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Dance For Life

By Sid Smith

"Dance for Life," that annual admixture of artistic accomplishment and community good will, has once again come and gone, its 19th installment nicely managed and executed over the weekend at the Harris Theater.

This year's selections were unusually choice and varied, from Ensemble Espanol Spanish Dance Theatre's bravura benefit debut--opening the show with gorgeous, swirling, red-drenched costumes and dynamite flamenco--up through and including "I've Got a Life," the original closer from Harrison McEldowney, replacing Randy Duncan and providing his own special signature on the finale's typical themes of struggle, grief, hope and determination.

Along the way, the participating troupes chose a nicely complimentary assortment. Thodos Dance Chicago, for instance, offered one look at the trio (three trios, actually), via "Fosse Trilogy," culled from Bob Fosse's late-'60s TV stylistics. A more mod threesome wriggling with rhythmic antics and squiggly higgledy-piggledy arrived later in "Three," Robert Battle's work for River North Chicago Dance Company.

The Joffrey Ballet demonstrated what a slightly larger ensemble can accomplish with the exciting third movement from James Kudelka's exciting "Pretty BALLET," this movement a male quintet that's fast, sharp and here and there funky, and yet all the while, too--a celebration of form and its possibilities. For spectacle, in addition to Ensemble Espagnol and McEldowney's finale, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago glowed with a terrific excerpt from Ohad Naharin's richly textured, dramatically designed "Tabula Rasa"-- often flowing, creamy dance serving as a patina slathered on a disturbing core.

Overall, the focus seemed more on actual dance than in some recent years. The raffle and auction were held offstage, replaced by a brief introduction of the artistic directors of the participating troupes--a welcomed move that put the spotlight on the artists who make the benefit possible. The whole affair seemed a bit more muted and serious, too. True, Dean Richards, the WGN and Tribune personality whose growth in the role of emcee over the years has been one of the benefit's more pleasing developments, cracked a few funny jokes, as always. But he injected some thoughtful notes as well and even offered up one very effective reminder of what's at stake for like-minded "Dance for Life" souls in the upcoming election. His comments carried all the more force after Gov. Patrick Quinn walked on stage to open the show and underscore the importance of preserving Illinois AIDS funding.

Even the audience seemed to sense the mood, not that their ovations were restrained--far from it. But there was a kind of dignity to the occasion, visible at the very outset when the crowd was hushed, as if spellbound, by the sheer glamour and spectacle of Ensemble Espagnol's opening, holding back their huzzahs until Dame Libby Komaiko's incandescent take on "Bolero" had ended.

McEldowney's piece, set to some outright anthemic Annie Lennox vocals, struck me as shrewdly building on elements he used in his ensemble piece last year, employed here more effectively, with better integration and ultimately more impact. The aerial dancing was back, choreographed by Jeremy Plummer and enabled by Flying By Foy. But it merged with the larger choreography more gracefully than last year, a single, a floating cube of metal bars serving not just as a trapeze device, but also as a bit of twirling geometric sculpture. A mobile for life.

The simple black-and-white costumes also helped unify the piece and give a Spartan cloak to a large, crowded, elaborately designed spectacle. "Life" avoided some of the clutter and everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink feel to McEldowney's piece last year, and, in addition, he pulled out the stops on this one, flooding the stage with more than two dozen dancers and devising both intricate choral designs and some gripping, short-lived personal dramas--near the finish two male dancers engage in an aggressive, defiant stolen kiss.

Towards the end, an industrial-like backdrop descended and a row of water buckets were placed in front of it so that the dancers, in small groups, could take turns soaking their hair and splashing droplets skyward. The effect was far from perfect, the buckets positioned towards the back of the stage, so that when the dancers wet their hair and then marched forward, the impact of the water imagery was pretty much dissipated. It's a great gimmick, just not perfectly used here. But again it served McEldowney's purpose, evoking thoughts of baptism and purification.

But by then I didn't care, and neither did the audience. Certainly it served McEldowney's purpose of injecting imagery of baptism and purification. And as a whole, McEldowney delivered the pop dance, feel-good extravaganza that's expected of the finale, a stirring crowd piece not relying at all on his trademark humor. It was a fine close to a get-together of thousands of dancers and enthusiasts celebrating the fact that art not only reflects our lives, but can save them, too.

Reviewed by Sid Smith on 08/23/2010 at 12:17 PM