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Chicago Dancing Festival
At the Jay Pritzker Pavilion
In Millennium Park, Chicago, IL
August 22, 2007
Program:
Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago
The Joffrey Ballet – Light Rain
Ballet Florida – Element Brubeck
Soloists from American Ballet Theatre
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
San Francisco Ballet
Complexions Contemporary Ballet
Running time: 2 hours without intermission
One night only
Chicago Dancing Festival makes triumphant debut
With tens of thousands at Millennium Park on a hot summer night, a fantastic dance festival made a rousing debut. Where can you witness ballet by such as varied and talented cast of dancers? I was thoroughly enchanted by the varied music and the exquisite broad spectrum of dance styles. Who knew that ballet offers such breathtaking and varied movements? I was completely captivated by each troupe.
From the haunting African rhythms of the drums and the tribal dancers from Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago to the polished movements to stirring acoustic gypsy folk sounds from the Jeffrey Ballet in their signature “Light Rain” program, the evening started with aplomb. It continued with a variety of dance companies performing ballet styles like the fresh energetic, sweeping movements from the couples from Ballet Florida dancing to the sweet sounds of Dave Brubeck Quartet. This modern dance ballet company was a surprise hit.
The soloists, Yurko Kajiya and Jared Matthews each offered spellbinding classic movements as well as sensational pas de deux. Alvin Ailey featuring the jazz tunes from the fabulous Duke Ellington offered a sexy and subtle ballet that had the dancers gliding across the stage. Alicia J. Graf and Clifton Brown were a graceful twosome. Sassy jazz allowed these two talents room for smart self expression.
The all male San Francisco Ballet performed precision ballet routines with a polished togetherness that was breathtaking. The style and craft make classical movements look easy. Such grace and style!
The show finished with a noisy and tasteless Jimi Hendrix rendition (and mock) of the Star Spangled Banner that allowed the folks from New York’s Complexions Contemporary Ballet to do their modern thing. I was not impressed with this gross troupe.
Lar Lubovitch and Jay Franke in association with the Museum of Contemporary Art and the City of Chicago are to be commended for producing this splendid evening of dance. This will be an annual event to showcase ballet in Chicago. The large crowd was thrilled with this wonderful show. We need more of these events to showcase the performing arts to a wide public. It was mesmorizing.
Highly Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com
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