Hubbard Street Dance Chicago Spring 2011 Series: Live review + photos

Photos by Todd Rosenberg

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago Spring 2011 Series: Slideshow

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  Robyn Mineko Williams in THREE TO MAX

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  Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in Too Beaucoup

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  Christian Broomhall and Kellie Epperheimer in THREE TO MAX

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  Meredith Dincolo and Hubbard Street dancers in Too Beaucoup

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  Jessica Tong, Robyn Mineko Williams and Penny Saunders, from left, in THREE TO MAX

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  Jacqueline Burnett and Hubbard Street dancers in Too Beaucoup

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  Penny Saunders and Jonathan Fredrickson in THREE TO MAX

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  Jacqueline Burnett in Too Beaucoup

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  Jonathan Fredrickson and Penny Saunders in THREE TO MAX

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  Benjamin Wardell, left, and Ana Lopez in Too Beaucoup

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  Kellie Epperheimer, Jessica Tong and Ana Lopez, from left, in THREE TO MAX

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  Christian Broomhall, Jacqueline Burnett and Jessica Tong, from front, in Too Beaucoup

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  Penny Saunders and Pablo Piantino in THREE TO MAX

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  Kellie Epperheimer in Too Beaucoup

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  Ana Lopez, Robyn Mineko Williams and Kellie Epperheimer, from left, in THREE TO MAX

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Robyn Mineko Williams in THREE TO MAX

I’ll be brief, although I could easily throw down another thousand words about Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s spring double bill. There’s much to say because there’s much to see. Some of it will jog the memories of those who caught Batsheva Dance Company at the Auditorium Theatre in February 2009. THREE TO MAX, the new collage of recent choreography by Ohad Naharin that’s the Hubbard program’s first half, includes sections from Three (2005) that appeared in Deca Dance during that tour.

Modified, of course. Naharin, as always, has tweaked and tinkered. Two years ago, the Israeli dancers at one point dropped their pants one by one, staring directly at the audience with their pubic hair exposed. (The men tucked their genitals between their legs; the women simply stood.) Tailored for Hubbard, the pants stay on except for a few pair, briefly pulled down to flash bare ass cheeks as the wearer jumps.

But most of THREE TO MAX will be new to all but Naharin’s most devoted fans—these are dances only a tiny fraction of the planet has seen. you can join that group, and should. Putting eyes on this choreography for yourself is more important than anything I could say about it. We can talk later.

In comparison, the show’s second half, world premiere Too Beaucoup by Sharon Eyal and Gaï Behar, seems distant. The thoughts it triggers pull attention away from the staccato, contrapuntal, oft-robotic movement. It’s formal to a soundtrack fit for a house party: Depeche Mode, Leonard Cohen, Cole Porter, Gang of Four and others, astutely mixed by Ori Lichtik. It demands unison, yet everything about Avi Yona Bueno’s mercurial lighting and the matte, flesh-toned unitard costumes seems custom-designed to highlight discrepancies.

It’s a trap drilling deep into the conundrum of being an individual within society, an experience as intellectual as THREE TO MAX is immediate. Bravo to the dancers, who meet these works’ incredible challenges head-on, with fortitude. In the midst of an excellent spring dance season, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago brings down the house.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s Spring Series continues through Sunday 20 at the Harris Theater.