It would be easy to applaud Giordano Dance Chicago’s fall season at The Harris Theater for wowing its audiences with the go-for-broke, knock ‘em dead high energy, clean-as-a-whistle technique, and joyous group spirit we have come to expect from this unique troupe. It would also be easy to expect them to simply continue to replicate what is working so well, and why not? For most companies, that’s plenty hard in itself. But that’s not the Giordano way, and never has been. 

The well-drilled dancers of Inaside Chicago Dance can sure shake a leg, leap sky high, or kick the dickens out of a jazz routine. Routine describes most of the work this troupe of seven earnest dancers, augmented by apprentices and students from the company school, presented in its fall concert at the Athenaeum Theatre this past Friday. 

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s all-William Forsythe season, through Sunday, October 18th at the Harris, goes a long way toward distinguishing this superb company as a major living gallery of seminal contemporary choreography. 

John Neumeier, Director and Chief choreographer of the Hamburg Ballet, has always had an appreciation for history, dating back to his time growing up in Milwaukee. The 73-year-old choreographer has often recalled his childhood with great specificity, most notably a fascination with the ballet pioneer Vaslav Nijinsky. Neumeier, who has choreographed a modern-day ballet based on Nijinksy’s life, also happens to be a collector of some of the biggest pieces of dance memorabilia in the world.

If you were looking through a choreographic lens at the program of five works on Visceral Dance Chicago’s one-night-only 3rd season at the Harris Theater Saturday night, you might think, ah, this is all about shining a spotlight on the poignance and power of gesture.