Dance! How it ignites the soul! And how better to light that fire than with Giordano Dance Chicago (GDC) at the Harris Theater in the heart of Chicago’s Millennium Park?
This past Friday night treated us to the exceptional GDC’s Spring 2026 season opener, dubbed “Ignite the Soul!” It was incendiary, to be sure.
GDC’s spring season, April 10-11, brought fireworks to that spirit with a bonfire of virtuoso dancing in six exciting choreographic works, varied in style from frolic to frenzy, from mirth to mayhem, from dissonance to harmony.
The program opened with Resident choreographer Al Blackstone’s “Sana” (2025), the Latin word for “healthy,” a theme that was emblematic of the entire evening. There are many ways to heal, the program seemed to say: through celebration, through mourning, through rage, and through love.
“Sana” is a sunny celebration of life and the sheer joy of dancing, and it showcased the dancers in a fast-flowing stream of interconnected segments that featured the full company of twelve as well as solo moments, duets, trios, and quartets. Stahv Danker’s original score, and Julie Ballard’s tone poem of lighting transported us through shape-shifting moods, complementing the choreographic energy, from slow and dreamy to lyrical, to percussive and super hyped.
Blackstone’s choreography was joined at the hip to composer Danker’s musical impulses. The movement picked up subtle musical cues in an isolated twitch of a shoulder, nod of head, extension of an elbow or knee, thrust of a hip, or a subtle change of the dancers’ visual focus.
“Sana” pays homage to an eclectic blend of styles, from the lyricism of classical ballet and José Limón’s 20th-century modern, to Afro-Cuban and Caribbean, merging with the driving beat of percussion instruments. Costume designer Devert Monet Hickman’s pleasing earth-tone palette of swinging skirts, vests, and slacks sent a swirl of colors skipping across the stage in a joyous celebration.
In a stroke of production design genius, each live performance piece was book-ended by a film segment, giving both dancers and tech crew time to transition to the next live piece, while continuing to entertain and inform the audience, serving as a stand-in for Playbill or the custom printed program of the past.
The world premiere of Mike Minery’s “My Kind of Girl,” set to the music of Count Basie and Frank Sinatra, is a delightful 1940’s tap dance romp, danced by Minery and Erina Ueda, all smiles, charm, and tongue-in-cheek guile, their mostly unison dancing as infectious and genuine as any two tap dancers could be. Ueda wore pearls, white gloves, and a saucy drop-waist dress with sailor motif, Minery in a suit. Both sported black and white oxford tap shoes. Full-body action accompanied their fabulous tap riffs with a loose, happy-go-lucky swing of arms and legs and occasional claps. In typical tap dance format, each took a solo turn to showcase individual pizzazz. Total charm.
Choreographers Del Dominguez and Laura Flores’s GDC oldie but goodie, “Sabroso” (2011), closed the first half of the program. Steamy vibes set five couples loose on the dance floor in ballroom-style variations on the tango, mambo, cha-cha and rumba. Constant re-configuring of partners with ensemble interludes in non-unison variations of ballroom forms kept the stage action lively. Lighting designer Elijah Kleinsmith’s suspended mirror balls and backdrop of moving sparkles enhanced this fast and fiery Act One closer.
Opening Act Two, the world premiere of Jon Rua’s “namuH” (“human” spelled backwards) began as a slow-mo nightmare journey into a future that pits ballerinas and automatons in a contest of endurance. What is the story here? The dancers seemed to be fighting for something, with forceful, repetitive gestures, but fighting for what? Against oppression? For independence and autonomy? Fighting to become the self?
The relentless determination and drive in Rua’s movement invention seemed like an effort to bolster collective courage, but courage for what? To be ME? A banging gesture, repeated by every body part, made me think of knocking against life’s doors. And then, without warning, the bold, percussive movement collapsed, like ice melting instantaneously, into a human pile, no transitions required! Sculptural formations rose out of seeming randomness, dancers moved from solid to liquid, and suddenly fit together like a solved Rubik’s cube. And then, stunningly, they breathe. Kind of breathtaking, actually.
“Crossing/Lines—Excerpts” (2015) presented three segments from Ronen Koresh’s longer piece. The first, “round the block,” featured five barefoot men in sleeveless button-down shirts and tights. They bob heads in percussive obeisance to ritual conformity and tribal exhibitionism. Enter three women wearing black bras and cut-offs in “humdrum,” the second excerpt. Extremes of grotesquerie and sexiness characterize their mechanical movement, brutality and free-wheeling power, breaking free in voracious space-taking, an abrupt non-ending concluding a formidable version of women’s liberation.
Blackstone’s “Dumb Luck” (world premiere) closed the program with non-stop fun and ensemble slap-happiness. The sailor motif was complete, with lighting designer Elijah Kleinsmith’s backdrop of a huge sail, a long rope prop, and costumer Nina G’s sailor suits and hats. Blackstone has the full ensemble of dancers swabbing the decks with literally swash-buckling knees. The chemistry between choreographer and dancers, combined with tunes from classic 1940’s big band composers, clearly inspired GDC’s dancers for a finale that pulled out all the stops . And then some!
Founding Director Gus Giordano must have been beaming with pride from his heavenly dance studio as Nan Giordano, Gus’s daughter and handpicked successor, launched her father’s namesake company into its Spring 2026 season. “Ignite The Soul!” conveyed the artistic energy, vision, and unstoppable determination that guides the company.
Giordano Dance Chicago presented “Ignite the Soul! Season 63) on April 10-11 at Harris Theatre for Music and Dance, 205 E Randolph. For more information, check out the event page by clicking HERE.
To read an interview with Mike Minery on the making of “This Kind of Girl,” click the link HERE.
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