The sixth annual Dance for Life has come and gone, back at Navy Pier’s Skyline Stage and still the best yearly showcase of Chicago’s dance talent.
There were a few snags, including a late start, a nearly three-hour length and technical miscues that included the omission of a bow for Muntu Dance Theatre.
But one shouldn’t expect, or want, a well-oiled machine in an affair as well-minded as this one, which has now raised more than $500,000 for AIDS victims and is an annual lovefest for the dance and gay communities alike.
Aside from its contagious good feeling, Dance for Life also shines a cagey spotlight on companies large, small, great, not-so-great, eager, inventive and fun.
This year was no exception, offering a first half that touched on West African, East Indian, American tap and post-modern styles. Muntu, whose rousing opening has become a tradition, Thursday brought a two-part installment celebrating their drum corps and a West African wedding dance.
The rising Especially Tap Company is an example of the opportunity this benefit provides to emerging talent, and this troupe made the most of it with their percussive fantasia, “Stick To It,” tapping and drumming on the floor, chairs, giant instruments and each other.
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago turned in a lustrous performance of “The Envelope,” David Parsons’ sendup starring an eerie crew in sunglasses and alien-like cowls.
The humor of “The Envelope” set an evening tone. Sherry Zunker Dow’s “Zib Wohs,” or show biz backward, is a colorful, sometimes raucous tribute-nightmare of that life. From the more experimental off-Loop, the Cerqua/Rivera Experience provided jazzy, wacky, idiosyncratic excerpts from “Tom & Jerry,” with an onstage band as funky as the dancers and a falsetto rendition of “Moon River.”
Kirby Reed’s “Chain of Rocks” for Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago amply shows off that company’s youth and good looks. While Gerald Arpino’s demanding “Kettentanz” remains a challenge for the current Joffrey Ballet, the three excerpts were more than rescued by Maia Wilkins’ sensual mix of form and grace in the solo “Schnofler Tanz.”
Randy Duncan’s move to original music seemed puzzling — his memorable finales in part turned in the past on the uplifting pop classic underneath. But “Inside Your Heart,” by Ira Antelis and Wendy Lapidus-Saltz, strikes just the right, uplifting note, ending with a soaring chorale declaring “Time for everyone to dance.” Typically, Duncan’s series of watery, sexy and beautifully designed pictures make the lyric seem not only inviting but true.
