Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art ( MCA ) almost never produces local dance companies. But it looks like that trend might be changing. This weekend the MCA will present Lucky Plush Productions' newest evening-length piece called Cinderbox 18, a witty dance-theatre work that merges athletic choreography with improvisation and social commentary.
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Pictured: Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. Photo by Rosalie O'Connor. TAO. Photo by Rosalie O'Connor
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Led by artistic director Julia Rhoads, Lucky Plush is best known for their abstract dances with graceful, seamless movement and surreal stage pictures. Rhoads' new work certainly contains moments of sweeping movement patterns that show off the dancers' effortless technique, but that's far from the extent of the work. With Cinderbox 18 the company ventures into the more 'theatre' aspects of 'dance-theatre.' The company has played with the threads between dance and theatre before, as fans may recall Endplay or Lulu Sleeps. But their new endeavor takes the ensemble deeper into uncharted territory, further blurring the conventional boundaries of dance performance.
The piece is intentionally structured to evoke questions from the viewer about when an experience truly begins. As the audience fills the theatre and takes its seat, the dancers are already on the stage, engaged in quiet, casual conversations in little groups. One by one they 'enter' the space and begin a sequence of tiny gesture patterns that look, at first, like unconscious adjustments. In this manner they transition from spectator to performer, but it's hardly a permanent shift. Throughout the performance the dancers explore the dichotomy of spectator/performer.
Rhoads says that when the piece was a seedling in her mind she was inspired by the onslaught of reality TV. 'Initially I found myself watching a lot of late-night television. I was really interested in how everything on TV is 'reality TV.' That was loosely my jumping-off point… In 'reality' programming there seems to be a manufacturing of personal stories and anecdotes. There's a gray area between 'reality' and 'fabrication,'' Rhoads says. 'The piece looks a lot at that changing reference point, at who is the audience.' Rhoads is clear to emphasize that the piece is not 'about' reality TV, but that the work addresses many of the same questions that come up in contemplating the media phenomenon, including ideas of spectatorship, competition, anxiety and vulnerability.
Rhoads goes on to explain that she also took inspiration from the rise of the 'amateur expert,' ranging from MySpace mania to the fame of internet bloggers. 'Anybody can be an expert on the internet. There's this duality of people turning to that as sources of fact but also being distrustful,' Rhoads says. ' [ Our piece ] is a comment on commenting on things.' Within Cinderbox 18 are moments highlighting that commentary trend, especially when a pair of dancers sit, watch, and verbally comment with a mixture of animation and disdain as another dancer performs. Such moments in the piece are as humorous as they are absurd, heightened by the fact that much of the dialogue is improvised. For Rhoads the freedom of improvisation is key to maintaining the realness of the dancers' reactions. That's not to say that their improvisation is purely free-form, it's a structured improvisation with landmarks within the dialogue to guide the commentary. Nonetheless, the quality of freshness lends much hilarity to the work.
Cinderbox 18 holds as many moments of comical conversation as it does moments of mesmerizing movement. At times the dancing is fluid and expansive, while other sequences are punctuated, constrained and self-conscious. A stunning ensemble section has the dancers engaged in ever-shifting lifts that are violent, daring and unpredictable, but also beautiful and poignant.
Rhoads, who is currently over six months pregnant but was not pregnant when the creative process started, gave the dancers a lot of creative input in the vocabulary for the piece. 'Every process is a little different in terms of how much movement I bring to the work,' Rhoads explains. 'I'm only the director of the choreography but [ the dancers ] are all players in the movement invention.'
Cinderbox 18, a play on the 'show within a show,' blends comedy, luscious dancing and many thought-provoking questions about perspective and perception. The show runs Nov. 15-17 at the MCA, 220 E. Chicago; 312-397-4010; $16-$24.
Rachel Damon of Synapse Arts Collective, along with Sarah Haas in partnership with Around the Coyote, present SLIT: an evening of performance + poetry, Nov. 16 and 18 ( no Saturday show ) . The performers present conceptual pieces dealing with love, loss, sexism and gender from a woman's perspective. Around the Coyote Gallery, 1935½ W. North Ave.; 312-301-0714; $10.
For one performance only, the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet makes their Chicago debut at the Harris Theatre, 205 E. Randolph, on Nov. 17. This contemporary ballet company showcases their talents with a program that includes work by Jorma Elo, Moses Pendelton and Twyla Tharp. 312-344-7777; $35-$55.
The Chicago Human Rhythm Project ( CHRP ) , a presenter of tap dance and percussive rhythmic arts, concludes its 2007 season with Global Rhythms 3 and Thanks 4 Giving, Nov. 23-25 at the Harris Theatre. Global Rhythms 3 features the North American premiere of TAO, Japan's response to Riverdance. TAO is a spectacle of rhythm, movement and music with a cast of wadaiko drummers and dancers. The Thanks 4 Giving program allows CHRP to share 50 percent of ticket revenue from the show with a selection of Chicago-area nonprofit organizations. 312-344-7777; $15-$57.
Lastly, Jump Rhythm Jazz Project ( JRJP ) presents their Winter Performance, Dec. 6-8, at the Josephine Louis Theatre of Northwestern University, 20 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston. The program offers selections of JRJP's newest works, choreographed by artistic director Billy Siegenfeld, including god of dirt ( sic ) and The News From Poems, as well as some of the ensemble's perennial favorites. The JRJP fundraising event, 'Swingtime in Winter,' will be held after the performance on Dec. 7. 847-491-7282; $10-$25.
