GDC Spring Anniversary Series a Sizzling Triumph

Giordano Dance Chicago proved again Friday night why they’re such an asset to the city.  Celebrating their 55^th year as a modern jazz company, the program they presented at the Harris Theater, which featured two world premieres, was frequently stunning and always strong.  Long known for their precision and crisp movement, the company brought ample quantities of each to their Spring series as well as loads of charisma.

Opening with Give and Take, a work created by Brock Clawson in 2009, the piece unfolded slowly and beautifully as couples alternately mimicked one another’s graceful flamenco inspired moves.  As it did here, it wasn’t unusual during the entire evening’s program for a poetic beginning to transition into a tirade of energy as the dance’s storyline progressed.  If Give and Take was a commentary on romantic relationships, it was as shrewd as it was nuanced.  Stark and clean, the absence of artifice allowed the purity of the dance to shine through.  And in this particular work, it also helped to confirm what a dazzling dance ensemble GDC is.  Throughout the evening, it was impossible not to notice how perfectly paired music was to dance.  A’ME, Trentemollen’s electric score elevated and fueled a dance that exemplified elemental human emotions.

Give and Take proved the perfect prelude to the first world premiere, Take a Gambol.  With such a tremendous opening, expectations were now in the clouds.  Choreographed by former GDC dancer Joshua Blake Carter and current GDC Operations Manager, the spotlight was honed on the company’s eight male dancers. Seductive, mischievous, muscular and decidedly fun, in many ways Take a Gambol was the most conventionally jazz dance piece performed that evening with its clear narrative and free style form.   Adding a touch of drama, the dancers ascended the stage from the main floor of the theater oozing potent doses of swag in their jazz stroll.  Dressed in trim black suits and tapered white shirts, they looked like a little army of James Bonds about to dispatch a mission.

The work well accomplished its objective of displaying the outsized talents of GDC’s male corps. Placed on a musical polyglot that emphasized rhythm and blues and jazz, Gambol let the dancers parade their considerable balletic skills as well as have fun with their jazz dance pedigree.  The work could just as easily be called the coat dance because the men used their jackets extensively as a dance element.  Taking them off, passing them between themselves and using them to fly low like crows in bygone Disney films, they made Gambol a joy filled romp danced at the highest order.

Tossed Around may have been even more demanding physically but it was just as artfully executed.  And, according to Ray Mercer who created the piece, its theme is also                    direct.  Mercer crafted the piece to give expression to how we’re all tossed around “physically, spiritually and emotionally as we go through life and deal with obstructions”. Here bright yellow chairs symbolize the hurdles people face as we navigate complex lives. Dancers do everything from sit on them in pensive determination to throwing and catching them in their efforts to triumph over difficulties.  There’s a distinctly introspective air that laid lightly on the feel of this work but it never impeded the ability of the dancers to take flight.

Having only covered half of their program by this point, GDC had already delivered a whole night’s worth of marvelous entertainment.  Anticipating what was to follow turned out to be a thrill of its own.  The second world premiere, Hiding Vera, with its initial use of arched backs and constrained tempo seemed to slip into the world of modern dance before accelerating and launching a barrage of pirouettes.  There’s something mesmerizing about those sustained spins that thrill audiences as much as a 3-point shot at the buzzer.  GDC employs them liberally with both the male and female dancers.  After all, jazz dance heartily embraces the exuberance those incredible spins embody and GDC’s performers have the youth and talent to make them glisten.

Despite its own unique verve that highlighted the abilities of the women in the company, Crossing/Lines was a study in precision and perfect timing. Alternating between composed restraint and intense directed energy, its three parts did a wonderful job exploiting the skills of GDC’s ladies.

But even this night of bounty was no preparation for the finale; Pyrokinesis; or the ability to set objects on fire.  Choreographed 11 years ago by Christopher Huggins, the dance lived up to its name and is a favorite of many who know the company well.  Dressed in body hugging black with crimson lightning bolts emblazoned down one side, the troupe epitomized fire itself with moves that brought cheers from the audience. Fast, fast, fast seared to hot, hot, hot.  When the dancers suddenly began appearing on stage wearing red dance shoes, the additional dimension of color served only to heighten the already scorching charge of the dance.

GDC seems to love having its dancers sparkle.  With their deep talent pool, the ultimate beneficiary of the leadership’s generosity is the audience.  We see in full relief how gifted and rigorously prepared these dancers are.

And, based on Executive Director’s Michael McStraw’s comments at intermission calling attention to the troupes 55 years of producing acclaimed dance and extolling the leadership of Artistic Director Nan Giordano whose diligence and commitment are extending the contributions of her father, what we experienced tonight will continue for many more years.