Tag Archives: Hubbard Street Dance

Hubbard street dance, Andy’s Thai kitchen, eataly, Chicago

We are unexpectedly encountering snow on our return home from Chicago but it didn’t start until we were west of Davenport and so far it hasn’t been as bad as our outbound trip Friday night. Right now, at 6:43 pm about 10 miles east of Iowa city the flurries have stopped. But we don’t know what lies ahead.

Before this I was going to write that our Chicago trip had been worth the sometimes harrowing drive. Easy for me to say since I am not the driver. Still, we had a really good albeit brief visit to Chicago. Hubbard street’s Saturday night performance of “One thousand pieces” was among the best I have seen during decades as a Hubbard street fan. The dancing, choreography, staging was superb and there were some “firsts” for this dance fan, notably the dancers performing on the equivalent of a giant slip n’ slide, with the water adding all kinds of interesting effects, from the sound of the water splashing to the sight of the water on the darkish stage with white clouds of drifting white smoke/dry ice, to the added challenge for the dancers of executing challenging moves on a slippery surface. The second act of the piece began with a solemn line of 20 some dancers staring out into the dark theater, then executing one twitchy move after another in unison. that gave us in the audience a lot to watch and ponder. I was also pleasantly surprised be the Phillip Glass score which was less monotonously repetitive and more stirringly melodic than expected. I do think they could have turned the lights on just a little – I’m not the only viewer who got a bit sleepy…

      Earlier in the day we had yet another excellent meal at Andy’s Thai kitchen in Lakeview. The crispy basil pork belly, yum. We tried a few different dishes and they were well done. The panang had excellent quality chicken and eggplant well cooked and a not too heavy, well seasoned sauce.

Before the ballet, we braved the crowds at the new Eataly that just opened on Ohio Street just west of Michigan Avenue (next to Room and Board, one of my favorite furniture stores. Eataly Chicago seemed brighter and less chaotic than its cousin in New York City. It was a perfect place to get a light bite before the ballet. We decided on a plate of well picked Italian cheeses served with some
Candied fruit, figs in balsamic, honey and olive oil. We were swiftly served and our plucky Midwestern server made sure we were on our way when need be to make our show on tome.

Now back to now-snowy interstate 80. (postscript: we made it home safely – and slowly…)

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Hubbard Street Dance at CHicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art

MCA Chicago 060930.jpgA treat to attend a performance of Hubbard Street Dance and in a new venue for me – the theater at the Museum of Contemporary Art (the MCA Stage, see photo), which is much smaller than the Harris Theater further south in Millennium Park. The production continues through June 16.

The price was very reasonable ($35) and the outing had a more casual feel. The dancing was superb, as always – I am amazed by the athleticism and grace of Hubbard’s young dancers. The choreography was more of a mixed bag and I guess that’s the point of the “danc(e)volve: New Works Festival.” The first half before the intermission was my favorite! Some of the new works were a little too odd and avant-garde for me – I especially prefer when dancers do NOT talk and when they dance to music that is NOT primarily noise, which a few selections were (in one case, the discordant sound was so loud I discretely plugged one of my ears, like New Yorkers do in the subway when a train is screeching by). It was fun though to watch a film by Hubbard Street dancers that shared highlights from their US State Department sponsored trip as cultural ambassadors to Morocco, Spain and Algeria.

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Hubbard Street (topless) and the Purple Pig – Chicago

I arrived in Chicago just in time to walk down Michigan Avenue on a beautiful June Sunday and over to the Harris Theater to see the 3 p.m. performance by Hubbard Street Dance Chicago – fantastic as always. Turns out we’d already seen the third selection, Three to Max,  – or at least part of it –  last year. I recognized some of the music (uno, uno duo tres, uno due tres – and so on grunted over and over at one p0int) and some of the choreography (including being mooned by several of the dancers except this time I wasn’t sitting with my 10-year-old niece). The first selection, Malditos, was perhaps the most striking – including a performance by a topless dancer who frankly was so flat chested at first I wasn’t sure she was a she. But she was. And a very engaging dancer at that.  The second piece, Quintett, had very dramatic choreography (there were several times when I feared one of the dancers would get kicked in the face by another dancer) but the music was repetitive and monotonous. As always I was impressed with the physicality of the dancers – and the difficult choreography they mastered effortlessly.

We had dinner on Michigan Avenue at the Purple Pig which was fun – small plates. Some better than others. (My favorite was the Braised Baby Artichokes, Fingerling Potatoes, Asiago & Salami Toscanaand, surprisingly, the fava beans

Fava Beans, Leeks, Hard Boiled Eggs & Crispy Prosciutto.  I didn’t like the caponata (too sweet) although I liked the bread with goat cheese that accompanied it and the clams were not as good as advertised. But the place had a fun vibe – bustling with people sharing long wooden tables and high (a little too high) chairs. As always, Chicago felt like such a vibrant welcoming city. (I also ate at a good quick noodle place on Michigan Avenue near Millenium Park. Nothing fancy but quick and fresh tasting.)

 

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Hubbard Street Dance in Chicago!!

In a stroke of good timing/luck, my visit to Chicago this weekend to move my son out of his college dorm coincides with the last performance of Hubbard Street Dance Company’s summer series which begins today (Thursday May 31) and ends on Sunday (June 3 at 3 p.m.). The program, as always, looks enticing, including a piece danced to the music from a French film I saw a few years ago.

The HSDC Ticket Office is at 312-850-9744

Here’s the line up:

  • Quintett by William Forsythe
  • Malditos by Alejandro Cerrudo

    Featuring music from the french film “The Beat That My Heart Skipped”

  • THREE TO MAX by Ohad Naharin

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great way to find dance performances in chicago!

Whenever I’m contemplating a trip to Chicago, I always look ahead to see if  my two favorite dance companies there – Hubbard Street and the Joffrey – are performing. Short of that, I look to see if any visiting troupes will be in town the same time I’m there. Now I’ve founda  handy website that lists all the dance happenings in one spot! http://seechicagodance.com

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