SeeChicagoDance.com

Chicago Dancing Fest finale

By Sid Smith
The milestones were many in terms of this year's fifth outing of the Chicago Dancing Festival, among them the faithful support of the city's new mayor, who embraced the endeavor with persistent enthusiasm.
Part of the impact stems from the length--five days is a pretty long time, six when you count Monday's opening benefit. Because of the programming variety of the week, and the attendant buzz it created, I was reminded of the heyday of the 1970s and early '80s, when major troupes showed up for long stays, invading our ether, taking over our consciousness. American Ballet Theatre and the Joffrey Ballet, then based in New York, regularly set up residence for nearly two weeks--it was as if a kind of traveling Chautauqua of dance had set up its tent.
It's a bit late now to mourn yet again the gradual cutbacks of the N.E.A. and the negative results, especially dance, in America--European turmoil is likely to lead to their aping us more rather than the reverse, I read. A return to those good old days isn't likely.
Instead, the model set up by Lar Lubovitch and Jay Franke is one not just today but the future--a tireless campaign amongst those who care to find your funding.
This year their efforts unquestionably reached a new apex. The fest was longer, more varied and blessed with bigger stars in some ways then ever before--those stars being the troupes themselves more than individual performers. Saturday's finale was truly a memorable event, an amazing convocation of 20th-Century giants. George Balanchine (represented by both the New York City Ballet and the Joffrey), Martha Graham (her troupe), Paul Taylor (his) and Jiri Kylian (Ballet West) were among the choreographers.
That 20th-Century label may pester some--the "youngest" piece dated from 1980. But what a line-up, from a reminder of Kylian's design-rich early days to icons by Graham and Taylor following Balanchine's "Stravinsky Violin Concerto." Last year's Harris offerings one night proved a provocative sweep of relatively recent choreography--but Saturday was unlike any other I've seen in dance in Chicago in 30 years, an authentic, radiantly assembled treasure trove of major work authentically danced, as if masterpieces by Monet, Matisse and Picasso were collected for a single exhibition.
Jiri Kylian's 1978 "Sinfonietta," from Ballet West, so superbly run by Adam Sklute, and Taylor's "Esplanade" from 1975 framed the program, poetically so it turns out. "Sinfonietta" is Kylian immersed in form and technique, more glorious in some ways than his more recent fascination with conceptual imagery and props. It helped that Hubbard Street Dance Chicago offered "Petite Mort," with its sailing dress forms, as part of the fest earlier in the week--"Sinfonietta" is Kylian at an early stage, ballet with a newfound naturalism, just as Taylor was all but redefining modern dance with the rigidly all-natural movement--and endless invention--of "Esplanade."
In between, we got works by those two 800-lb. gorillas, Balanchine and Graham. The Joffrey's "Stravinsky" is one of the troupe's more wondrous acquisitions, its rich, infinite detail, imagination and freewheeling musical creativity more comfortable on the dancers now, who dived into it with brio and confidence, despite the Pritzker Pavilion's somewhat limited stage. The Graham company's "Diversion of Angels" was incandescent, part of a mini-series of Graham works and explorations (impersonator Richard Move among them) that reveal the festival's intellectual oomph this year--as fatuous as it may sound, the fest awakened feelings that it's time to reconsider Graham, her legacy surviving and resurfacing, her innovations as profound as we once thought, her work less dusty and easing nicely into the mold of established art. She seemed creaky some days during the postmodern heyday. Now, she conjures up an earlier, crucial period of American dance, wonderfully represented by her company, including Blakely White-McGuire, the woman in red and a dancer of fierce speed and sharp execution.
In a kind of Balanchine dessert, Gonzalo Garcia and Tiler Peck glowed in the "Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux," redolent with evidence this oft-programmed piece is done so by duos who cut corners. Her articulation, elan and surefire pirouettes were signal part of the pleasure, along with his solid jetes. (His grand pirouette traveled a tad.)
But by far the most enlightening stroke of the evening, which included the added soupcon of the lesser known Charles Moulton's precision ball marathon by River North Dance Chicago, was the choice to conclude with "Esplanade," a rare chance to see the Taylor troupe in this major classic Chicagoans just aren't very familiar with any more. His company's regular visits back in that N.E.A. heyday were major players in our aesthetics, and his innovations in this work--the endless surprise, the playful air, the magic of walking and running all leading to such powerful soloist turns as those from aptly named Michelle Fleet--not only foreshadowed so much to come, but on Saturday seemed to sum up all the cost, energy and enterprise necessary to pull off something like the Chicago Dancing Festival.
Here was hopscotch giving way to women curled, nurtured and carried in their partner's arms. Here was a dance as important as any in the last 100 years. Live, under the stars, a butterfly insinuating itself into the corps for a spell, "Esplanade" dipped, hopped and then soared, the rest of us clutching its wings for a dizzying ride up to the moon.

Reviewed by Sid Smith on 08/28/2011 at 11:04 AM