THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Luna Negra Dance Theater keeps on moving forward in a new vision as Artistic Director Gustavo Ramirez Sansano continues his first season with the company. Their spring program features the North American premieres of works by Latino choreographers Fernando Hernando Magadan and Luis Eduardo Sayago Alonso. The evening also features a reprise of artistic director Gustavo Ramírez Sansano's critically acclaimed piece Flabbergast. Ramirez Sansano comments, "Spring is all about what is fresh and new, so it is a perfect season to bring the work of two young, bright, up-and-coming choreographers to the American stage for the first time. I am excited to be able to share their unique voices with the Chicago audience, further realizing Luna Negra's mission by introducing and supporting works by emerging Latino choreographers from diverse backgrounds."

I attended a rehearsal preview with the company in late February, providing an insight to the process and creation of the works on Luna Negra's spring program. The intricate weaving together of bodies in Sayago Alonso's Solo una Vez creates a kinesthetic narrative of love as pairs intertwine alongside the complimenting bolero music (by Antonio Machin, Trio los Panchos and Feliz Mendelssohn). The work Naked Ape by Fernando Hernando features complex gestures and athletic movements compiled in an original restaging of the work for the Luna Negra dancers. A collaboration with multi media artist Harmen Straatman, this piece examines the challenges of physical interaction created by the insensitivity of new media and technology.

The highlight of the showing was the expansion of Ramirez Sansano's 2001 work Flabbergast. This piece is high energy, quirky and brings out the personalities of the dancers alongside beautiful movement. Inspired by his first visit to America, Flabbergast explores what happens when one experiences a foreign culture for the first time, and includes text and singing from the dancers, elements not very often seen on Luna Negra dancers. Ramirez Sansano explains that this piece is the type of dance his Mother always wanted him to make, and is important to him because it was the first piece he ever choreographed for Luna Negra back in 2001. Flabergast brings a fresh feel to the spring program, rounding out the sentimental Solo una Vez and energetic Naked Ape with a lighthearted approach to life.

Luna Negra Dance Theater will perform at The Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph, 8 p.m. March 12; tickets ($25-$55) or more information are available at www.harristheaterchicago.org or by calling 312-334-7777.

Same Planet Different World Dance Theater will showcase three works at The Dance Center this March: Joanna Rosenthal's Grey Noise; Black Label Movement Artistic Director Carl Flink's new work, HIT; and Shapiro & Smith Dances' To Have and To Hold. Same Planet Different World Dance Theater will be presented at The Dance Center of Columbia College, 1306 S. Michigan, 8 p.m. March 10-12; tickets ($26-$30) or more information are available at www.colum.edu/dancecenter or by calling 312-369-8330.

Hubbard Street's spring series unties the company with Batsheva Dance Company in an evening featuring work from Israeli choreographers from Batsheva, Artistic Director Ohad Naharin and Resident Choreographer Sharon Eyal. Hubbard Street Dance Company will perform at The Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph, 7:30 p.m. March 17, 8p.m. March 18-19, 3p.m. March 20; tickets ($25-$94) or more information are available at www.harristheaterchicago.org or by calling 312-334-7777.

Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group is a Brooklyn-based company that fuses contemporary dance with African traditions.They will present the full-evening work The Good Dance-dakar/Brooklyn, Reggie Wilson's collaboration with Congolese choreographer Andréya Ouamba and the result of Wilson's multi-year collaboration with Ouamba and his company 1er Temps based in Dakar, Senegal.

The set for the piece includes about 300 plastic water bottles and is based on the many facets of parallels between the Mississippi and Congo rivers and their respective cultures. Wilson's movement draws from blues, slave and worship cultures to create what he calls "Post-African Neo Hoodoo Modern dance." Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group will be presented at The Dance Center of Columbia College, 1306 S. Michigan, 8 p.m. March 31, April 1-2; tickets ($26-$30) or more information are available at www.colum.edu/dancecenter or by calling 312-369-8330.