Four stars out of five
Article written by: PHILLIP RATLIFF
Hubbard Street 2, the training company of the famed Hubbard Street Dance based in Chicago, consists of six dancers whose ages range from 17 to 24. Most of the Hubbard Street 2 dancers performing in Sirote Theatre on Friday night appeared to be near the middle of that range, about 19 or 20.
They have yet to reach the peak of precision and physicality found in older dancers, but, thanks to amazing speed and dexterity, combined with effective lighting and music and absolutely brilliant choreography, Hubbard Street 2's performance was terrifically satisfying.
The company opened with choreographer Christian Spuck's "The Restless," set to J.S. Bach's Allegro movement from the second violin sonata and danced by all six members. As the title and the program notes suggest, "The Restless" translates Bach's frenetic brisk style into a series of gestures and configurations that, like Baroque musical phrasing, spill into each other seamlessly and insistently. "The Restless" introduces several trademark Hubbard street several traits -- attention to beautiful, fluid arm movement, a sculptor's sense of the possibilities of height and depth, and a sensitivity to music.
On that last point, Christian Spuck, like many of the performance's other choreographers, was hypersensitive to musical phrasing and micro-rhythm, that quicker underlying pulse that can make the tempo seem twice as fast, and a moment in time packed with twice as much movement. "First Light," Alejandro Cerrudo's choreographic interpretation of Philip Glass' neo-Rococo solo piano suite, and "Diphthong," Brian Enos' setting of music by the Belgium-based band Zap Mama, each possessed this delightful sense of double time.
In the program notes, Enos says that Zap Mama's quirky, techno-funk syncopations frame the visuals of "First Light."
"It's about the dancers getting swept away and moving through space," Enos explains.
Dancers being swept away and moving -- deftly and skillfully -- through space could describe every one of Hubbard Street 2's performances.
Source
No comments:
Post a Comment