Hubbard Street Springs Forward

By Justin Sondak in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 22, 2006 6:27PM

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago shares our midwestern stubbornness, treating this day forward as spring, windy snowy forecast be damned. So it is with their 2006 Spring Season, a celebration of past and present Hubbard Street artists and choreographers which opens tonight at the Harris Theater. Touring extensively to win friends across the modern dance world, limiting their Chicago engagements to build the hometown hype, HSDC’s contemporary work is provocative enough for the die hard fans yet athletic and, uh, provocative enough for the rest of us.

Presented are a pair of programs, so pick your poison. Tonight through April 2, HSDC dancers work it real good in “Sublime Sentiments.” We never realized Mozart was such a sexy beast, his concertos and Symphony No. 40 inspire two of this evening’s works. Also on the bill is the gravity-defying Float (pictured, right) and the grand finale Minus 16, enlisting the entire company dancing to an ecclectic score. “Innovative Instincts” sounds redundant enough for Hubbard Street—when are they not trying to innovate? It’s a mash-up of unconventional ideas on the same program. Picture waltzing outlaws, seduction to Majorcan sounds, frenetic bursts of energy, and... more Mozart.

The company reaches out to families with a Saturday matinee and features special pre- and post-show parties for professional women, gay patrons, and young professionals. Or if you’re inclined at the last minute to drop $500 for a good cause, their Spring Gala is Friday night.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's spring season opens tonight and runs through April 9 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph. More information and schedules at www.hubbardstreetdance.com.

Photos by Todd Rosenberg, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.