`Affection,” Randy Duncan’s new work unveiled by the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago over the weekend at the Ravinia Festival, is quite the stylistic departure.
Unlike the gospel and soul influences of his recent works, this one is jazz-scored and altogether balletic in movement. The women are on point, ferociously so at times, and the work hurries by with lifts, drops and falls and every conceivable echo of classic balletic partnering.
To his credit, Duncan doesn’t let that stop him from imposing his own contemporary, sexy, effortlessly hip style on the work. And though the topic is love and bonding, the dance itself is all speed and motion. Duncan’s great gift is his love of movement, and the movement in “Affection” is dizzyingly nonstop and deliciously imagined.
Deftly scored by James Kimo Williams, “Affection” features three movements, two with four couples each and a finale with all 16 dancers.
In the first, the partnering is almost extreme, the men sometimes turning the women fully upside down for brief, sensational flashes or exotic extensions giving way to breezy jazz moves. In the second movement, Williams’ score turns more improvisational and dreamy, with verbal whispers a part of the sound.
The movement here is more an experiment in variety: At almost every moment, the couples are all dancing in isolation, their movements unrelated to that of the other pairs.
The finale is a breathtaking rush of eye-catching ensemble work and a beautiful fusion of ballet and contemporary dance. Though not yet performed to pinpoint perfection and somewhat problematic and tentative at times in its second movement, “Affection” is an important step forward for Duncan and a terrific addition to the Joffrey’s repertory.
Another premiere, Peter Pucci’s “After the Fall,” though smaller, is also a pleasing discovery. Set to Nana Simopolous’ entrancing, sitar-rich, Eastern-influenced score, it is paradoxically both a solo and an ensemble work.
Maia Wilkins, for whom Pucci created the dance, is surrounded throughout by a group of male dancers draped in black gowns and hoods.
They are nearly invisible partners who serve as her stepping stones, her elevating servants and, in one spectacular segment, an imaginatively conceived and executed staircase she ascends and then descends.
A novelty, to be sure, but what might have proved ridiculous, Pucci makes an interesting study in light and shade, Wilkins’ sensual, immaculate and passionate dancing in bold relief to that of her hidden assistants.
The weekend programs also included “Touch Me,” Gerald Arpino’s powerful spiritual solo performed with great style and passion by Pierre Lockett and wonderfully backed by the Chicago Praise Ensemble Recording Choir, and Arpino’s “Kettentanz,” which the company is performing these days with carefree assurance and skill.
