Many people often wonder what 'modern dance' looks like. If that query has ever crossed your mind then you should make it a priority to check out Mordine & Company Dance Theatre's latest creation, Quest, opening this weekend.
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Luna Negra Dance Theatre. Photo by Cheryl Mann. Mordine & Company Dance Theatre. Photo by William Frederking
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Mordine & Company is a 39-year-young Chicago ensemble led by founder and artistic director Shirley Mordine, a pioneer in Chicago's dance community. Quest, her latest evening-length production, is a piece for seven dancers composed in three sections that has been over two years in the making. Mordine was initially inspired by The Stone Raft, a novel by Portuguese author José Saramago, the 1998 Nobel Prize winner for literature. In Saramago's tale a cataclysmic earthquake chisels through the Pyrenees Mountains, severing the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of Europe, and the survivors must struggle to understand and cope with a world that has so suddenly and profoundly been altered. For Mordine, the metaphor for today's volatile political, social and natural world was clear. 'I have no interest in being specific about what anything means,' Mordine explained in relation to her new work. Mordine's intentions were not to reenact the events of Saramago's story, but to explore the same themes of rupture, change and dislocation, and how people react to such challenges.
Quest opens with six dancers running around the stage, changing directions quickly, generating a sense of frenzy and chaos. The motion shifts to expectant glances and unsteady walks. The piece goes on as two or three dancers take focus in the foreground while the others meld into a slow, moving backdrop. Dancers tenderly lift and support one another sometimes, while other times they shrug off a helping hand. Throughout the first section Mordine creates a study in balanced extremes: the dancers' energy is desperate but hesitant, their shapes are expansive but constrained. Folding chairs are used at one time to simply sit upon and observe; later they are piled in the center of the stage, an abstract sculpture of destruction. For Mordine, this was a response to the images around her when she began shaping the piece. 'When we started this piece it was just post-Hurricane Katrina,' she says. 'There were all these images [ in the media ] . The images of a ship on top of a house or a car in a boat. The utter chaos and destruction—we were surrounded by the sense that things have really broken somehow.'
The second section of Quest goes on to play with light and shadow, the third section exploring shifting scale. But throughout the piece Mordine's ensemble remains the epitome of modern dance—the movement vocabulary is fresh, authentic, intricate, rooted in and responding to the contemporary world. Despite being well-rehearsed, the movement of the dancers looks like it is happening for the very first time, infused with logic, wit and an urgent passion.
To heighten the surreal environment Mordine uses projected images on the stage floor, created by John Boesche. The dancing is also accompanied by live music composed and performed by Alison Chesley, whose electric cello melodies are as poetic and haunting as Mordine's choreography.
Towards the end of the piece, a male and female dancer come out to do a slow, careful duet, replete with lofty jumps and reaching limbs, resembling a prodigal Adam and Eve returning to a vastly changed world. But in their movements there is a sense of hope—hope in a world that is unpredictable, frightening and full of possibility. In Quest, it is hope in humanity's potential for discovering how to move on.
Mordine & Company performs March 13-15 at the Dance Center of Columbia College, 1306 S. Michigan; 312-344-6600; $24-$28.
It's a busy month for dance. Here are other upcoming performances:
CATS comes to the Rosemont Theatre, 5400 N. River, for six performances only on March 13-16. With original direction by Trevor Nunn and choreography by Gillian Lynne, this is the CATS credited with the British invasion of Broadway. 312-559-1212; $25-$55.
Luna Negra Dance Theatre leaps into spring with Nuevo Folk, March 15 at the Harris Theatre, 205 E. Randolph. Don't miss this one-night-only performance that features three world premieres and one company revival, including work by artistic director Eduardo Vilaro, Edgar Zendejas, Joel Valentin-Martinez and Vicente Nebrada. 312-334-7777; $25-$55.
Russia's acclaimed Tchaikovsky Ballet and Orchestra returns to Chicago with a limited engagement of Swan Lake, choreographed and directed by legendary Kirov Ballet superstar Natalia Makarova, with additional choreography by Sir Frederick Ashton, featuring a full company of 70 dancers and a live orchestra. March 21-22 at the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress; 312-902-1500; $30-$85.
Celebrating 30 years as one of the world's most innovative contemporary dance companies, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago ( HSDC ) will spotlight American and international choreographers during its 2008 Spring Series March 26–April 5 at the Harris Theater. Program 1 ( March 26-30 ) includes the world premiere of Alejandro Cerrudo's Extremely Close, with music by Philip Glass and Dustin O'Halloran; the return of Toru Shimazaki's Bardo, with music by Dead Can Dance; and Jim Vincent's counter/part, with music by Johann Sebastian Bach. Program 2 ( April 1-5 ) includes the world premiere of HSDC Associate Artistic Director Lucas Crandall's The Set, with music by Johann Sebastian Bach; the company premiere of Doug Varone's The Constant Shift of Pulse, with music by John Adams; the return of Julian Barnett's Float, with music by Mum; Alejandro Cerrudo's Lickety-Split, with music by Devendra Banhart; and a duet from Lar Lubovitch's Cryptoglyph set to a vocal score by Meredith Monk. 312-850-9744; $25-$90.
Lastly, Hedwig Dances performs Sweet Darkness at the Ballroom Theatre of Northwestern University, 10 Arts Circle, Evanston, April 4-5. The program features choreography by artistic director Jan Bartoszek, Billy Young and Kirsty MacKellar. 847-491-7282; $15-$20.
