Xiaochuan Xie & Tadej Brdnik of Martha Graham Dance Group in "Snow on the Mesa". Photo by Costas.

The Chicago Dancing Festival (CDF) hits its 5th anniversary this summer and announced a stellar line up and an extension of this year’s festivities. For the fifth year, the festival will now go for five days and will include more performance, as well as adding dance film screenings and lecture-demonstration on choreographic inspiration.  Two new venues are also added to the fest:  the Auditorium Theatre and the Chicago Cultural Center.  Oh, did I mention (aside from the opening night gala) it’s free!

Moderns, Moves, Masters, Movies and Muses programs carry through the week to the final night and finale of the festival, a Celebration of Dance performance at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park.  Top dance and performance artists from a multitude of companies will be here to perform.  Not only local favorites Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Joffrey Ballet and River North Dance Company, but acclaimed New York companies Paul Taylor Dance Company, Martha Graham Dance Group, festival co-found Lar Lubovitch‘s namesake company as well as Ballet West and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet return again this year.  Newcomers include Doug Varone & Dancers, Butoh artists Eiko + Koma, avant-garde artists Adam Barruch and Faye Driscoll and Richard Move, a Martha Graham impersonator.  Thursday evenings Masters program features works by Jirí Kylián, Martha Graham and Lar Lubovitch.

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet dancers performing "Uneven". Photo by Rosalie O'Connor.

Added to the performances will be a matinee for the Eat to the Beat lunchtime series, an entire day of movie screenings including Invitation to the Dance, A Dancer’s World, Dancemaker and the quintessential dance film, The Red Shoes and a lec/dem with Lubovitch and Hubbard Street resident choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo moderated by dance writer Lucia Mauro.  The festival culminates with a Saturday evening showcase featuring five of the top companies in the US (Joffrey, Ballet West, Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, River North) and two guest artists from the New York City Ballet who will perform Balanchine’s neoclassic Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux.

Tickets are free, but will go fast, so stay tuned for more information on how to get tickets.  For more information, you can go to the CDF website.

Jesse Bechard and Kellie Epperheimer in King's "Following the Subtle Current Upstream". Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

The best thing about my “job” as a dance blogger, obviously, is getting to see tons of dance and I’m lucky to be living in Chicago, where the dance scene is flourishing and thriving.  One of the reasons our city is becoming a go-to place to see world-class dance is Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC)  And, if you haven’t been paying attention, they just happen to be my favorite company on the planet.  Yesterday HSDC wrapped up the season with the final performance in their Summer Series at the Harris Theater.  The series had an unusual feel to it, because each of the three works were so different in theme and form.  It seemed strange to go from the luscious Untouched to the technique thunderstorm of Following the Subtle Current Upstream to the avante gard, starkness of 27’52”, yet upon reflection, the contrast of the pieces uniquely show a company in transition.  HSDC deconstructed, if you will.

I always try to go see each show twice – once on opening night, once on closing matinee – to see the changes or growth of the pieces and the dancers.  Plus, it’s always interesting to witness the different reactions of the audiences.  For Aszure Barton’s Untouched, yesterday was the fourth time I’ve seen it.  The company has really grown in and with the work and it continues to improve with age.  It still is elusive to define, but so emotionally and aesthetically satisfying that Barton cannot honestly claim she left any of us untouched.  The women with their deep pliés and sky high developés are grounded and gorgeous, but it is the subtle gestures that really stand out.  The flick of fingers, one foot flexed, a sudden intake of breath – these are the nuances that will take your breath away.  On Sunday, the duet between Ana Lopez and Benjamin Wardell was nothing short of stunning.  The gentleness of him outlining her body with his head, then switching to hold her in penché by her neck as if he was choking her was an exercise in love and trust.  The fact that it was Wardell’s final show with HSDC, made it beautiful, but bittersweet.  The entire cast is solid in this work.  I hope it will remain in the rep for a long time.

Jonathan Fredrickson in "Following the Subtle Current Upstream". Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

Alonzo King’s work, originally created for Alvin Ailey, is were the transition comes in.  King’s process pushes the dancers to overcome their limitations, real or perceived, to become the best dancer they can be.  Not everyone takes to this process equally and since they’ve only worked together for a couple of weeks so far, it is noticeable that some dancers are taking to it faster than others.  Wardell, who danced for King’s LINES Ballet before coming to HSDC, has a freeness to his movement that is unparalleled.   This being the first in a multi-year collaboration with King and his dancers, I can’t wait to see what he can push them to do in another year.  The work itself (even though it is 11 years old now) was fresh, exciting and technically difficult with ample solo work providing glimpses of each dancer in the spotlight.  For me, it screams to be danced en pointe.  A highlight was a duet performed by Kellie Epperheimer and Jesse Bechard to music that sounded like The Lion King.  The final section had the music and dancers picking up speed for a frenzied, but satisfying finish.

Kevin Shannon and Ana Lopez in "27'52". Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

Switching gears, the third piece was an abstract work by Jirí Kylián.  With minimal sets, quirky music and the dancers literally partnering with the floor by manipulating extra pieces of marley, 27’52” is dubbed as an intellectual and physical game of hide and seek.  The curtain opens to dancers on stage rehearsing moves from the piece, while the house lights are still on, catching the audience by surprise.  Attention is quickly gained and replaced by surprise, wonder, curiosity, shock and perhaps some confusion.  This isn’t something you see every day and the style is so far removed from what local audiences normally see that it isn’t for everyone.  Even if it isn’t your style, one can’t deny the intensity, intelligence and sheer fearlessness of the dancers and the fact that you are witnessing a major work of art.  Ana Lopez and Jessica Tong:  I applaud you from the bottom of my heart.

As a program, it wasn’t as cohesive as say the Spring Series that featured all Israeli choreographers.  The Summer Series was rather a statement of taking inventory, regrouping and moving forward.  With solid work in the rep, a stunning gallery of dancers and a slew of new and exciting collaborations on the horizon, HSDC is poised to transcend to another level of artistry in the upcoming seasons.  The alliance with King, more premieres by resident choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo, a new work with legend Twyla Tharp and revisiting works from masters Nacho Duato, Johan Inger, Ohad Naharin and William Forsythe, the year to come for HSDC is nothing but blindingly bright.

Sam Chittenden & Katie Dehler in Fonte's "Where We Left Off". Photo by Rosalie O'Connor.

The bi-city, 10-dancer, critically-acclaimed troupe that is Aspen Santa Fe Ballet (ASFB) returns to Chicago next Tuesday for one night at the Harris Theater.   After a well-received debut here in 2007, ASFB couldn’t wait to come back as part of their 15th anniversary season.  “When we were in Chicago for our debut, we’d never felt so welcome in a dance community,” says Artistic Director Tom Mossbrucker.  “Chicago is one of the dance capitols of the world.  There’s so much dance going on.  We want to be a part of that.” Mossbrucker may be familiar to some.   A former principal with Joffrey Ballet, he performed in over 70 ballets and toured extensively with the world-wide phenomenon Billboards and danced briefly with Hubbard Street.  Now at the helm of ASFB (along with Executive Director Jean-Philippe Malaty), he cultivates an eclectic repertoire reminiscent of both companies that features William Forsyth, José Limón, Lar Lubovitch and Edwaard Liang, as well as actively pursuing newer choreographers and commissioning 24 ballets.  “In the beginning, we didn’t have the budget for the big choreographers, so out of necessity, we started looking at new choreographers and it really served us well,” Mossbrucker says.  “Neither Jean-Philippe or myself choreograph, so we sometimes say that’s the secret to our success.”

For the May 24th show, ASFB will perform three Chicago premieres.  Jorma Elo‘s Red Sweet, Jirí Kylián‘s Stamping Ground and Nicolo Fonte‘s Where We Left Off.  RB spoke with Mossbrucker, while the company was on tour recently in California.

RB:  Your rep is really impressive.  How do you decide what you’re going to present for the season?

TM:  We’re always trying to look for something that’s forward-looking, something new…the next thing.  That’s not easy to do.  We do a lot of commissioned work.  We were the first American company to commission Nicolo Fonte’s work.  We loved his work.  We were on the phone with him before the tape was even out of the machine.  He was unknown and thrilled to come work with us.  We developed this relationship with him and he kept coming back and doing more and more pieces for the company.  In a way, he started to define the aesthetic of ASFB.  He’s the first choreographer that we used that was interested in what was maybe a little more European-looking choreographers.  After forming that relationship with him, we realized that was going to serve us well as a company to find newer choreographers and try to develop a relationship with them.  The more choreography we did, the level of the company went higher and higher, so we felt it was a give-and-take.  The choreographer got something from us, but we got something from the choreographer.  In that exchange, we both nurtured each other at the same time.

 RB:  This is Nicolo’s eighth piece for the company.  Can you tell me about his piece you will be doing here?

TM:  It’s called Where We Left Off and I think the title refers to the fact that he’s worked with the company so many times.  Each time he comes back, it’s very comforting for him and he can just pick up where he left off, so that title came very easily to him.  There does tend to be a sort of dark, serious, edgy look to a lot of contemporary choreography and I think Nicolo wanted to take a departure from that and create a piece that was a little more hopeful.  It just so happened that we had a lot of time to give him.  We asked him to come out several months before and do a workshop.  We wanted to give him the luxury to just experiment and see what happened rather than just say you have a few weeks to make a work and put it on stage.  He came and worked with this abstract idea of hope.  He went back home to NY and mulled it over.  When he came back the second time to create the work, he basically started over.  He took what he had done and completely changed it.  He really took a much sharper turn that he expected and created what he says is a ballet just about dance and not about anything else.  It’s about the joy of dance and beauty and joy and life.  For him, that was a really big step and I think it took a lot of courage for him to just make it simple, no connotations, nothing edgy about it.  It’s a really beautiful work.  He used the entire company.  You can completely see who Aspen Santa Fe Ballet is.  It’s one of my favorite works by him.

 RB: You’re doing your third Kylián piece.  How did that relationship come about?

TM:  When I was a dancer at the Joffrey, I danced several of his works and I remember it was just the most rewarding experience.  As our company grew, it became important us to give the dancers exposure to some really great choreographers.  Early on we did Balanchine and Tudor, Paul Taylor and we got our first Twyla Tharp ballet.  As we looked forward, it was inevitable that we try to get a work by Kylián.  We knew the audience would of course love it, but we thought the dancers had come to the level that they could do it and they should experience it.

RB:  Your rep includes Petit Mort and Sechs Tanze, which Chicago audiences may be familiar with from seeing Hubbard Street, so can you tell me a little about Stamping Ground?

Billy Cannon, Emily Proctor & Joseph Watson in "Stamping Ground". Photo by Rosalie O'Connor.

TM:  Stamping Ground hasn’t been seen a lot in the States.  It’s a very interesting work.  It’s a different side of Kylián.  It was inspired by the Aboriginal cultures.  The first half (in silence) is solos for six dancers and each solo introduces the percussive sounds by stamping on the ground, slapping their bodies, you can hear their breath, so it starts to introduce to you the rhythmical patterns.  Suddenly the music starts and the rest is this really intense percussive score.    It also has elements of humor and poetry, like all his ballets do.  It’s very tribal and animalistic, but also witty.

RB:  And Jorma Elo’s piece?

TM:  We were really excited about Jorma.  I knew him as an acquaintance when he was still a dancer and I knew he was starting to choreograph.  We had him early, so we were able to build a relationship with him.  We were right before he hit it real big.  He enjoyed working with the company.  He enjoyed coming to Aspen.  When we asked him back to do a second piece, he really worked to fit us in.  The third work is Red Sweet.  I think that this work really shows what can happen when you develop a relationship with a choreographer.  When he can come back and know the company, know the dancers at a certain level, he can really bring out the strengths of those dancers.  This has really become a signature work for us.  He just captured the essence of each dancer.  It’s vintage Jorma Elo.  All of his great qualities come out in this.  It’s very humorous, it’s quirky, it’s creative, it’s interesting.

Whenever a new choreographer comes to Hubbard Street, there is a period of adjustment to the new style.  The HSDC dancers are pros at quickly adapting to meet whatever artistic challenges are thrown at them, but working with Alonzo King has been different.  King, an award-winning, visionary choreographer and founder of San Francisco-based LINES Ballet, has his own way of doing things.  “He’s very direct,” says HSDC dancer Benjamin Wardell.  “He’s not in any way unkind, but the protocol of petting the ego is just gone.”   Wardell isn’t new to King’s process.  He danced with LINES for about a year and a half before coming to HSDC.  “If you’re working with him, he assumes you are a really great dancer and he assumes that you assume you are a really great dancer, so he can just say to you ‘this is what you need to work on right now’.”

Dancers Kevin Shannon & Benjamin Wardell in rehearsal with Alonzo King. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

Watching rehearsals for King’s Following the Subtle Current Upstream (which begins the multi-year collaboration with HSDC and LINES), King’s directness is on full display.  Yes or no?  That’s important.  Do you understand?  Almost.  Almost.  Better.  Quality, wonderful; phrasing, not so interesting.  He constantly pushes each dancer to be better and better, to evolve beyond what dancer they think they are, to make choices with the movement.  It is obvious that Wardell is completely comfortable with this style.  It doesn’t hurt that he’s also performed this work before.  “As a structural piece, it’s one of my favorites of his pieces,” Wardell says.  “A lot of his work is very stream-of-consciousness and this work has a very clear flow, beginning and arc.  It’s a lovely piece.”  In addition to King’s work, the Summer Series features the abstract 27’52” by Jirí Kylián and the grand, yet intimate Untouched, created last year for the company by Canadian choreographer Aszure Barton.   It is a well-balanced program that will undoubtedly highlight the group’s hi-caliber technique, while also challenging their collective intellect.  Wardell (as usual) will be a stand-out in the show, which will be his last with the company as he leaves to pursue other projects and freelance work.  Lucky for us, he’s staying in Chicago.

RB sat down with Wardell to talk about his time at LINES and his insights into King’s process.

RB:  Tell me about your time with LINES and what it was like working with Alonzo.

BW:  It’s extremely challenging…very, very demanding in a positive way.  He has this approach to the body that he sort of built off of ballet technique.  I’ve always called it hyper-classical.  (It’s) taking the classical ideals, the classical forms of energy and exaggerating them.  It’s very much ballet-like.  I also feel Alonzo’s work is to ballet, what jazz music is to classical music.  Basically, you still have to have a high, high level of classical technique, but you take the ideas and you play with them, you exaggerate them, you interpret them through yourself.  Everything is semi-improvised in terms of timing and musicality.  You’re constantly being required to make new choices and do things differently.  In the end, you have to expand your understanding of your options.  You have to be so trusting in your technique that you’re willing to let go of some of the things that you do to lock your body into place for the sake of psychological security and just go and all of a sudden, you’re able to do these things you never thought you could do.

I like Alonzo’s choreography a lot.  I think it’s very good, but I think his real genius is in how he can work with people and pull out qualities.  He completely revolutionized my dancing.  Everyone who joins that company, everyone that works with him for an extended period…you see them after four months and they just look like a new creature.  It’s crazy.  It’s universal.  Everyone I’ve ever seen is like that.  He sees more potential in people than they usually see in themselves even if they think they’re really good dancers.  He’s incredibly intuitive at diagnosing this person thinks they’re this type of dancer or this type of dancer, that these are their strengths and these are their weaknesses and he just throws that all out and makes you work on nothing but your weaknesses, in a way, and just get over whatever your particular issue is.  He has this way of getting you to overcome the psychological idea of it and then all of a sudden you have this whole realm of capacity that you’ve been blocking off from yourself.  It was horrible at first.  He made me do all of these things that I hadn’t invested in because I didn’t think I could do them well, so I was doing all this stuff that I wasn’t good at and I felt like I was a terrible dancer.  There’s this sort of break down process.  Then after a couple of months, I started being good at them.  After about a year, I felt limitless.  I felt like I could do anything.  I’ve taken that with me.

His choreography, technically speaking, is without question the most difficult choreography I’ve ever done.  When he tells you what the step is that you’re supposed to do, you sort of look at him like “why would you even ask me to do that” and he wants you to do it in such a way that’s just off-handed, like you’re just playing with it.  Really ridiculous things.  His class is just impossible – literally.  He doesn’t expect you to be able to do it perfectly.  His whole process is about what will this person do when I give them something that they can’t just do.  If I give them something that they can’t actually make happen, how will they respond?  Will they shut down or get afraid, will they back off and not even try or will they go ok, I’m going to work on something, I’m going to make this happen.  I think that’s why he’s especially good at working with people with really technical capacity.  His company is full of a bunch of genetic freaks who probably elsewhere have never been challenged to their extreme, because most people don’t know what to do with it.  Whether it’s a 6’1” woman who can do five pirouettes on pointe or a Prince Credell who can just pretty much do anything…he’s able to actually make something for them that challenges them and he challenges them constantly.  He does that for anyone.  It’s so tiring.  It’s extremely athletic.

 RB:  What was the biggest shift coming to Hubbard Street after working with LINES?

BW:  From a choreographic stand point, it’s quite a challenge to be switching styles so drastically, not just styles, but body approaches from hour to hour and figuring how that functions with your body.  When it comes to musicality, really when it comes to choreography in general, Alonzo gives you a skeleton of movement and then expects you to improvise on top of it, just like a jazz musician.  You have the score, then you play every time with changing the syncopation and the timing of how you do it and it’s always this experience of always searching for a different way to do it than you’ve done before.  It’s very present, but it’s constantly shifting.  It’s not in any way set, where something like Kylián, it’s often times really about the craft of choreography and you’re executing that broader idea for the choreographer, which is very valid, but at first, after having so much freedom in everything I did for a year and a half, to confine myself to have to make this shape on this count for this music, I had an adjustment period.

Alonzo has a really great understanding of how the body works in terms of the energy paths, especially in terms of ballet.  To him, ballet is fifth position.  He never leaves sous sous, because that’s the perfect sort of cross of energy even when you escape, you still have that same sense of connection and thus you’re able to do these really quick changes of directions and how you’re able to do these crazy things.  It’s all directed from the pelvis, which is anatomical understanding.  I had a revelation working with him again after a few years and hearing all of these things again.

RB:  How are the other dancers taking to his style?

BW:  I think everyone has adjusted to the push.  It’s a different push than we’ve had for a while, because most of what we do is more down and for us to suddenly snap up is a shift.

Hubbard Street Summer Series – May 19 -22

Harris Theater for Music and Dance

Tickets:  312.850.9744 or hubbardstreetdance.com

Valerie Robin's fierce skills highlighted in "Bells".

After you go see Joffrey’s Rising Stars program this weekend (and you should) – join the dancers and other Joffrey-ites at the season closing party A Starry Night at the JW Marriott Hotel’s Burnham Ballroom form 5 – 8 pm.  Hosted by Joffrey’s Auxiliary Board, the evening will include cocktails, “creative cuisine” (I’m hoping this means cheese!), LA-based DJ ASHTOK and raffle prizes.  $50 gets you in or $100 covers you and a Joffrey dancer.  I’ll be there!

The First Lady of Tap: Dianne "Lady Di" Walker.

The Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s Windy City Rhythms, led by Founder/Director Lane Alexander, is honoring some of tap’s female phenoms with a performance in celebration of National Tap Dance Day (May 25th).  This Sunday, May 15th at the DuSable Museum of African American History, CHRP is presenting a performance featuring BAM!, the Cartier Collective, Chicago Tap Theatre, Jus’ Listen and some youth tap ensembles.  Hosting the occasion is the First Lady of American Tap, Dianne “Lady Di” Walker.

Along with the tapping, there will be lots of clapping as Chicago’s first ladies of tap are presented with the JUBA! Award.  Congratulations to Julie Cartier (Especially Tap Chicago and Cartier Collective), Idella Reed Davis (Rhythm Iss…, Sammy Dyer School of the Theatre), Shelley Hoselton (Talent Forum Dance Studio, footprints Tap Ensemble, Forum Jazz Dance Theatre) and Peggy Sutton (Mayfair Academy of Fine Arts) on receiving the award and many thanks for their tremendous contributions to the art form.  They’ve left an indelible mark on our marley and in our flappin-lovin’ hearts.

Windy City Rhythms – Sunday, May 15 at 5 p.m.

DuSable Museum of African American History

Tickets:  773.281.1825 or chicagotap.org

Cloud Gate's "Water Stains on the Wall". Photo by LIU Chen Hsiang.

The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago announced its 2011-2012 season today and it looks like it will be a postmodern extravaganza!  A little Bill T, some Merce and Cloudgate, more M’s (Margaret Jenkins, Mad Shak, Mott), a shared program, a hint of Shakespeare, classes, lectures, q&a’s and a dash of spice with Ballet Hispanico.

The season starts of with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company at the end of September with a program of three works (restaged or reconsidered) from 1977 to 2002.  In the company’s Chicago premiere, Pick Up Performance Co brings Dancing Henry Five, an hour-long narrative dance based on Shakespreare’s Henry V to the Center in mid-October.  Closing out a jam-packed month, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan shows Founder and Artistic Director Lin Hwai-min’s latest work, Water Stains on the Wall.

In November, as part of the Legacy Tour, Merce Cunningham Dance Company will present two programs co-presented by the Harris Theater.  Works spanning decades of his career (1958 – 1983) will be performed on the Harris Theater stage at Millennium Park.

February and March are busy with four different performances spanning the two months.  First is the Midwest premiere of Margaret Jenkins Dance Company‘s Light Moves, a collaboration of dance, music, poetry and multi-media art.  Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak continue Shanahan’s multiyear project Stamina of Curiosity at the end of February.  March brings a shared program of three up-and-coming artists.  The Space/Movement Project, Rachel Damon/Synapse Arts and Erica Mott each bring premieres to the Center.  Closing out the season, Ballet Hispanico, led by former Luna Negra Artistic Director Eduardo Vilaro, presents a work by Andrea Miller, a new work by Vilaro and a commissioned work by  Ronald K. Brown.

The Dance Center continues its popular Family Dance Matinee Series with one-hour family friendly performances and workshops, as well as the wonderful community outreach programming that includes master classes, lec/dems, workshops and discussions with the artists.

Also in Dance Center news, Onye Ozuzu will be taking over for Bonnie Brooks (who is taking a year-long sabbatical to focus more intensely on her writing, as well as working on the Merce Cunningham Legacy Plan) as the new chair of the dance department starting June 29th.  A Florida State University graduate (BA in English Lit, minor in Economics and an MFA in Dance Performance & Choreography), Ozuzu currently serves as Associate Chair, Director of Dance at the University of Colorado, Boulder.  She has been choreographing and performing since 1997, making an impressive name for herself as an AfroModern Contemporary teacher and choreographer.

The Dance Center at Columbia College, 1306 S Michigan

Tickets available at The Dance Center on July 11th or at  312.369.8330, colum.edu/dancecenter

The Joffrey Ballet wowed the crowd last week on opening night of its Rising Stars program.  It’s always thrilling to be present for opening night of a world premiere (or two!), especially at the Auditorium Theatre.  There is an electricity in the air that is undeniable and contagious and this show was nothing short of astounding.  From the exciting, innovative choreography to every single dancer on the stage, Joffrey proved that it’s still shooting for the stars.

Amber Neumann, Joanna Wozniak & Christine Rocas in "Night". Photo by Herbert Migdoll.

The first star of the night was Anastacia Holden in Julia Adam’s Night.  Always a strong, bright presence, Holden was literally glowing in the lead of this dreamscape, with her smile lighting up the night.  (My notes actually say, “Go Stacia!”)  Adam underutilized the male dancers – in my opinion – by having them as secondary scenery like being the bed, waves and a fleeting romantic interest.  (Although I must say that seeing Michael Smith doing “the worm” made my night.)  Partway through, three females enter from stage left, upper bodies wrapped together in a sheer oval cloth.  It reminded me of the three witches from Macbeth.  Perhaps the dreamer had been reading a little Shakespeare before bed.  Strong in pointe work and intense in delivery, these three ladies created an ominous presence that fueled the dream.  One particularly nice section had Holden and partner Dylan Gutierrez dancing in slow motion, while everyone else was up tempo.  The piece ended with Holden climbing up her “bed” and jumping off backwards into the blackout, a nod to that falling dream I think every one of us has had.

Fabrie Calmels and Valerie Robin in "Bells". Photo by Herbert Migdoll.

Yuri Possokhov’s Bells (loved it!) brought out the fine-tuned technique and fierceness of the dancers.  Minimally clad in red pants (men) and leotards (women) as a base and adding various forms of a sheer white fabrice to accent certain sections, the costumes were edited to fit each part.  Open shirts for the men in a masculine, bravura section.  Red riding hood-esque hooded capes for flirty female trio.  Poufy ballet skirts with balls for another and for the duets, the pairs were stripped down to the bare essentials.  Not to overshadow the outstanding dancing, but the choreography and the costumes really showcased the extreme physicality of these ten artists.  (*Please note:  it takes balls to get up on stage in pink tights and pointe shoes.  It takes balls of steel to get on stage with NO tights and pointe shoes!)  There were no weak links in Bells.  I loved the pairing of Matthew Adamczyk and Yumelia Garcia.  Caitlin Meighan and Amber Neumann (who was in every piece and fearless!) showed that they are definitely ones to watch.  John Mark Giragosian was on fire!  Even the standard “stars” of Joffrey were in rare form.  Valerie Robin (one of my favorites for years) and Fabrice Calmels (audience favorite extraordinaire) were paired in a lovely duet that really showed her strength, control and physical prowess and his effortless, rock solid partnering.  Another duet had Victoria Jaiani and Temur Suluashvili together, which was a rare treat.  At one point, in a fast five-couple section, the women were sliding en point from side to side in front of the men…say what?  Then men were controlling the slides by holding on to the back of their

Victorial Jaiani & Temur Suluashvili in "Bells". Photo by Herbert Migdoll.

leotards!  Of the many memorable moments of the piece, the closing image stole the show.  A tender duet where the man and woman alternately placed a hand over the other’s mouth, deflecting a kiss.  It ended with a tender, impassioned kiss by real-life husband and wife Jaiani and Suluashvili.

If Possokhov’s Bells solidified the troupe’s rise to the top of their field, then Edwaard Liang’s Woven Dreams rocketed Joffrey to into the atmosphere.  I saw Liang before the show and he seemed happy and excited.  On stage for the bows, he was beaming with pride.  His seven-movement piece was smart, fresh and challenging.  This work seemed to push the dancers past previous boundaries and they came out on the other side quicker, cleaner and more self-assured.  They made it look easy and the choreography was anything but easy.  Normally I like to give a few shout outs to the dancers that stood out to me, but in this case, I should just print the entire cast list.  The two pas by

Liang's "Woven Dreams". Photo by Herbert Migdoll.

Jaiani and Calmels were, as usual, stunning (her develope is to-die-for!) and another with Suluashvili and Christine Rocas (originally created on April Daly and Miguel Blanco) was at once sultry and pristine.  The other star of this piece was the large woven fabric that stretched across the stage.

The through-line of the show is San Francisco Ballet.  Joffrey Artistic Director Ashley Wheater (member), Possokhov (member & choreographer in residence), Adam (member & choreographer) and Liang (choreographer) all have ties to the West Coast company.  There are critics that think Joffrey is turning into “San Francisco Ballet Midwest” and losing the sense of style that made it unique.  I disagree.  This show, to me, was quintessential Joffrey, maybe not in the Joffrey/Arpino aesthetic sense, but it was exactly what the company was built on:  presenting world-class vibrant work and pushing the envelope…always.  Even if it is Wheater’s vision now, “Bob” and “Mr. A” would be proud.

Rising Stars runs through May 15th.  Get thee to the Auditorium Theatre…pronto!  Tickets:  800.982.2787, ticketmaster.com

Choreographer Yuri Possokhov with dancers Valerie Robin and Fabrice Calmels in rehearsal for "Bells". Photo by Herbert Migdoll.

As soon as I walked in to the Joffrey Tower lobby last week, I looked up.  Umbrellas – black with the Joffrey logo on the outside and a big blue star on the inside – were hanging, open, from the second story ceiling.  As a new merchandise item*, they are stylish and perfectly in tune with the theme and title of the upcoming performance.  Rising Stars, featuring two world premieres and a Joffrey premiere, opens tonight at the Auditorium Theatre for a two week run.

I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon watching rehearsals for the three new pieces.  By the time I got there in the afternoon, two dancers had been injured with a third injury happening while I was watching, resulting in recasting situations, extra rehearsals, missing dancers and a number of calls to take those umbrellas down.  It’s the umbrellas!  Isn’t that some kind of curse?  The mood was a little frazzled and tense, but as we all know, the show must go on…and therefore, so do rehearsals.  First up, was Yuri Possokhov’s Bells (set to Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2) rehearsal already in full swing.  Possokhov, formerly of the Moscow, Bolshoi and San Francisco Ballet companies, looks more like a burly teddy bear that moves really well than a former ballet star.  Even with a bit of a language barrier through his thick Russian accent, charisma, thy name is Possokhov.  Joking with the dancers “girls, can I teach you how to catch?” and actively participating in this lively section of the five-movement piece, the room absorbs his personality.  Lifting, leaning, sliding en pointe…dangerous.  (I know I’m dating myself here, but it reminded me of former Chicago choreographer James Kelly’s work.)  At one point, the correction to the men was to “brutally push them and go!”  This isn’t Sleeping Beauty, kids.

Next, I was taken to a smaller studio down the hall to see a section of Julia Adam’s Night.  Ballet Mistress Char Arthur quietly lead Elizabeth Hansen and Abigail Simon through alternating runs of a solo from the work.  With a handsome Jack Thorpe Baker there to aid in the transitions, these three young dancers epitomize the Rising Stars theme.  This solo (a sort of elongated, emotive petite allegro) that the dancers have dubbed “Where the Wild Things Are – for girls” showcases the two girls’ technique, while illuminating their differences in style.  Night is loosely based on Chagall paintings and gives an intimate look into a woman’s night of dreams.

Dancers Miguel Angel Blanco and April Daly rehearsing a duet for Liang's "Woven Dreams". Photo by Herbert Migdoll.

Edwaard Liang is tall, lean and focused.  His 2008 Age of Innocence, made for the Joffrey, was instantly an audience favorite.  Back setting another world premiere on the company, he naturally demands and gives respect to every one in the room.  In a cleaning rehearsal for Woven Dreams, Liang was compassionate (apologizing to the dancers for his part in the drama of what he called a “frustrating ” rehearsal the day before), intense (sternly quieting the understudies chatting at the back, while working out a particularly complex sequence) and amiable (wryly telling a male dancer to not lift him “I’m a big girl” and noting a dancer getting into her part, even when marking “Live it, Yumelia!”).  The work, an abstract ballet with seven movements, weaves together dreamscapes with Liang’s sophisticated aesthetic and, of course, Joffrey’s technical prowess.

As I mentioned before, there were a number of casting changes necessary, so unfortunately some of the dancers the works were created on will not be performing them.  We wish a speedy recovery to the injured dancers, an empathetic hug to those not dancing this week and a hearty merde(!) to the understudies now taking the stage.  This is your chance to be…yes, rising stars.

Joffrey Ballet presents Rising Stars, May 4 – 15, Auditorium Theatre

Tickets:  Joffrey Tower Box Office, 10 E Randolph

or 800.0982.2787, www.ticketmaster.com

*Umbrellas ($25) will be on sale at the performances, as well as online at joffrey.com and at the Joffrey Tower on the 3rd floor.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago launched its new MONSTER website last week.  It’s way cool and interactive with video intros to the dancers filmed by HSDC dancer Benjamin Wardell.

Check it out!