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Hubbard Street Dance Chicago 2010 Summer Series
Without being lightweight, Hubbard Street's summer program goes down easy. For one thing, it's exceptionally well balanced --- remarkable considering that the scheduled theatrical premiere of resident choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo's "Deep Down Dos" was postponed at the last minute (issues with the music rights). Never mind. The current mix, running through Sunday at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, takes off in three very different but all very satisfying directions.
Jorma Elo's "Bitter Suite," given its world premiere last October by HSDC, takes the place of "Deep Down Dos." The Finnish choreographer, who joined Netherlands Dans Theater 20 years ago, is now the acclaimed artistic director of Boston Ballet. And his sophisticated, sure handling of music, structure, and emotional tone make “Bitter Suite” this program’s standout.
Nothing about it is bitter; in fact it's often funny. Elo goes crazy with bizarre motions for the hands and arms, some recognizable: wriggling fingers suggest tickling, and a woman "types" on an invisible manual typewriter, even returning the carriage. The dancers often look foolish, prancing or kicking out straight legs, feet flexed, in little backward-leaning runs. When Monteverdi's stirring brass overture for "Orfeo" plays, a woman extends her arms in a cliched gesture of triumph, only to drop them unexpectedly and unceremoniously with a bored schlump.
But though at times Elo presents human beings as limited creatures with the attention spans of gnats, he also demands superhuman strength and speed from his dancers, especially during the pedal-to-the-metal section of Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor. What sort of fiendish mind would simultaneously denigrate and celebrate humankind? Yet Elo’s dual vision pays off in the unexpected close to "Bitter Suite," set to Monteverdi's moving "Pur Ti Miro" duet. Though ludicrous moves are never entirely abandoned --- a woman literally wraps herself around a standing man's head at the end --- Elo flips an emotional switch to make us see them as honorable, innocent, incorruptible.
"Bitter Suite" might be seen as classical, in the sense that form is crucial and human nature is fixed and predictable. By contrast, Aszure Barton's brand-new "Untouched" is awash in romanticism.
That's evident right away in the stage design: long, red velvet curtains are parted at the middle to create a dramatic entryway, and Nicole Pearce's lighting is often chiaroscuro or a deep, alarming red. I found it difficult to get into "Untouched" at first, but as the dance went on I realized I'd been dropped in medias res. The existence of a narrative and characters is eventually clear, but their nature is never obvious. There's a love triangle, I think, presided over by a mistress of ceremonies, but that’s all I’d hazard about the plot. This piece is all about feelings, however illogical or unmotivated.
A choreographer originally from Canada, Barton has risen swiftly from the ranks, with works commissioned by Mikhail Baryshnikov and ABT. And though "Untouched" sometimes seems to lack an anchor, Barton creates gorgeous moments. The dancers' clapping and some of the music allude to flamenco and tango, with all the vivid drama those forms imply. At its best, though, the dancing is not derivative but sharp and new as a thunderclap, and often psychologically suggestive. There's a swift kiss to the neck, more knife attack than affection, or a woman's nervously bobbling hips, an idling engine. Barton can also slow things way down, creating a backdrop for the action with simple walking patterns inflected by slight shifts of the arms and shoulders. It’s like the insistent swelling of a chorus underneath the lines of the soloists, the protagonists.
Toru Shimazaki's 2006 "Bardo" completes the program with a variation on romanticism: the faux-primitive dance. Set to pretend world music by Dead Can Dance, it features raggy costumes and what look like impulsive, instinctual tribal motions.
Despite the slight cheesiness, the dance works. The word "bardo," Tibetan for "intermediate state," is used here to mean the transition between life and death. And the most meaningful, intriguing parts of Shimazaki’s dance are the extended passages of leave-taking, epitomized in a central couple and reiterated in unison sections for five couples. These always seem to me visionary glimpses into the twilight world of Romeo and Juliet as they die and don’t die, saying farewell forever until it’s finally for good.
