Giordano Dance Chicago, America’s original jazz dance company, presents “SOARING: Life, Light, and Legacy” April 4-5 at the Harris Theater. The event celebrates the legacy of Nan Giordano, Artistic Director and daughter of Company Founder Gus Giordano, who has led the company for 40 years, and honors the life of her beloved son Keenan Giordano Casey.
The evening opens with the world premiere of “Sana,” the latin word for healing, choreographed by Resident Choreographer Al Blackstone. The work begins meditative, with energy cascading from dancer to dancer until it explodes with radiating joy. There is a spiritual quality to their movements as the dancers reach to the sky and press hands together as if in prayer. This ethereal expansion is paired with a playful groundedness as the dancers undulate and groove together, creating a sense of joy and community.
Another world premier, “333”, choreographed by Nan Giordano and Associate Artistic Director Cesar G. Salinas, is a solo performed by company member Erina Ueda. The program notes that 333 represents angel numbers connecting to Gus, Keenan and Nan. The audience can feel a flood of emotions behind the work as Ueda spirals and thrashes to the soulful sounds of Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness.” Her movements are tortured and expressive, but her jazzy confidence and presence never waivers. There was such an intimacy between Ueda and the audience despite the vastness of the Harris Theatre that Ueda’s performance could have been much longer and the audience still would have been enthralled for every second.
"Soaring" is a tribute to Keenan Giordano Casey (1995- 2024) choreographed by Nan Giordano, Cesar G. Salinas and the dancers. Following a sentimental video capturing his spirit with photographs, videos and anecdotes from friends and family, the company took to the stage, running with bare feet and white flowy costumes like they had wind beneath their wings. The most moving moment is when friends and family of Keenan proceed down the theater aisles and join the dancers on stage. Holding candles, the performers fill the stage with light as they walk in beautiful patterns, creating a moving gesture of both grief and remembrance.
Red & Black (2024), choreographed by Ray Leeper, had dancers enter the stage in classy costumes, women in long black evening dresses and heels, men in red vests. The audience transports to a jazz club where couples sway sensually under colorful lights on the dance floor. The couples are driven by music of many different moods and seem to grapple with different internal and interpersonal conflicts. The most engaging part is the ending, when a ballroom dance influence comes to the forefront and the audience is swept away by the passion and energy of the dancers.
“Taal” (2001), choreographed by Nan Giordano, is inspired by classical Indian dance. The movement incorporates gestures reminiscent of Bharatanatyam into the Giordano jazz vocabulary with insight from Hema Rajagopalan from Natya Dance Theatre. The highlight of the piece is the dancers' interaction with four sheets of cream fabric that hang floor to ceiling on stage. Four couples organically intertwine around the sheets, and then wrap, unravel and swirl the fabric. It was beautiful to see the sheets loft and flow through the air, giving a visual to the wind the dancers were creating with their spirited dancing.
“Pyrokinesis” (2007) concludes the evening with an impressive display of virtuosity and stamina. Choreographed by Christopher Huggins and referencing the psychic ability to create and control fire, the piece begins contemplative as the dancers pulse and crackle and become fiercely jazzy and vibrant. The dancers erupt into fiery solos: leaps, splits and spins! Like a roaring fire, the dancers are nonstop with uncontainable energy while also pulling off unbelievable feats of suspension and control, all with a smile on their face and a wink or a kiss to the audience. At a certain point the dancers are just showing off – and the audience did not want them to stop! “Pyrokinesis” is a showstopping end to an evening that shone with the bright spirit of jazz dance.
Giordano Dance Chicago presents “SOARING: Life, Light, and Legacy” Friday April 4 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, April 5 at 6 p.m. at the Harris Theater | Millennium Park, 205 E. Randolph. Tickets can be found at harristheaterchicago.org or by clicking the company link below.
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