Judging from its new Quasar, Kinetic Dance Theater works in the most popular of Chicago’s traditions, that of accessible, joyous, jazz-inflected dancing. Much of this hour-long piece shows the influence of Bob Fosse on founder-choreographers Joanna and Ryan Greer. There are worse influences to have, and it’s a witty idea to build an evening around songs that refer to the night sky: Van Morrison’s “Moondance,” Hoagy Carmichael’s “Star Dust,” the title piece by Herbie Hancock and Bennie Maupin.
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The evening starts off somewhat obscurely, with the five dancers entering in the dark and freezing for the length of a scratchily recorded interview with physicist Pan Papacosta, who extols the wonder and extent of space. But then the Hancock music and the dancing begin. Reaching, kneeling, and spinning suggestive of worship shade into Fosse-esque show dancing, with lots of jazz hands. A chorus line set front to back collapses elegantly backward to take a look at the stars; a cluster holds tight at center stage while some members leap and dive off its axis, then reassemble to wave their arms in the air, suggesting a sea anemone–also the conclusion, as it happens, of Gerald Arpino’s Spring Rain. Yet despite the transparency of its influences, the choreography doesn’t seem derivative but rather fresh, almost naive. Only when the piece returns to its concept does it seem stale and labored, as when the ensemble scatters across the stage for a slow, directionless walk–a space walk, perhaps, or “one small step for a (wo)man.” I get it, but the thought is less intriguing than the dancing it interrupted.
The second part, “Life Is a Never-ending Galaxy,” begins with a narrative about the Challenger explosion that engages largely because it’s delivered by Heather S. Hulsen, the most magnetic of the dancers. (Angela Frederick’s succeeding tale, about a childhood promise involving the stars, is far less interesting, and the meditations of spiritualist Bill “Gorakh” Hayashi are as fuzzy as the recording.) But once we get to the dancing everything’s great again: the Greers do a swing dance both crisp and sensual to “Moondance,” creatively lit to show their (moon) shadows moving as well. Then (to another Hancock piece, “Rockit”) the ensemble returns to Fosse with a vengeance, right down to the white gloves, top hat, and canes–but brought up to date by mechanistic break dancing a la Devo and mid-period Michael Jackson. Ryan Greer even does a moon walk.
Well, no. The most beautiful experiences we can have in dance are the ones that aren’t too confusing or daunting for us to notice that the performers are jumping for joy. That’s not, of course, the only thing dance does or should do–but it’s what Kinetic does, and the troupe would do well to embrace that fact.
