WE’VE become accustomed to Chicago standing high as one of the nation’s great theater and opera centers. So it’s perhaps only logical, after many ineffectual attempts, that it’s established itself as a town for dance, as well.
First came the Joffrey Ballet, and now there’s Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, which, under the artistic directorship of Jim Vincent, has emerged as a major dance force.
The 20-member company was founded in 1977 by Lou Conte, but only since 2000 – when Vincent, a dancer/choreographer who’d spent 12 years with Jiri Kylian’s Nederlands Dans Theater, arrived – that Hubbard has really shown its mettle.
The troupe’s emphasis on new work, some produced within the company itself, follows the general pattern laid down by Kylian and his company, and in many ways the Hubbard group looks as European as it does American.
It shows the twisty, close-knit body language first developed at the London Contemporary Dance School around the end of the ’60s by such crossover choreographers as Glen Tetley.
The Chicago dancers here are a splendidly matched grouping – their attack combined with a lovely and musical lyricism. They go through their paces like well-oiled machines, offering a performance style as smooth and svelte and yet as vigorous as anyone could wish.
But what they have to dance lacks something in individuality.
The opening program of their two-week engagement began with “Bardo” by the Japanese choreographer Toru Shimazaki. Set to a rhythmic score by Dead Can Dance, the ballet apparently explores the journey between life and the afterworld – and quite possibly it does, since it’s a journey few know much about (including, I suspect, Shimazaki). Still, it was fluently made and handsomely danced.
The same could be said of Ohad Nahari’s duet “Passomezzo,” splendidly performed by Robyn Mineko Williams and Terence Marling, but full of bizarre choreographic twists and turns. It is set disconcertingly to English folk music, including “Greensleeves.”
One considerable merit of the Hubbard Street troupe is its theatricality. Both company member Alejandro Cerruto’s “Extremely Close,” suggestive of love in a snowy climate, and Vincent’s neatly intricate “Palladio” revealed dramatic style in their shaping.
But did all the dancing have to seem like choreographic cloth woven from the same wool? Had I been told the program was the work of one choreographer rather than four, I wouldn’t have been in the least surprised.
HUBBARD STREET DANCE CHICAGO