Dream states and an imaginative tinkering with the body’s possibilities were explored in two dance concerts over the weekend. Chicago’s 23-year-old Hedwig Dances premiered experimental works, about the comforting embrace of twilight and a quest for calm amid chaos, at the Ruth Page Center. Ballet Chicago Studio Company, a pre-professional troupe celebrating its 10th anniversary, debuted athletic contemporary-classical pieces within its strong George Balanchine repertoire at the Athenaeum Theatre.
Yet, with only two dances on the bill, Hedwig’s program felt slight even though it left a profound aftertaste. Ballet Chicago offered an exuberant but overlong program. Both, however, shone the spotlight on beautifully trained dancers and their ability to tackle physically and psychologically challenging choreography.
Hedwig’s artistic director, Jan Bartoszek, premiered “Night Blooming Jasmine,” a meditative journey through the sensual corridors of nightfall. Inspired by the flower that releases its scent only during the dark hours, the dance emitted a quiet feel of seizing the moment.
Accompanied by Carol Genetti’s live otherworldly chants, it began with three women dancers (like the Three Graces in nude-colored wisps of fabric) walking upstage in fractured poses from an ancient frieze. Maray Gutierrez was a formidable presence. It’s a seductive piece, with soft elements of danger.
“Rein, Bellow,” a more aggressive theatrical dance by New York choreographers Bill Young and Colleen Thomas, dropped the ensemble in a surreal allegorical world, where something ominous hung over them. One heart-pounding segment featured a dancer being tossed around on a table as she tried to rescue another dancer on the floor. It’s a strong piece for Gutierrez, Mei-Kuang Chen and Kirsty Mackellar.
Ballet Chicago Studio Company, headed by former New York City Ballet dancer Daniel Duell, is the performing arm of the School of Ballet Chicago, run by Duell and Patricia Blair. Its spring concert revealed a wealth of talent adept at the speed and musicality of the late choreographer Balanchine. Its malleable performers — especially Julie Niekrasz, Charlotte Speranza, Rachel Jambois, Alicia Fabry, Hamilton Nieh and Robin Stupay — ably adjusted to different styles.
Most invigorating were spot-on performances of Balanchine’s “Who Cares?” and “Serenade.” The two premieres, Duell’s “Prelude and Fugue,” had the look of a dainty classroom exercise, and Ted Seymour’s automaton-like “Fragile: This Side Up” stretched the young dancers but also felt dated.
———-
ctc-tempo@tribune.com
