Joe Goode Performance Group. Photo by RJ Muna________
The San Francisco-based Joe Goode Performance Group returns to Chicago March 29-31, celebrating its 20th anniversary in a program showcasing Goode's wide creative spectrum with two featured pieces, Stay Together and Deeply There ( stories of a neighborhood ) .
Stay Together is Goode's most recent creation and is a collaboration with Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, who composed a new electronic score for the piece. It fuses high-velocity dancing with spoken text, music and live-feed video projections to create a real-time dichotomy of inner monologue vs. exterior action.
Stay Together explores the struggle of maintaining long-term bonds—to individuals, communities, ideals—through the story of an artist in love with a younger man and how the two must negotiate the complexities and challenges of fidelity in a society focused on change. Given current politics, Goode suggests his piece even questions the nature of patriotism—how a citizen can 'stay together' with his country when the citizen disagrees with the national political agenda.
The program also revives a 1998 Goode work, Deeply There ( stories of a neighborhood ) , which won him New York's Bessie Award for choreography. Where Stay Together is fragmented and intellectually oriented, Deeply There is one of Goode's most narrative works, one he describes as a little play. Set in San Francisco's Castro area at the height of the AIDS epidemic, it explores how that traumatic time spurred the emergence of new chosen families of blood relatives, friends and lovers. Deeply There utilizes Goode's signature blend of dance, music, song and dialogue to balance its dark and intense subject matter with moments of hilarity, absurdity, tenderness and compassion.
The subjects Joe Goode tackles in his brave and unapologetic pieces should prove attractive to LGBT audiences. But the great thing about Goode's work is its universality, using music and dialogue to create an accessible context for the more abstract dance elements. That's not to say the dancing itself won't be incredible, for Goode's movement is always lush, insightful and original; it just gets even better when you see how well he and his dancers can also sing and act.
The Joe Goode Performance Group will be at the Dance Center of Columbia College, 1306 S. Michigan, March 29-31; 312-344-8300; $18-$26.
Also on the dance calendar over the next month:
The Museum of Contemporary Art hosts Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group on March 15-17. The featured new work is The Tale: Npinee Nckutchie and the Tail of the Golden Dek. It draws upon African and Caribbean dance and vocal traditions, plus modern urban social dance, to explore the human impulse to couple and uncouple. 312-280-2660; $10-$24.
This same weekend, March 15-17, Natya Dance Theatre, the acclaimed classical Indian dance company, premieres an evening-length work, Alakshaya: The Invisible Veil, that explores metaphors of desire and control. Dance Center of Columbia College; 312-344-8300; $18-$26.
Nothing says spring like American Ballet Theatre's Romeo and Juliet—choreographed by Sir Kenneth MacMillan to Prokofiev's famous score—which runs March 21-25. The classical troupe will offer seven shows with six different couples playing the star-crossed lovers. If you're a fan of certain dancers then make sure to check the casting, although all seven performances will be a romantic delight full of nuanced characters, stunning technique and stirring music. The Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker; 312-902-1500; $23-$103.
The second annual Circle in the Square: New Works in Dance Theatre will be performed March 23-25 at Glade Memorial Hall, 2640 W. Altgeld. The show will feature Chicago choreographers Christopher Ellis, Jyl Fehrenkamp, Dawn Marie Galtieri, Winifred Haun and Jill Heyser. 773-7829471; $10-$15.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre returns to the Auditorium Theatre for its annual Chicago visit on March 28-April 1. The company will offer six different programs, mixing Chicago premieres and repertory work, though all six conclude with the audience favorite, Revelations. All six programs undoubtedly will offer a taste of Alvin Ailey's lauded blend of balletic, modern, Indian and African elements, coupled with passionate and virtuosic dancing. 312-902-1500; $29-$79.
Four up-and-coming Chicago choreographers share the stage at Link's Hall, 3435 N. Sheffield, on March 30-April 1 as part of the LinkUp artist residency program. Kristina Fluty and Marysue Miller collaborate on Little Girl Gone, a nostalgic work inspired by Bluegrass music; Jonathan Meyer of Khecari Dance Theatre will show The Opal Door, a meditation on relationships and community; and Angela Gronroos will present forever dreaming of cranes ( sic ) , a journey through time and memory. 773-281-0824; $15.
Lastly, don't forget to mark your calendars for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's spring season, taking place April 11-22 at the Harris Theatre for Music and Dance; 866-535-4732; $20-$75.
