Even with Mary’s famous literary husband pushing for publication of “Frankenstein,” no conventional publisher was willing to take the risk of releasing such a shocking tale of a scientist daring to create an artificial man—only to have it turn on him—to an unsuspecting public. By the time the novel finally appeared, response was immediate and overwhelming, and it quickly became one of the biggest and best-selling books of the nineteenth century.

Nearly two hundred years later, the story continues to tantalize, to fascinate anew since now, as then, it appears that we are on the verge of major medical “advancements” based on generating life out of death or from completely synthetic means. Whether this be in the form of stem cell research that seeks to advance disease treatment from the harvest of human embryos or cloning and the ongoing trajectory that life be more efficiently and conveniently generated by non-organic means, the only shift across two centuries appears to be better technology. It’s that resonance that brings two very different versions of it to two major stages in Chicago this week. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo: Sally Cohn

Having been born around the time of its premiere, watching excerpts from the revival of Lucinda Childs’ famous work “DANCE” is, to me, distinctly reminiscent of a particular aesthetic moment, like a haunting and beautiful and inscrutable dream riddled with flashed images from childhood. A black grid divides a white floor into squares. Dancers in modest, minimal white step briskly from one end of the stage to the other, traveling with half and three-quarter turns, taking light, low, buoyant leaps, crossing endlessly to the circular lilt of Philip Glass’ spinning score. Though rendered nearly anonymous by the uniformity of their costuming and choreography, the dancers, carried by momentum, betraying no effort in their ceaseless entrances and exits, seem at play—with their own lateral kinetic energy and with dancers projected on a transparent scrim at the front of the stage, who are dressed identically and dance in synch. There is a distinctive mix of geometry and playfulness in “DANCE,” like a chapter out of a Lewis Carroll novel: within the rigid confines of the meter, there is complexity and delight. Read the rest of this entry »

Nora Chipaumire/Photo: Mkrtich Malkhasyan

RECOMMENDED

Nora Chipaumire, Thomas Mapfumo and The Blacks Unlimited have traveled a long journey carrying a work  with a long title, “lions will roar, swans will fly, angels will wrestle heaven, rains will break: gukurahundi”— Chipaumire is a self-exiled dancer born in Zimbabwe during the second war of liberation, now calling New York home. She crafts contemporary dances that blend African styles to shed light on the human condition.  Mapfumo, or the “Lion of Zimbabwe,” created Chimurenga-style music that mixes African rhythms and instruments with politically charged lyrics.  His work landed him in a Zimbabwean prison camp in 1979.  Inspired by Mapfumo’s writing and drawing on Chipaumire’s personal history, this movement piece aims to challenge the ideas of just what “African” means. These brave artists make work rich with human layers that need all the facilities of music, lyrics and dance to complete the expression. The result is worthy of immersion; accordingly, the MCA has scheduled a full lineup of activities with these creative minds in the “Artists Up Close” series.  Visit their website for more information. (William Scott)

October 1, 3-4 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago, (312)397-4010.

Sean Graney and The Hypocrites are knee-deep in Victorian and Gothic literature this fall. Graney’s both directing “The Mystery of Irma Vep,” a comic satire of Victorian melodrama at the Court Theatre in November; and leading The Hypocrites in a new adaptation of “Frankenstein” at the MCA in October. Newcity talked with Graney about playwriting and mad science.

Reading about this production, which combines several versions of “Frankenstein,” including the iconic 1931 Boris Karloff film, I’m struck by this multiplicity of versions in a story that’s about a literally cobbled-together character. How did this approach come about?

I’ve always loved the novel and wanted to adapt it for some time, but it’s really difficult to adapt for stage—as this great, huge novel with switching between different points of views—without resorting to amateurish narration. I’ve been trying to gain access to it for some time, and it was finally when I was watching the film we know as “Frankenstein” that I realized how little the film had to do with the novel—and that freed me to realize as long as it’s about a dude making another dude, I can make a script. Then I started playing with source material, pulling as much  dead source material as I could from “Prometheus Bound,” “Macbeth,” Marlowe’s “Faustus,” quotes from scientists and inventors, creating my own mash-up piece of Frankenstein art. Read the rest of this entry »

Derick Grant/Photo: Joanne Chan

RECOMMENDED

Rewatching Gene Kelly in a snowy, over-played VHS tape of “Summer Stock” at my parents’ house this weekend, I was reminded that tap is joy. I dare anyone to watch Kelly barrel roll or Astaire grapevine or Hines spin a mind-blowing improvisation and not wonder like a child at the magic of possessing limbs, or resist the urge to stomp and spin about the kitchen afterward. No wonder summer is the season of the Chicago Human Rhythm Project and “Rhythm World,” a fortnight of performances and workshops taught by some of the greatest tappers alive; it’s the time of year when the pulse of the city is up-tempo and full of life. The rhythmic manifestation of this vibe starts with workshops and classes around the city this week and culminates at the beginning of August with a free concert in the Pritzker starring every brilliant youth ensemble, soloist, hoofer, beat-boxer and barrel-pounder CHRP Director Lane Alexander can get a hold of. The crème—Rhythm Project faculty, Bessie winners, the finest young tap prodigies—perform a few days later in “JUBA!” on the MCA Stage. “Rhythm World” is a lively celebration and a history lesson in the American art form that exemplifies the best qualities of the designation: optimism, inclusiveness, innovation and irrepressible energy. (Sharon Hoyer)

Classes and workshops being July 27, with the first public performance at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, 201 E. Randolph, Sun, Aug 2, 6:30pm. Free. “JUBA!” at the MCA Stage, 220 E. Chicago Ave, (312)397-4010. Thu, Aug 6 and Sat, Aug 8, 7:30pm. $30.

Here’s the press release from The Dance Center:

DANCE CENTER SEASON EXPLORES SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND DANCE

2009–10 Season Includes Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan,
Koosil-ja/danceKUMIKO, Troika Ranch, Wayne McGregor | Random Dance, Three Chicago Companies

CHICAGO—Leading visionaries in the field of contemporary dance and artists exploring the intersection between dance, science and technology highlight The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago’s 2009–10 season. Among companies performing are Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan (at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park), Koosil-ja/danceKUMIKO, Troika Ranch and Wayne McGregor | Random Dance, along with three Chicago companies. Subscriptions and single tickets go on sale July 20 at The Dance Center, 1306 S. Michigan Avenue, 312-369-8330 (NOTE NEW PHONE NUMBER) and online at colum.edu/dancecenter. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the press release from the MCA:

2009-10 MCA STAGE SEASON

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago, announces the 2009-10 MCA Stage Season of contemporary theater, dance, music, and multimedia performances. Additional theater and music programs will be announced at a later date. All MCA performance tickets also include free museum admission for up to a week following the performance. Tickets are available mid-July at the MCA Stage Box Office, 312.397.4010 or www.mcachicago.org.

Nora Chipaumire; photo by Mkrtich Malkhasyan, from the film Nora by Alla Kovgan and David Hinton

Nora Chipaumire with Thomas Mapfumo and The Blacks  Unlimited: lions will roar, swans will fly, angels will wrestle heaven, rains will break: gukurahundi
October 1, 3-4, 2009
As exiles from Zimbabwe, dancer/choreographer Nora Chipaumire and master musician and poet Thomas Mapfumo challenge the accepted African branding – war-torn, tribal, and exotic. Known as the “Lion of Zimbabwe,” Mapfumo created and made popular the Chimurenga style of Shona music from Zimbabwe that mixes African rhythms and instruments with politically charged lyrics, which landed him in a  Zimbabwean prison camp in 1979. Chipaumire, a contemporary dancer rooted in African traditions, fuses her powerful and raw movement with Mapfumo’s music and incendiary writing to examine the migrant experience of Africa and the art of Zimbabwe over the course of that country’s downward economic and political spiral. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

One of the most memorable moments from last summer’s Global Rhythms festival was a solo performance by a musician from Brazilian body-percussion troupe Barbatuques. Slapping, snapping, yawping and stomping, the artist gave a performance full of humor and charm, producing more simultaneous polyrhythms than should be possible with only one set of arms and legs. The piece was a teaser for an upcoming evening-length show by the entire company (imagine this times fourteen!) scheduled for the Harris Theater later in the season. It was to be Barbatuques’ U.S. debut, arranged thanks to the Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s artistic director (and Chicago’s unofficial percussion ambassador to the world) Lane Alexander. Sadly, the performance was postponed due to last-minute visa complications.

Now the paperwork is straightened out and Barbatuques will perform instead at the more intimate MCA Stage as a part of the CHRP National Tap Day concerts. Read the rest of this entry »