Step inside a living room. It’s got a couch, a standing lamp and art leaning on the back wall--someone hasn’t gotten around to hanging it yet. The furniture has been pushed to the back corner, making way for an open floor. Upon arrival, the house party hosts are all there: eight dancers having side chats, warming up for break dancing and waving to audience members who have just entered the theater.
Chicago Dance Crash invites us into their home for a space to get comfortable, speak vulnerably and celebrate freely, with “Rubbernecks,” on Oct. 5 at 7p.m. at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. Premiering under the direction of newly appointed Artistic Director KC Bevis, the three works of the evening embodied four big C’s: cool but contemplative, cosmic but corporeal.
"On to the Other," with Chicago Dance Crash; A. Deran Photography
The artists are nothing if not experts in their singular and bona fide styles, inviting any choreography to breathe and play in its structure so their movement stories and idiosyncrasies may shine through. Crash’s blend of theatrical concert and street dance synthesizes the abstruse and the concrete in its world-building.
In a freestyle set by Ibrahim “Rah” Sabbi, “Necked up, Cosmically,” Bevis hooks up her computer and starts to DJ. The living room is plunged in midnight blue shadows as the sweet and sultry tones of Prince’s “Call My Name” permeates the air. Like sound waves through water, the cast absorbs the music’s fluxes and reverberations, sending them rolling and waving from head to heart to toes. Cutting through this silky atmosphere are the sounds of Monternez Rezell’s squeaking sneakers, snapping the others out of a reverie and picking up the pace with quick footwork in time to the new heart-racing beat.
As any good DJ set or dance battle, the scene morphs and changes, and the mood swings to inspire new expression. Potent lights shining horizontally from the wings are like doorways to diverse realms: the dancers enter and exit only to find new hues, sounds and textures to move through on stage. We are taken on a cosmic journey, from planet to planet. They all flock into a freestyle circle that takes us back to reality—they clap and call out to one another, showcasing both their individuality and comradery before taking a final bow.
"On to the Other," with Logan “L2K” Howell and Tina Diaz; A. Deran Photography
“On to the Other” presents some more complex and contemplative themes surrounding identity through a blend of street dance and spoken word. One dancer tumbles and falls limply, a rag doll, silent and moving with great weariness. The other catches and supports, throwing the first over their shoulder or on their back. Freeze. A story of great vulnerability--moments of being judged, profiled or other-ed--is told. Switch. Repeat. They are sharing burdens by speaking one another’s words and physically taking their weight. Even more, their personal narratives literally get amplified as a mic chases them around the space to push the volume on their stories; sometimes the obvious is so effective.
The performance’s namesake, “Rubbernecks,” choreographed by Bevis, is an inquisitive trio between Hannah “June” Barrows, Logan “L2K” Howell and Tristen “Penny” Green. There is an urgent and unsettling sense created when all three pace off the stage and back on. At one moment, Barrows is pulled as if by a gravitational force, thrown in a cyclone of elegant locking, and, after, Howell moves like the record scratching on loop in the soundscape. Green careens with fixed eyes and bobbling head, curiously watching. Throughout, they are snatched back into a unison motif that involves a physical bending and whipping of their head and neck. What are they seeing, where is this tension arising from and why is their gaze redirected again and again?
The focus of the evening was centered around identity, perspective and individualism, and there was a veneer of ease and coolness overlaying both the serious and the fun. Dancers crashed raw human relations with atmospheric shifts—not unlike the intense emotional release of dancing in a club, in the streets or…at a house party. It was an intimate way to herald in a new era of Chicago Dance Crash.
“Rubbernecks” by Chicago Dance Crash was presented on Oct. 4-5, at 7:00 p.m., at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts (1016 N Dearborn St). For more information, please click the company link below, or visit chicagodancecrash.com.
