Chicago Moving Company
Nana Shineflug, artistic director of the Chicago Moving Company, has always taken two different tacks in her choreography, a lyrical spiritual one and a wild kitschy one–I’ll never forget her roller-skating in a piece in the late 80s. Both facets are evident in her troupe’s upcoming concert even though she’s only one of four choreographers presenting their work. Former company dancer Kriota Willberg (now director of Dura Mater in New York) offers three two-minute soupcons of outlandish humor: Interstitial Sweet, Interstitial Suite, and Interstitial Sweat. Assistant artistic director Cindy Brandle presents Rust Proof (premiered at Dance Chicago ’99), a piece for four women in slinky silver costumes to music by Santana; musically adept, it also involves one dancer using another’s leg as a shotgun. Brandle’s lovely new In Passing is on the lyrical side of the equation: set to “Poor Soul” by Milkbaby, it features five dancers often supporting one another–and often letting others slip out of their grasp. Two of Shineflug’s dances seem companion pieces: both are set to music by Pauline Oliveres and are nuanced and lyrical. Brandle has a wonderfully grounded presence in the sextet Red Piece, gathering energy, while in Approaching 9 three initially dissociated dancers coalesce into a community. Shineflug’s Gandy Dancer, which she performs herself (the only piece I didn’t see), is described as a “solo-message in a body using text from a Kafka short story.” Closing the program is Sheldon B. Smith’s Untitled Pastorale, a big piece for nine dancers that’s both rhapsodic and goofy, evoking children’s games; Atalee Judy’s costumes feature insets of blue sky and clouds, and some look like Victorian undies. Friday and Saturday at 8 in the auditorium of the Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State (enter at Plymouth Court); $12-$15. Call 773-880-5402 for tickets and information.
–Laura Molzahn
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Surendra.