Take one stirring yet ludicrous 1981 Journey song, “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Add 11 superb dancers, 2 adorable apprentices and 12 choreographers from Chicago’s top companies, places like Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, River North Dance, Lucky Plush. Mix, but don’t overmix. Variety and odd juxtapositions are the point.
Chemistry, that indefinable magic, powers Visceral Dance Chicago’s tasty, super-creative sophomore-year “Solus,” a program of solos through Saturday at Open Secret Studios. This year, as the choreographers mine the cynicism and/or hope of their “Don’t Stop” lines, each of their works inspired by a brief bit of the iconic song, “Solus” is more character-driven and unified than last year, when it was organized around the theme of “orange” and at times dominated by flying fruit.
Though this “Solus” proceeds through the song’s lines from beginning to end, no worries: You don’t have to listen to Journey over and over. The choreographers chose their own music. After drawing numbers in a lottery, they also picked their own lyric, though naturally those toward the end of the line had fewer choices. They got their dancers by chance: Each Visceral performer had been pre-assigned to certain lines.
Chemistry can be hit or miss, of course. And some dancers are underused in their solos, a big disappointment given the opportunity to see such great performers up close, to see not only the control but the vulnerability of individual bodies, the fascinating, even thrilling, recoveries from bobbles and wavers.
The lofty yet warm space and Julia Rhoads’ witty interludes tie the evening together. Apprentices James Barrett and Erin Kouwe bring vaudeville back to life in these short scenes, dancing, singing, delivering whimsical texts, acting as stagehands and bit players.
The biggest constants, though, are the high quality of the dancing and the cleverness of the choreography.
Some solos are especially right for their performers, or benefit from their juxtaposition with other pieces. Bryna Pascoe drew on Bianca Lozano Sanders’ quiet reserve in a legato balletic piece, requiring exquisite control, set to the sound of crickets occasionally overlaid by the spoken lyrics of a French lullaby. Just after that, Michel Rodriguez’s extroverted solo for Aaron Rogers — inspired by the lines “Strangers waiting/ Up and down the boulevard” — created a seductive, sly, even threatening character.
Sherry Zunker’s hilarious solo for Michael McDonald, set to the “Pink Panther” music, wasn’t the evening’s only humorous piece, but it was the most outrageous. Then came Ahmad Simmons’ beautiful, strange, mercurial solo for Paige Fraser, the program’s most moving and intimate work. Alice Klock fashioned Caitlin Cucchiara, eyes narrowed, into a hybrid wild animal/oracle of fate.
The choreographers’ riffs on their lines deliver some creative results. Lucas Crandall makes Kelsey Middleton a literal “small town girl/ Living in a lonely world” by putting her in headphones. Anna Long gives Owen Scarlett moves like amplified throwing for “Payin’ anything to roll the dice.”
Even the evening’s bows — some of the most satisfying I’ve seen — conveyed the chemistry, the magic, of this young troupe.
Molzahn is a freelance reporter.
When: 8 p.m. Friday, 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Open Secret Studios, 401 N. Racine St.
Running time: 1 hour
Tickets: $25 Friday at 773-772-1771 or visceraldance.com; $100 Saturday benefit at [email protected]
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