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DANCIN' FEATS Art imitates life, captures imagination
by Lauren Warnecke
2015-03-11

This article shared 5988 times since Wed Mar 11, 2015
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On March 7, 1965, several hundred people gathered in Selma, Alabama, to march to the capital of Montgomery protesting African-American citizens' right to vote. A few months later, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law in an effort to enforce the 15th Amendment, giving all U.S. residents the right to vote.

Considering the civil-rights movement in a more general sense, perhaps beginning with women's suffrage in the early 20th century, the struggle for equality continued through Johnson's tenure with the fight for civil liberties among Black citizens and is echoed by modern day movements for LGBT marriage equality and equal rights for trans people. On Dec. 15, 2014, several hundred people gathered in Chicago to march through downtown in protest of the deaths of Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Fifty years after the march on Montgomery ( almost to the day ), news of ISIS throwing gay men off buildings began circulating through social media and news outlets.

For these foul offenses, we have but few possibilities for retaliation outside our fundamental right to assembly. For choreographer Carrie Hanson, movement provides a catalyst for thought, discussion, and understanding ( if that is to be possible ) of complex social and political issues. Her latest work, a sextet for her company The Seldoms, is steeped in the Johnson era, with frequent ties and comparisons to the Obama administration. Two years in the making, Hanson premieres "Power Goes" at the Museum of Contemporary Art March 20. It's a massive work produced collaboratively by Hanson, playwright Stuart Flack, and dramaturge Michael J. Kramer.

"Power Goes" examines the use ( and abuse ) of power in governments, communities, and interpersonal relationships, employing Hanson's signature movement style, physical theater and a multitude of media from visual artists Sarah Krepp and Bob Faust, sound artist Mikhail Fiksel, Jeffrey Hancock ( costume ), Julie Ballard ( lighting ) and Liviu Pasare ( video ). In homage to the power of assembly in enacting change during the Johnson era and today, Hanson recruited a group of 15 students to join the company for a section of the piece, surrounded by past and present images of marches and sit-ins.

The Seldoms present "Power Goes" in the Edlis Neeson Theater at the Museum for Contemporary Art ( 220 E. Chicago Ave. ) March 20-29. Sunday matinees ( March 22 and 29 ) are interpreted in American Sign Language. Tickets are $28, available by calling the MCA Box Office ( 312 ) 397-4010 or visiting www.mcachicago.org . A number of community events have been arranged, including an open rehearsal March 19, post-show talkbacks March 20 and 26, and an afternoon panel discussion with the collaborators on March 21.

Meanwhile, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is bucking the system in more subtle ways, with a Spring Series that explores gender roles in unexpected combinations. The program was designed around two works, "Sarabande" and "Falling Angels," added to the company's rep for last year's spring series featuring an entire evening of Jiri Kylian dances. The complementary dances play with stereotypes; "Sarabande" is a piece for six men, crowned by floating gowns with dramatic highs and lows of emotion, while "Fallen Angels" is strictly business: unemotional, succinct movements for eight women set to a relentless percussive score by Steve Reich.

Joining the Kylian works are the Hubbard Street premiere of Crystal Pite's "A Picture of You Falling." In this first time performing Pite's work, dancers Jesse Bechard and Jason Hortin share the role that was once danced by Pite. Alejandro Cerrudo's 2013 "Cloudless" returns, the first ( and only ) duet he's created for two women. Gustavo Ramirez Sansano's world premiere, "I am Mister B," is a tribute to George Balanchine closing the program. Despite Balanchine's proclamation that "Ballet is woman," Sansano's inspiration is the man himself, with men and women dressed in suits ( mirroring Balanchine's dress during the 1940's ) to Tchaikovsky's Theme & Variations. Sansano danced the work as a boy, and though the score is perfectly in tact, the movement is quintessential Gustavo. Sansano has an uncanny ability to hear the insides of the music, as did Balanchine, and sections of the work are beautifully chaotic as if mimicking a mad orchestra conductor.

On the heels of a highly successful collaboration last fall with The Second City, Hubbard Street Artistic Director Glenn Edgerton noted that no two people will see this program the same way. Indeed, the variance of gender roles infused within the spring series is likely to elicit a wide variety of responses. In an interview with Windy City Times, Edgerton stated that while his programming decisions are intentional, there's no real way to anticipate how the public will respond. "Programming is like anything in life, it's trial and error… you learn as you go."

The premise of Hubbard Street and Second City's show "The Art of Falling" was letting go. Riding in an airplane, falling in love, working as an office temp in a new city… these were the stories in 'The Art of Falling' and clear examples of relinquishing control. Edgerton sees a clear connection between this kind of letting go, the dancers' roles as performers, and his job as Artistic Director. "When you fall, if you let yourself roll, you'll have a much easier time. This is a pivotal concept in improvisation, which is the hallmark of Second City. Instead of saying 'toi toi toi' or 'merde,' [Second City artists] say, 'I've got your back.' Without being able to define it, that has been my purpose as an artistic director."

Who's got Edgerton's back? "The 50 people that work here," he said. "When you have an organization of people that has one another's backs, you've got something special." Hubbard Street Dance Chicago presents its Spring Series March 12-15 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph St. Tickets are available online at hubbardstreetdance.com/spring or by calling 312-850-9744.


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