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player ready...It’s not a milestone year, but the kickoff to Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s 48th season sure feels like it, with a program at Steppenwolf Theatre spanning five decades in under two hours — all from within the company’s repertoire.
Granted, Hubbard Street audiences haven’t seen Bob Fosse’s spectacular solo, “Percussion IV,” since the ‘90s, when his muse Gwen Verdon came to Chicago to stage it on the company. Lou Conte was artistic director then; a young Hubbard Street dancer, Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, was then little more than a teenager. She was allowed to learn the piece, but not perform it. “Percussion IV,” you see, was a role exclusively for a man. Now that Hubbard Street is her company, gender is not a limiting factor in who gets to do it. And though Hubbard Street originally performed “Percussion IV” as a trio, it has been restored to a solo. Dancer Aaron Choate did it (splendidly) on Friday, alternating with Shota Miyoshi, Elliot Hammans, Bianca Melidor and Michele Dooley throughout the company’s two-week stay at Steppenwolf.
Composed in 1978 for the musical “Dancin,’” “Percussion IV” is a rare example of Fosse taking a maximalist approach. His best-known pieces are an exercise in restraint, with the in-between moments of stillness mattering more than the rest. Here, you have a no-holds-barred, punishing exhibition of jazz dance’s most virtuosic steps. How surprising. In 1991, Tribune critic Richard Christiansen called the piece a “slick bit of sizzle, easily enjoyed but quickly forgotten.” Seeing it again in 2025 — when so much entertainment is contained to 60 seconds or less on a screen in the palm of your hand, “Percussion IV” feels more like an unforgettable slow burn.
“Percussion IV” is positioned as the “something new” in the fall series, on account of its long absence from Hubbard Street’s active repertoire. The rest of the night includes pieces seen recently.
Tucked between the night’s two intermissions with “Percussion IV” is “A Duo,” created in 2024 by resident artist Aszure Barton — the only new thing she’s made for the company so far. “A Duo,” performed Friday by Shota Miyoshi and Cyrie Topete, has now had about 18 months to marinate, steeped with raw materials from Bharatanatyam, vogue and vernacular forms like jitterbug. Last year’s premiere felt more like a salad than a stew, a collection of independently identifiable ingredients on the fork. On a spoon, it’s less obvious where “A Duo” came from or why. That sounds like a bad thing, but it definitely isn’t. At risk of overplaying the metaphor, it’s a nicer, smoother mouthfeel, combining distinct flavors that now only hint at carrots and onions and is, instead, simply and supremely delicious.
The night’s two American choreographers are bookended by a pair of Europeans — with the return of Ohad Naharin’s “Black Milk” and Johan Inger’s “Impasse.” In her remarks before Friday’s performance, Fisher-Harrell encouraged returning audience members who might have seen these pieces before to explore these works with fresh eyes by noticing new casting (including a handful of brand-new company members) and the very different experience of watching from Steppenwolf’s up-close vantage point. Honestly, I thought of this artful dodge as an excuse to recycle material. After all, it’s expensive to commission dances, and all the new stuff is coming later this season. (In February, it’s the company premiere of Juel D. Lane’s “Touch & Agree.” And in May, we get world premieres by Barton and Chanel DaSilva.)
But she was right. It feels downright religious being that close to Kyle Anders, Dominick Brown, Elliot Hammans, Miyoshi and David Schultz as they scoop dark sludge, presumably the aforementioned “Black Milk,” from a bucket and smear it over their faces, chests and thighs. From there, they embark on a tightly composed journey with all the trappings of classical dance — and none of the restraint. First created in 1990 (premiered by Hubbard Street in 2002), “Black Milk” is a kind of time capsule, made before Naharin broke dance apart and became one of the field’s most influential choreographers. It was the second Naharin piece Hubbard Street acquired — the first was “Minus 16,” performed by them as recently as 2022 and adopted by hordes of American dance companies as a bellwether of contemporary dance. “Black Milk” seems to share very little with “Minus 16.” It’s serious, organized and verges on virtuosity—things Naharin is known today for vehemently railing against.
“Impasse” also reads differently when you’re close enough to see every finger, toe and facial expression. Inger’s imagination takes audiences on a Narnia-like journey into a joyfully wacky and hedonistic world. It is, in essence, a cautionary tale, with a trio of protagonists (Schultz, Choate and Jacqueline Burnett) barely making it out of this slightly off fairy land before the walls literally close in. Take a single moment, for example, in which dancer Simone Stevens is thrust airbound by a merry band of misfits after winning a chicken fight, as Alexandria Best, donning a Pepto Bismol-hued pencil skirt, blazer and pill box hat, seduces a creepy clown (Craig Black) downstage.
Point being, there is a lot to see here. And I don’t think I’ll tire of seeing “Impasse” any time soon.
Lauren Warnecke is a freelance critic.
Review: Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s Fall Series (4 stars)
When: Through Nov. 23
Where: Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St.
Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes with 2 intermissions
Tickets: $30-$122 at 312-335-1650 and hubbardstreetdance.com
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