dance writer

 Hedwig Dances, NEXUS Jan Bartoszek's choreography demands a certain kind of dancer: one with strength, flexibility, stage presence, technique, an ability to be grounded and a sense of fearlessness. Forty one years at the helm of Hedwig Dances has allowed Bartoszek to develop and hone these unique artistic demands. More than capable of taking on challenges, the current Hedwig ensemble performing in NEXUS at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, take on Bartoszek's vision with grace, power and conviction. Through the program's four dances they shine as both performers and choreographers. Two of the program's works come from Bartoszek, along with a piece each from choreographic newcomers Heriberto Meneses and Milo Sachse-Hofheimer. “Table of the Years,” the opener and choreographic debut of Meneses, builds a friendship among four people who meet and experience the ebbs and flows of life together. Meneses has found a way to keep things light, while giving a sense of the deep ...

Twyla Tharp celebrates the monumental 60th anniversary of her love affair with choreography in Diamond Jubilee, a concert pairing of dense ensemble pieces currently touring the US. After a weekend-long run in Chicago, Madison, Wisconsin's Overture Hall received the lite version last night. Nearly two hours of non-stop dance was all there in the choreographic offerings, a look back re-staging of her Diabelli (1998), and the unveiling of newly-minted Slacktide (2025), but the latter lacked the live music that Chicago audiences enjoyed days ago. For ten dancers and a pianist, Diabelli tackles Beethoven's 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, Op. 120 in a 60-minute-long party of wit, elegance and frivolity. An accumulation of movement styles, Tharp pokes at formality by shifting from ballroom waltz to jitterbug to Laurel and Hardy-like slapstick, including almost everything but the kitchen sink. The exquisite dancers shuffle, leap, and try to outrun each other. Clad in uniform G...

 Side Effects and Smoking Meat Project Bound Dance and Kelly Anderson Dance Theatre On a mid February evening in Chicago, the Color Club brought warmth to the up-and-coming arts corridor on northwest side. At the brand new Joy Machine Gallery next door, a new and popular art show opened, and the Color Club Tavern filled up with early patrons. But the highlight was up the narrow staircase to the Color Club's second floor ballroom where Project Bound Dance (Bound) and Kelly Anderson Dance Theatre (KADT) presented their shared concert Side Effects and Smoking Meat to a full house and enthusiastic audience. The show opened with Faded Billboards (Relatable) (2024), a playful duet created and performed by Emily Loar and Ali Lorenz. Filled with tension and release, the piece serves well as a light introduction to the Bound style and sensibility. Simplicity and repetition unveil a language blending dextrous virtuosity and strong partnering with pedestrian movement. The pair perform strang...

In Li Chiao-Ping Dance's I Ching 20 concert at the Margaret H'Doubler Performance Space, dance takes a back seat to voiceover text and giant video projections. With soft atmospheric music accompanying most of the concert, the ten pieces presented fell a bit short on variety, save for a few of Li's works and two lively stand-alone screendances created by guest artist, Omari 'Motion' Carter. In EASE ON DOWN , Carter guides a percussive video duet down a dirt road. What starts as a playful walk in the country, evolves into a beat banter between Carter and partner, Rhona Ashwood. Kicking up rocks in rhythm and hopping down the road in a handstand--upside down and spring-loaded—the pair's light-hearted footwork builds until with a wry humor, they encounter a dead end. Brief and pure fun. Carter's other fine contribution, IN PURSUIT OF JOY: A SCREENDANCE BBQ , allows the camera's eye to flit and cut from one group or person to another in a lively backyard par...

Solidifying its identity as a midwest repertory ballet company, in its varied and well-balanced concert, Madison Ballet's LOVE  spanned history and style in a concise evening of dances highlighted by its bookends—the opening re-staging of Paquita (first performed in 1846) and a rousing 2021 contemporary closer brought in by guest, Stephanie Martinez. Sandwiched between came three brief and light dances contributed by Madison Ballet Artistic/Executive Director, Ja' Malik, and an earthy duet from Richard Walters. Traditional in every sense of the word, Paquita , opened the program, exhibiting the companies classical bravura abilities. Staged by Andrea Long (after the original Makarova and Petipa choreographies), this dance-for-dance-sake for ten was tightly done with a stiff, presentational beauty matching the customary tutu costumes. After a bit of a shaky start with the old-school vocabulary, the corps grew into the demands of speed and dexterity as the piece evolved. Solo sec...

In an evening of diverse works inspired by avant-garde choreographer Merce Cunningham, Zephyr Dance's S45 presented risk, danger and surprise in a celebration of the mature dancer. Opening with Cunningham's Suite for Five and closing with a chance improvisation by the five seasoned choreographers who participated in the evening, the concert took place in Chicago's intimate and intriguing SITE/less space. The program also featured a grouping of new Cunningham-inspired works. A home for the exploration of architecture and dance, SITE/less functioned as a colorful unique play space for both dancers and audience. Levels of bright green, red and blue wood platforms designed and built by architect David Sundry, created a patchwork quilt-like floor that extended into all areas of the oddly shaped room. Like a giant Alice-in-Wonderland staircase, the performance area angles and edges looked to pose challenges beyond a traditional stage space, especially a few spots where the desi...

Visceral Dance Company opened their Winter Engagement program of four dances at the Ann Barzel Theatre with Minor Threat , a work they first presented in 2017. Despite the title and dark corset costumes, there is nothing threatening nor dark about this piece. Mark Golden's choreography is straight up music visualization with ten dancers physicalizing the nuances and details of a Mozart piano concerto score. Hunched over, hands behind their knees, they slowly advance upstage like injured ducks. Leaping into lifts, dancers' chests slam together then, legs swing back arching away from their partner. Patterns repeat in cannon to mesmerizing effect. In a highlight moment, one dancer runs at another full force and catapults herself into the air to be caught facing backwards in a side split. The movement seems impossible, but the effort appears minimal. Meredith Harrill stands out in a brief solo, smiling softly and playfully articulating the music with command and clarity. The only ...

Everything about this the Joffrey Ballet's remount of the 2019  Anna Karenina  tragedy at the Lyric Opera House is lavish and high-end. Although there are moments of clarity and nuance, the action in Yuri Possikhov's choreography falls short of the clear narrative that the program notes suggest. Even the t op notch production values and impeccable dancing cannot save the weak story-telling .  The dancers have the chops to take on this work, but Possikhov hasn't found the nuance and grit that the story needs. Tackling a tome such as this Tolstoy's epic and translating that to 2.5 hour-long ballet is no-doubt a daunting task. And thank goodness a written condensed scene by scene synopsis in the printed program provides a simple outline of the story. Even so, this does not seem to be the same story being told onstage. Some key moments are apparent, as in the opening scene of a man's sudden death by train as depicted using projections on a large downstage scrim. Likewis...

Envisioning the plays of Tennessee Williams as ballet is not new to Milwaukee-born choreographer John Neumeier. Celebrating 50 years at the helm of the Hamburg Ballet, Neumeier (who studied English Lit and Theatre at Marquette University) took on A Streetcar Named Desire in 1983. Chicago audiences were given the chance to see Neumeier's reimagining of William's classic, The Glass Menagerie, this past weekend at the Harris Theatre for Music and Dance. Neumeier's production starts in a traditional way. Before any action, a collection of glass and crystal animals sits glistening downstage. Slowly, b alconies, ladders and an apartment literally unfold in a gorgeously lit noir-esque opening stage picture. Tennessee (Edvin Revazov) appears on an upper level looking down on his childhood self— a pre-adolescent Tom Wingfield thus establishing the memory viewpoint of the ballet. This striking moment immediately plunges into the world of young Tom, his artistic explorations (he is a ...

Chicago dancemaker of promise, Drew Lewis, is one of three artists selected to participate in the Work Around Series presented by Steppenwolf Theatre. The Work Around residency gives each artist (in this case three choreographers) 40 hours of rehearsal space and a place to perform their creations. Part self-portrait and part inspired by the work of artist/activist David Wojnarowicz, Lewis used the allotted studio time to create Heavy Objects (and light movements) , an hour-long dance mosaic, and shared the results in the 1700 Theatre. A shallow and wide space, seeing dance in the 1700 feels like watching a tennis match with ample space for dancers to move side to side and not much depth.  Among the pieces sections, there is no obvious activism, and none of the stark imagery that might be associated with Wojnarowicz's art, save for a brief soundtrack of presumably Wojnarowicz recounting witnessing the deterioration of friends and acquaintances fallen to AIDS. No matter. We don...

The first image of 77-year-old Bob Eisen is striking, and not the way one would expect a dance concert to begin: with a tall, lean, white haired man, looking every bit his age in a red and blue sweat suit and sneakers, standing at the center of Links Hall stage. But in the opening dance of five on the program,  An Ongoing Solo , Eisen begins to move slowly articulating his spine, and any notion of ageism that was creeping in fades away immediately. In fact, he seems to reverse the aging process and grow more youthful as the dance progresses. Pacing the room, nodding, swinging his arms in impossible directions, one moment summersaulting backwards on the floor, the next standing doubled over and fidgety, wringing his hands like a child needing to use the restroom. The piece is detailed and frenetic with enough repetition to bring understanding to Eisen's strange movement language. If we didn't know him before, we know him very well by the end of the piece. Eisen moves with surpri...

April 16, 2015 Hubbard Street Dance Chicago makes periodic stops in Madison. Last night, in preparation for an upcoming Italian tour, the company performed five eclectic works in an almost-full Overture Hall in the Overture Center. HSDC has become a breeding ground for emerging choreographers and of the five dances, two were created by Hubbard Street-bred dance-makers. The evening opened with Jiri Kylian's Falling Angels , a rhythmic percussive powerhouse dance for eight women. This dance c ould stand alone, yet it relies on innovative lighting patterns which isolate dancers and heighten suspense. Chock-full of unison movement and never letting up, in sharp boxes of white light, the women gesture sharply, shake their hands like tambourines, drop abruptly into squat positions, and slide across the floor on their bellies slowly propelled by one elbow at a time like injured seals crawling to safety. Soloists break the unison pattern from time to time, traveling in sharp shaf...

February 18, 2015 As part of their 30 th  anniversary tour, the seven dancers of Urban Bush Women along with pianist, George Caldwell, visited Overture Hall for an evening of three dances in their trademark style, a fusion of African and contemporary dance. Founder, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar contributed two of the works, while former “Bush Woman”, nora chipaumire (who does not capitalize her name) choreographed the other. Zollar's Hep Hep Sweet Sweet opened the show. The piece blended voiceover text about Zollar's memories of her mother moving from Texas to Kansas City, with live piano accompaniment, prerecorded songs from the jazz era, and live singing from the cast. It became immediately evident that the scale of the empty-feeling Overture Hall detracted from the intimacy and intricacy of this dance. While the six dancers charged into the space with bold sharp movements, jumping, turning, undulating spines, flailing strong arms, even their bright flashy sequined costu...

February 14, 2015 Over the last 20 years, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company has made several stops in Madison. The company returned last night to Shannon Hall at the Wisconsin Union Theatre to perform three older works to a nearly sold-out enthusiastic house. Accompanied by a live string ensemble comprised of UW-Madison music students, each dance featured the full company of nine athletic and diverse performers. Spent Days Out Yonder , choreographed by Jones in 2000 (based on a solo made in 1996), created an ethereal atmosphere to a lively Mozart string quartet. Intriguing, meditative, and curious, the dance seems a comment on the power of community and partnership. In soft light, a trio clad in flowing blue pastels and with backs to the audience, circle their arms from the elbows like strange angelic scarecrows. Clearly isolated from each other, the dancers keep to their own personal space. Punctuated by angular arm gesture and wobbly knees, the group shifts and...

Live performance always happens within some sort of context, so our response to it can vary depending on such things as where the performance takes place, who is sitting in front of us, what we ate or drank for dinner, or the price of a ticket. In the case of the Batsheva Dance Company’s recent Chicago appearance, the venue could not have been better. The spectacular Auditorium Theatre is as ornate and gorgeous as any concert hall. Just to enter the lobby is to experience time and gravity through its effect on the wavy uneven mosaic marble floor. (As one usher told me, “I’d hesitate to drop a marble on this floor—there’s no telling where it would end up!”) Since 1889, the building has settled considerably, and this floor has been walked on by many. Taking in the grandeur of the theatre from a plush wide velvet seat is worth arriving a bit early. But when the show begins 30 minutes later than scheduled, ones perspective is already colored. The mind goes away from the anticipat...

A contemporary ballet titled “Radio and Juliet”, as in the Edward Clug choreography for Slovenia’s Ballet Maribor, conjures images of the theatrical Shakespeare classic love story. Clug’s 40-minute dance piece indeed alludes to a theatrical story by way of a large-scale, slow-moving black and white video projection (uncredited in the program). Footage of huge close-ups of a solitary woman in an empty apartment interspersed with brief interludes of men performing flashy edgy gestures, sets up an intriguing story, and evokes questions, building hope that the upcoming dance might answer them. Who is this isolated woman? Juliet? Where is she? Why is she alone? What is her relationship to these men? The music of Radiohead begins to pulse and the live company of dancers enter one by one introducing themselves with a simple walk downstage. The piece then erupts into full-on energetic dance, exquisitely performed with great precision by seven strong dancers-six men and one woman. C...

When advertising suggests that a dance concert by two university professors-with excellent support and resources-will be of epic proportions, the expectations are high. In this case, professors Robin Becker of Hofstra University and Jin-Wen Yu of the University of Wisconsin-Madison created dances based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book "They Marched into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America" by David Maraniss. These dances were apparently derived from and inspired by the book's topics of the 1967 bombing of Sterling Hall at UW and the Vietnam war--hefty subject matter, which would have been better served in the hands of master choreographers. In this case, a way-too-long performance (clocking in at 2 hours and 30 minutes) came nowhere near expected hype, and to use the word of the audience member next to me, was "offensive". Becker's piece "Into Sunlight", suffered from dim tiring lighting, designed by Burke Wilmore, and continuous s...

In an evening of four dances, Madison's Kanopy Dance Company forged some new territory and unearthed a few Kanopy relics. The company has been around long enough under the direction of Lisa Andrea Thurrell and Robert E. Cleary to establish a repertoire, and it has been their practice to repeat old dances. In a small dance town like Madison, it can be tiresome to see the same dances year after year and many Madison choreographers suffer this fate by placing quantity of concerts presented over quality. But this time in Kanopy's annual Dark Nights concert, which could have been called "Dark Souls", new dancers tackled lead roles in the old works, and the pieces gained some strength with the new blood. That, combined with the intelligent theatrical Monkey see Monkey do created by guest artists Amit Lahav and Natalie Ayton of Britain's Gecko Theatre Company made for and engaging and diverse evening. The concert likened a dance sandwich--two end pieces with a c...

Pilobolus Dance Theater defies categorization. Known for their physical feats and visual treats, they've created their own brand of modern dance. The company, now in its 39th year, visited Madison, Wisconsin last night and in the vast Overture Hall, they presented an athletic, inventive, diverse and sometimes thought-provoking concert of six works. Upon occasion, Pilobolus dances carry a message. But most often they provide high entertainment value. Their stylistic assortment started off with the rough-and-tumble Redline , made in 2009 in the Pilobolus traditional collaborative spirit---by numerous choreographers. Starting in a stiff straight line, then slowly swinging their heads, then arms, then legs, six dancers progressed downstage. Random hunched over walking patterns evolved into an explosion of hurtling bodies. Dancers sporting red and black wrestling shorts and boxing boots ran at each other at top speed and launched themselves over backwards, airborne, in between...

Alonzo King’s dances don’t depict simple stories. In fact, there was nothing simple about his LINES Ballet performance on Saturday at the Wisconsin Union Theater. King built a rich detailed movement vocabulary brought forth by ten exquisite dancers in the two full-company works presented. A brief hopeful solo opened the first piece, Signs and Wonders , originally created in 1995. The lone dancer rippled his spine and with swirling gestures moved as if he had no skeleton. Yet as others joined energetically fusing the inventive loose contemporary arm gestures with the rigid torso and legs of classical ballet, the piece moved in no clear direction. Throughout the nine sections, an intriguing style of physical juxtaposition emerged and the dancers took this style with ease. Able to create an awkward tension in their bodies through distorted shapes, they flexed their feet, angled their arms, held parallel leg positions and moved through impossible lifting sequences, all with the fl...