A CAVALCADE OF RICHES
Anticipating Giordano Dance Chicago’s (GDC) newest season is getting to be a lot like looking forward to an extravagant Christmas that happens twice a year. In the Spring, the company premiered resident choreographer Al Blackstone’s ravishing and gobsmacking Gershwin in B, a remarkable tribute to jazz music and jazz dance that revolutionized what the two could do together to create a captivating entertainment spectacle.
In Soaring, its aptly named Fall program that opened at the Harris Theater last Friday night, the company proved that you can indeed extend the boundaries of perfection. And from what was displayed, those limits can be pushed all the way to infinity.
Red and Black, a world premiere work specifically designed for the company by frequent GDC collaborator Ray Leeper was the evening’s featured performance. Conceived as a companion piece, or an “encore†to Blackstone’s Gershwin in B, Red and Black exploded with its own marvels. But first, we were treated to a dazzling panorama of the many shades of dance by a company known primarily just for modern jazz dance.
Taken at the World Premiere of Al Blackstone's Gershwin in B
(Anderson Photography)
Just as sultry as it was last April, and oozing with the same seductive mystery, the program opened with a welcomed re-showing of Gershwin in B, Blackstone’s intoxicating Gershwin tribute with Erina Ueda again in the lead as an inquisitive young woman finding her way to maturity. The composer’s elegant music sets the mood for each chapter of this lovely story told in jazz dance’s unique language of velvety bravado. A red fedora representing “arrival†is central in all of them, from Ueda growing and evolving from naïve innocence as she dances with the company to “S’ Wonderful” to experiencing her first taste of romance riding on the melodies of “Embraceable You”. Discovering love in this storyline doesn’t mark a final chapter. Fully realized agency and selfhood are the ultimate goals. It’s only when she blows that single puff of smoke from her cigarette as she’s lifted high in the air do we know she’s arrived at a point of consummate personal completeness.
Taken at the World Premiere of Al Blackstone's Gershwin in B
(Anderson Photography)
Masterfully mixing silken movement with bursts of dramatic energy, Blackstone’s choreography overflows with both poignancy and power. Overlay the solid virtuosity of GDC’s dancers and you enter a world of the boundlessly irresistible.
Julie Ballard’s restrained and utterly beguiling lighting subtly becomes more refined in this rendition, making it blend even more seamlessly into the fabric of a dance narrative that builds its beauty in layers.
Flickers (2019) speaks to the pursuit of a different kind of goal. Choreographed by Miranda Davis, someone whose long association with GDC goes back to childhood, the piece centers on the sense of triumph, renewal and promise that comes with beating the odds. Son Lux’s music and lyrics are key in helping the audience interpret the bristling energy filling this highly dramatic and quasi-autobiographical work. Davis, who has endured prolonged life-threatening health crises, expresses the psychological tension of living with a sobering diagnosis through Flicker’s frenetic opening. Both the dance and the music are contemporary, edgy and radiate an air of raw authenticity. When the main corps of dancers leave the stage and Eduardo Zambrana is left alone, we see even more acutely how forcefully dance can relay internal struggle and dogged perseverance. Brief and brilliant, Zambrana’s solo interlude showcases the potency of the company’s dancers as individuals. And, like the two delicacies that would follow it, Flickers revealed how well GDC treats works that fall well outside the jazz dance idiom.
Also premiered during the Spring program, unconditional — with its grace and fluidity aligning much more with ballet — is an ethereal dream that requires total perfection to ensure the spell it casts completely permeates our senses. Magnificently danced by Sasha Lazarus and Fernando Rodriguez, it can’t help but do just that. Although premised on the indomitability of romantic love, it’s sentiment can be extended far beyond to include any love whose bonds are unbreakable. Created by Adam Houston, a ten-year GDC veteran and choreographic visionary, the duet in unconditional taps into a secret and tender place to deliver torrents of joy.
A full company piece, Autumn Eckman’s very contemporary Yes, And… uses torrents of rhythm to tell a story that bubbles with urgency and its own brand of humorous play. Initially foreboding and psychologically magnetic, the percussive beats by Barbatuques — a music group from São Paulo — demand your full attention. Dancers blanket the stage costumed in black briefs and long black stockings. The music’s influence has them seem like inhabitants in some tribal centered future. As the dance progresses, you come to appreciate the complexity of Eckman’s imagination as she slowly kneads an abiding harmony into the dance’s suspense — all while highlighting the dancers’ acumen.
Simon Schuh and Sydney Priestly in Ray Leeper's Red and Black
(Anderson Photography)
The finale, Red and Black, has all the hallmarks of a seasoned and highly talented choreographer. When Ray Leeper talks about his desires for the piece, he’s clear about wanting to celebrate the uniqueness of GDC’s place in the dance universe. Also an adept and versatile dancemaker for television (So You Think You Can Dance), Leeper’s work is perfectly aligned with our present culture. He wants this complement to Gershwin in B to also embrace the past by bringing to the forefront the classicism of the company’s jazz dance roots. The color black represents that attempt while red signifies the fire and passion that’s perennially present in the company’s spirit.
GDC dancers in Ray Leeper's Red and Black
(Anderson Photography)
Six beautiful show girls star in a five-part dance that chronicles the bounty of their lives and the men swirling through their orbits. In slinky gowns and platinum grade confidence, the ladies in Red and Black revel in their common pursuit of happiness and fulfillment, using dance as their medium of expression.
Sasha Lazarus and Adam Houston in Ray Leeper's Red and Black
(Anderson Photography)
As with Gershwin in B, there’s tension, discovery and daring displays of physicality along with plenty of dance excellence. With no central figure, Red and Black gives each dancer the opportunity to show the full measure of their impressive capabilities. A worthy adjunct to Blackstone’s jewel, Red and Black regales in the tantalizing fusion of peerless dance and riveting theater. The use of a shimmering see-through curtain emulating water during the “Cry Me a River” segment was a touch of genius. Standard fare for this still blossoming dance dynasty.
Giordano Dance Chicago
Fall Program 2024: Soaring
Harris Theater for Music and Dance
205 East Randolph Dr, Millennium Park
played October 25 and 26, 2024
for future events, call 312.922.1332 or visit Giordano
for more shows, visit Theatre in Chicago