The final weeks of spring are becoming a time for Chicago dance companies to showcase their diverse styles. Several troupes will be premiering new works this weekend across the city.
Jump Rhythm Jazz Project’s (JRJP’s) founder-artistic director Billy Siegenfeld has teamed up with experimental jazz vocalist Kurt Elling for the debut of a collaborative piece, “Elling, Sweet: The Healing,” during the company’s spring engagement at the Vittum Theatre. The three-part work about love and loss, rooted in choreographer Siegenfeld’s syncopated-rhythm technique, is set to selections from Elling’s latest CD, “Flirting with Twilight.”
“My character is going between anger, dismissiveness and fond memories of this relationship,” said Siegenfeld, “to a new appreciation for life and love. From a movement perspective, I’m taking the staccato gestures of the opening solo and later filling them with a gentler swing bounce.
Also premiering is Siegenfeld’s lighthearted a cappella scat piece, “I Hear Music,” and “Night and Day,” an homage to the seamless phrasing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, performed by Siegenfeld and Jeannie Hill.
Multifarious rhythms are the driving force behind the Cerqua Rivera Art Experience, hosting its second annual supper-club-style jazz concert at the Black Orchid Show Lounge in Piper’s Alley. Led by composer-vocalist Joe Cerqua and dancer-choreographer Wilfredo Rivera, this troupe is known for merging musicians and dancers on stage in styles ranging from modern to musical theater.
This show also marks the third collaboration between the company and prolific music-theater choreographer Kenny Ingram — who joins forces with Rivera in an ambitious salute to outspoken African-American vocalist Nina Simone, called “Four Women.” Its eight sections weave Chicago vocalist Bobbi Wilsyn through the dancers, who illustrate in movement the breadth of Simone’s eclectic range.
Women are also the focus of Zephyr Dances’ world premiere, “Broken Time,” a quartet co-choreographed by artistic director Michelle Kranicke and associate director Emily Stein, for the modern troupe’s spring concert at the Duncan YMCA Chernin Center for the Arts. It was inspired by Barbara Sonneborn’s 1998 documentary, “Regret to Inform,” addressing how war widows cope with their losses.
Sonneborn, whose husband was killed during the Vietnam Conflict, also established a website, titled the War Widows’ Living Memorial, in which women from around the world can record their thoughts and emotions. Kranicke and Stein selected compelling images from these postings to use with their dances — from the notion of things falling apart to the daunting energy it takes to get through daily chores.
Hard-hitting women’s and sociopolitical issues drive the multidisciplinary aesthetic of Atalee Judy’s Breakbone DanceCo., presenting concerts at Links Hall of Judy’s “Logotype” series, which merges video, experimental soundscapes and her trademark “body slam” movement. The Holocaust, abused women, suicide and comments on the shortcomings of religion and technology are among the dancer-choreographers’ fearless topics.
Originally a musician involved with New York’s punk-rock scene, Judy’s gravity-heavy, “body slam” choreography grew out of that experience.
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JUMP RHYTHM JAZZ PROJECT June 7-8; Vittum Theatre, $20; 773-278-7471
CERQUA RIVERA ART EXPERIENCE June 7-8; Black Orchid; $25-$35; 312-944-2200
ZEPHYR DANCE June 7-8; Duncan YMCA Chernin Center for the Arts; $16-$18; 312-902-1500
BREAKBONE DANCECO. June 7-9; Links Hall; $8-$10; 773-404-2692
