It was an immediate success at its Italian debut at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto in 1998. The dance company that was created in 1977 by Lou Conte which has been famous for its “innovation & originality” since its debut on American stages also caused a sensation in Italy. Several years have passed since that time, but the group that is now guided by Jim Vincent continues to maintain its position at the forefront of the international revolution taking place in modern dance.
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is an ensemble that has made bodily virtuosity, combined with techniques taken from classical ballet and modern dance fused with theatrical jazz its reason for being, its trademark. At the show, which was staged at the Manzoni Theatre, HSDC offered four representative choreographies of a repertoire that has always been famous for the innovation it provides to the works of major choreographers: from Twyla Tharp to Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Jiri Kylian, Daniel Ezralow and Margo Sappington.
The show features four dances. It begins with the most recent piece, Lickety-Split created by the Madrid native, Alejandro Cerrudo, in the autumn of 2006 to music by Devendra Banhart: three pairs of dancers, with sensual movements alternating with extravagant and playful gestures, recount the unpredictable layers of love. Instead, Cryptoglyph, by the American Lar Lubovitch, hinges on the powerful crescendo of the movements of seven dancers (variously combined in four sections) and features the eccentric vocal evolutions of Meredith Monk.
The mischievous and refined Strokes Through the Tail offers an example of the choreographic language of Ireland’s Marguerite Donlon who in 2005 created a piece of irreverent virtuosity for Mozart’s Symphony No. 40, in which five men and one woman blend stylized gestures and impertinent gags to create a “dynamic” allusive mesh that visually reproduces the nights to the score and infuses them with a witty spirit. The show closes with the choral piece Gnawa by Nacho Duato (2005), which is set to popular North African and Spanish music (especially percussion): it is a three-part creation that celebrates the instinctive human propensity for rhythm and movement that involves the entire company.
Aperitivo in Concerto, the musical series promoted by Mediaset and Publitalia '80 is clearly projected towards the future. The inclusion of the Hubbard Street Dance Company in its programming confirms an understanding that in this era of globalization, performing arts are becoming a privileged instrument for artistic expression, radically modifying systems that have been historically ascertained – and are now commonplace – such as the ritual of the concert. The audience’s reactions during the show and the extremely positive comments that they provided upon exiting the theatre also confirm this new trend.

TEATRO MANZONI
via Manzoni, 42
tel. +39 02.65.49.75
info@teatromanzoni.it

HUBBARD STREET DANCE CHICAGO
1147 W Jackson Blvd
Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 850-9744