The sweetest, happiest and best moment in Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s opening of its spring season came quietly, and unexpectedly.
It was the duet of “Georgia,” which Lou Conte, the company’s founder and retiring artistic director, created in 1987.
Set to Willie Nelson’s plaintive rendering of the great Hoagy Carmichael song, this is the last dance that Conte choreographed for his troupe; and, in its smooth, delicately shaped elegance, it is a fitting tribute to his remarkable work.
It was danced in Tuesday night’s special gala in the Shubert Theatre by two Hubbard Street veterans, Sandi J. Cooksey and Ron De Jesus, who executed its sharp, flowing movements flawlessly. Of its kind, perfection.
“The 40s,” Conte’s exuberant show dance romp through Big Band sounds, which has been a Hubbard Street staple for all of the company’s 22 years, closed the program and received its usual ovation. Christine Carrillo Simpson was the leader of the bopping, hopping, jitterbugging 16-person ensemble.
The program’s opening dance, “Petite Mort” (Small Death), a company premiere, is by the much acclaimed European choreographer Jiri Kylian. The most balletic work yet performed by Hubbard Street. it is a far cry from “The 40s,” though it demands the same kind of tight ensemble coordination.
Kylian’s dance, using Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21, takes off from a passage in “Faust,” which states, “There is nothing finer than a warrior successful in battle to return, and then to die in the arms of the woman he loves.”
The six men in the dance, dressed only in flesh-colored shorts, open the proceedings with a kind of precision juggling act with their fencing foils, then rush back to raise up and unfurl a billowy curtain that, when lifted, reveals six lady loves, their torsos covered by flesh-colored corsets.
The ensuing duets are emblematic of Kylian’s distinctive, inventive choreography. The partnering is intricate in its twisting and winding turns. Arms and legs are splayed out in provocative combinations. Some of the most dramatic movements take place with the dancers lying down on or working very close to the stage floor; and these are sculpted by the lighting design of Joop Caboort.
“Sechs Tanze” (Six Dances), also set to Mozart music, is Kylian in a comic mood. It uses some of the same props, and deploys its eight dancers in similar duets, though here they have a jittery, antic edge.
Two works by American choreographers who have become identified with Hubbard Street rounded out the program.
“Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” is Harrison McEldowney’s breezy pas de deux for quarreling and reconciling lovers, charmingly danced on Tuesday by Charlaine Katsuyoshi and the lanky, loose-limbed Darren Cherry (the sentence as published has been corrected in this text).
“Lady Lost Found” is Daniel Ezralow’s ebullient piece for two couples and a leading male dancer in a kilt (Jamy Meek). It has its padded bits, but when it winds up full force, with all five dancers skipping merrily to its Celtic tunes, its invigorating invention is irresistible.
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Through April 16 at Shubert Theatre, 22 W. Monroe St. Call 312-902-1500
