Mixed Quartet
November 8 and 13; repeating November 15
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James Kelly started his Choreography Project in 1991 as a conscious blend of styles; the Dance Chicago ’96 program describes the company as “based in jazz, ballet and contemporary dance.” His Strings/4/Glass/Dance starts with the music, a Philip Glass string composition. Kelly shows great musical intelligence, and his dancers perform beautifully. Clarifying Glass’s modern classical composition, Kelly gives it a third dimension, revealing its passion as well as its intelligence and restraint; Glass is a minimalist, Kelly seems to say, not because he has shallow feelings or little to say but because he’s determined to avoid histrionics. Matching the dynamics of each musical section, Kelly gives pensive segments duets, powerful sections the whole ensemble of seven, and aggressive music angular movements. He also keeps the dance alive by working against the music: in the quiet final pizzicato section he has all seven dancers moving in twos and threes across the stage. Then they suddenly stop and slowly raise their arms above their heads in a V as if in benediction. The choreography resembles Glass’s music–clean, inventive, spectacular technically, but not athletic, not showy, in fact almost demure. The restraint of the dancers, the choreographer, and the composer combined creates a simple dance that shows how much feeling a single melody or gesture can have.
The modern dancers in Bob Eisen’s Quartet Variations Plus One dance as well as those in the James Kelly and Gus Giordano companies but seem softer and more yielding. Ultimately they evoke more feeling. Eisen doesn’t include spectacular male-female lifts the way Kelly and Watson do but instead creates big turns and leaps, from which the dancers land soundlessly. Giordano’s dancers showcase strength and muscles, Eisen’s coordination and control. Never seeming to struggle, they fly softly through the air. But the dancers seldom look at or touch one another. They seem to be moved through their paths by a higher intelligence, and become inhuman in a different way than Giordano’s dancers. Slowly Quartet Variations Plus One collects a deep sadness and isolation; it seems to live in a bleaker universe than Kelly’s dance or Watson’s.
