Summer weekends are always an adventure in Chicago. Last weekend was the Air and Water Show, Bud Billiken Parade, White Sox vs the Cubs, and several neighborhood festivals. The best place to be was the Auditorium Theatre watching 10 troupes of dance professionals take flight in Dance for Life, benefiting the Chicago Dance Health Fund.
The love emanating from the stage and back to the dancers was palpable. The show opened with Giordano Dance Chicago presenting an encore of Gershwin in B, choreographed by Al Blackstone. The strains of "Rhapsody in Blue" are dramatic and expansive like America itself. The energy was amped more than when I reviewed it back in April. An encore of Anna Karenina from the Joffrey Ballet followed with choreography by Yuri Passakhov. A gorgeous Pas de Deux to live piano played by Jorge Ivars on stage was beautiful. Their movements were impeccable with flow and a melding of bodies. That movement is a signature of Joffrey that changed ballet from the more rigid and restrained classical European style. The new season promises to be spectacular in the fall.
Dance for Life began in 1992 as a response to the AIDS epidemic that was devastating the dance community. Healthcare was hard to get and financially out of reach for most, and a response of love came out of that need. Over the years, over 50 dance troupes have participated in Dance for Life, giving hope and returning health to countless dance community members. The Chicago Dance Health Fund has partnered with AIDS Foundation Chicago, the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, and the Howard Brown Health Centers to provide critical care, physical therapy, and preventive healthcare.
Praize is an arts company located on Chicago's South Side, formed in 2010 to provide arts education to underserved communities. Art is a healer and Praize shared that healing energy with the audience. They performed Black is the Color to rhythmic spoken word and heavy beat music. A projection of two Black women in profile showed the words in praise of the voluptuous attributes of women. The dancing was athletic and reminiscent of old-school dance moves made fresh.
Trinity Irish Dance Company performed Communion with a uniquely beautiful song and used their bodies as percussion. The harmonies were otherworldly against the hand movements and formations. They were joined onstage by composer and violinist Cleek Schrey to accompany the spellbinding movements in perfect syncopation. Irish dancing employs the Cabriole movement from ballet in a unique manner. It is a fluttering of the legs while in midair before landing. That takes skill and perfect posture to do in formation. Chicago's Irish community runs deep and it is cool to have the dance traditions on stage to support the dance community.
Visceral Dance Chicago performed an excerpt from 18+1 choreographed by Gustavo Ramirez Sansano. The company embodies its name with a running level of eroticism and a component of stepping done more elaborately than the frat performances I have seen. The music composed by Perez Prado featured a Wurlitzer organ giving a surreal edge to the performance. It is a unique experience on many levels.
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago burned up the stage with an encore from their Of Hope tribute to house music patron saint Frankie Knuckles. Dear Frankie shows off the movement and joy that gave shelter to kids who were outcasts and found a haven in Frankie Knuckles' Warehouse when AIDS was devastating the LGBTQ community. Choreographer Rennie Harris is heard on the mix telling the story of kids who were kicked out and Knuckles became a father figure. Dear Frankie is a beautiful display of break dancing and dance-off choreography. The Warehouse was like a church and this performance was akin to the ecstatic dance seen in traditional Black churches on Sunday morning.
Winifred Haun and Dancers did a lovely excerpt from their Absent Moon performance. It featured two dancers in a vignette of love and passion on a park bench. The music composed by Michael Hall and Jana Windren was lush and yet spare. The beauty of the dancers' movements filled in any perceived spaces on the minimalist set. Part of founder Winifred Haun's mission is to bring diversity to dance in unexpected places or settings. The performance was quietly powerful.
Ballet 5:8 performed Wind as its gift to the evening. The company seeks to provide different cultural perspectives in dance with performances based on literary works by women of color and literary works on spirituality and myth. Wind was choreographed by Steve Rooks with evocative music composed by Alfonso Peduto. 5:8 blends several styles of dance into a unique style. Wind was a perfect example of that unique style combining classical ballet with modern. 5:8 continues to bring fresh ideas to the Chicago dance scene.
Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theatre has made Chicago a hub for traditional Spanish dance. Their flamenco performances are wildly popular with the company in residence at Northeastern Illinois University. The stylized postures and percussive style of flamenco gave an electric charge to the evening. Choreographer Antonio Najarro mixed flamenco and tango for a performance of intimate dance styles that are subtly sexy. Tango and flamenco are symbolic. They were both considered vulgar because they came from the minority parts of Argentina and Andalusia. This was a perfect addition to Dance for Life bringing recognition to the art of dance, which has been controversial because of the artists who performed anywhere.
The finale was titled Lift performed by the entire cast of Dance for Life and others from the Chicago dance community. Choreographer Jonathan E. Alsberry created a moving and emotional dance of joy and hope while acknowledging the pain of the past. Lift was written and arranged by Ira Antelis and Jonathan Alsberry based on "Lift Every Voice and Sing" by James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson. The song is an emotional remembrance of the struggles of Black Americans coming out of slavery with hope, belief, and vision for their future in America. The artists singing the music came from a wide swath of the artist and activist community to perform this dance.
The dancers were of many hues and ethnicities dressed in white and blending beautifully in service to each other in the dance community. I was taught the Lift song as a child as it was known as the Black National Anthem. It was an answer of peace and love in response to the violence in the American national anthem. There is a distinct parallel between how artists with AIDS were treated by the American health system and how they banded together to make their way through their art. Indeed, "Let us march on till victory is won."
Dance for Life was performed on August 10 at the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive. The co-chairs for this event were Victor Alexander, Maray Gutierrez, Ekua Davis, and Jamin McGinnis. For more information, please visit https://www.cdhf.org/
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