November 8, 2006
Fred Solari, Dance Chicago's co-founder who died earlier this year, used
to compare the festival to a food tasting. He helped create an entertaining
buffet where audiences can sample the diverse flavors of the city's ever-growing
dance scene -- from jazz and hip-hop to ballet and tap.
Under the artistic direction of co-founder John Schmitz, the 12th annual
Dance Chicago's smorgasbord keeps getting more refined. It opened over the
weekend and runs through Dec. 3 at the Athenaeum Theatre.
Because opening night presents companies from several dance genres, it
has always had a showcase feel. This time, though the running time still exceeded
two hours and the program did not feature any world premieres, the artists
in general raised some fresh points of view, notably Eddy Ocampo, Randy Duncan
and Dmitri Peskov. Each offered their latest explorations of human strife,
struggle and survival.
For "Voces Inocentes" ("Innocent Voices"), choreographer
Ocampo collaborated with co-artistic directors Wildredo Rivera and Joe Cerqua
of Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, to seriously address the reality of child soldiers
in Latin America. The dancers entwine their bodies in shapes that depict despair
and hope, with a mood that alternates between childlike joy and psychological
alienation.
Still a work in progress, "Voces Inocentes" -- enhanced by Linda
Buchanan's startling projections of children's drawings and photographs of
little boys armed with rifles -- is on its way to becoming a profound addition
to the Cerqua Rivera repertoire.
Independent choreographer Duncan's "Journey," featuring a tight,
unified ensemble, graciously joins African-based and contemporary movement
vocabularies. The dancers convey an extended sense of longing as they appear
to make wide strides through toil and exhaustion over the course of a lifetime.
The most experimental piece, Peskov's "Saints and Sinners," performed
by the newly named Frasz/Peskov Dance Company (formerly DanceLoop Chicago),
managed to be both baffling and inspiring.
Though it lacks a clear purpose, the circuslike fantasy takes an intriguing
theatrical approach to the concepts of good and evil with a nod to Spanish
filmmaker Pedro Almodovar.
It begins with a Latin-inspired evocation of a brothel, observed by Peskov
as an ill-defined otherworldly figure. The piece continues with quasi-evangelical
fervor, culminating in three women in harnesses being elevated, where they
execute a lopsided aerial nightmare. But "Saints and Sinners" threatens
to mix too many metaphors. Peskov needs to rein in some of the self-conscious
absurdity.
Other highlights included Altin Naska's still-developing "Agape," a
confluence of jagged and rounded body geometry; the mathematically intricate
footwork of Trinity II Irish Dancers; and Pro Latin competitors Jonathan Arellano
and Christa South of Chicago Dance Latin & Ballroom School performing
an exhilarating "La Malanga Brava" (even though its placement after
the tragic "Voces Inocentes" felt frivolous).
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Dance Chicago runs through Dec. 3 at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport
Ave. Tickets: $5-$25. Call 312-902-1500.
Copyright (c) 2006, Chicago Tribune
