Displaying items by tag: Joffrey Ballet

I arrived at the Auditorium Theatre — one of my favorite buildings in this city of ours that has so many historic buildings each with so many stories — prepared to enjoy an evening with that old Holiday chestnut, The Nutcracker. Little did I know that for the third year in a row, the Joffrey Ballet would be presenting Tchaikovsky’s work with a twist — as a story by Brian Selznick set in Chicago during the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. Now, being a history buff, the setting (or settings, since I was already aware of the theatre’s history) perked me up upon reading the program pre-show. And seeing the name of the story’s author, this author of children’s books was excited to see what Selznick, a personal favorite, had in store. I wouldn’t be disappointed with the wonder and whimsy headed my way.

Right away, instead of a bourgeois European Christmastime, we’re transported to working-class Chicago circa Christmas 1892. A Victorian-clad girl played by Amanda Assucena navigates the rough and rat-infested streets of a Windy City that’s awaiting the completion and opening of the great World’s Fair in the coming year, its towering Ferris Wheel overlooking the knot-holed fences and rag-covered rapscallions she passes. A Dickensian rat catcher and the Fair’s Impresario are two recurring characters we meet before Marie arrives at the meager shack she shares with her mother and brother in the shadow of the White City.

There, the family is visited by various other working-people and immigrants for a holiday celebration. And soon, the Impresario himself, played by Miguel Angel Blanco, arrives with gifts, including a Nutcracker for young Marie. From here until the end of Act I, this Nutcracker shares much with traditional productions, with a broken Nutcracker, a nighttime dream, rats and soldiers a-fighting, and a magical gondola arriving to take Marie and the transformed Nutcracker off to a winter wonderland.

But after the intermission, Act II brings a very different wonderland — the White City of 1893 Chicago. First off, the magic comes from the strength of Tchaikovsky’s music. Every time I hear the melody after melody, each of them recognizable, of the second half, I’m reminded of just how ubiquitous this work is. Each piece has become embedded in society’s consciousness ever in the 125+ years since they were penned and premiered. And each piece is played wonderfully by the Chicago Philharmonic (three of whose musicians take the stage in the first half as players at the house party).

The World’s Fair setting, however, allows each piece a new meaning, as what were then (again, 125 years ago) exotic people dance along to Tchaikovsky’s original works. Highlights include Fernando Duarte as a hammy and hysterical Mother Nutcracker (thronged by the children’s ensemble playing hilarious cracking walnuts); Hansol Jeong’s Chinese Dancer, accompanied by the ensemble as paper dragons; and Rory Hohenstein (who was also the rat catcher) as a rootin’, tootin’ Buffalo Bill Cody surrounded by three frolicking showgirls (Lucia Connolly, Dara Holmes, and Joanna Wozniak) who would definitely attract fairgoers in 1893 or today. But the highlight of the Fair’s attractions are the Arabian Dancers, played by Jeraldine Mendoza and Dylan Gutierrez. Mendoza contorts, writhes, and dances as Gutierrez lifts and balances and turns — and the audience erupted when their dance was done all too soon.

The only dancers almost as enchanting as Mendoza and Gutierrez are Victoria Jaiani (who also plays Marie’s mother) and Blanco, as the Queen of the Fair and the Impresario. They close this Nutcracker with the kind of grace and beauty one would expect not just from such a beloved ballet, but from such an accomplished ballet company. So, while the Joffrey’s take on The Nutcracker might be different, it is as enchanting as ever, as professional as one would expect, and the perfect way to begin the holiday season in the White City of Chicago.

The Joffrey Ballet opens 2018-2019 season with the return of choreographer Christopher Wheeldon’s modern re-telling of Swan Lake to the Auditorium Theatre four years after its first premiere in Chicago in 2014.

Composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875-77, it was originally a ballet in two acts, named The Lake of the Swans. Choreographed by Julius Reisinger, it premiered in Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater in 1877 but was poorly received by the critics. Nearly twenty years later, the music score undergone changes by Riccardo Drigo, who added various other Tchaikovsky’s pieces to the original score for the choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov's 1895 revival of the ballet, consequently re-named Swan Lake and performed in four acts.

Christopher Wheeldon’s masterful re-telling of Swan Lake is based on that latter version of the ballet, as well as Edgar Degas’ paintings circa 1870’s, of the Paris Opera backstage, where ballet rehearsals were often attended by the male patrons of the arts.

In Wheeldon’s version of Swan Lake, the story begins at the Paris Opera during the rehearsal for the opening night of Swan Lake. The Principal Dancer who portrays Prince Siegfried in the classical ballet gets so lost in the ballet fantasy, that his world becomes full of illusions. Fantasy is superimposed on reality until he can no longer distinguish between the two. In love with his beautiful dance partner, he’s painfully aware of the advances of the Patron who is always lurking around during the rehearsals, making unsavory proposals to ballerinas. In his mind, he turns into prince Siegfried, and finds himself at the lake, where he sees a beautiful maiden telling him that she had been cursed by an evil sorcerer to stay in swan form during the day until someone falls in love with her. He imagines that the maiden is his dance partner and the sorcerer is the patron.

The technical skills of Dylan Gutierrez as Siegfried are truly superb; his dancing is as beautiful as it is emotionally charged. Odette/Odlie’s role is danced by the magnificent Victoria Jaiani, who is floating on air, like she always does, effortlessly performing the most highly technically challenging pirouettes.

By the Second Act, the ballerinas so perfectly capture the essence of the swans, they seem to have lost their human form and become transformed into birds. This resemblance and the white costumes of ballerinas separate Siefried’s fantasy from reality in the ballet. In the Third Act, it’s back to reality: the stage comes alive with action; it’s a gala evening to celebrate the new production of Swan Lake. The fancy legwork of the cheerful Pas De Quatre (The Dance of Little Swans) does not disappoint; beautifully performed by Anne Gerberich, Jeraldine Mendoza, Edson Barbosa and Greig Matthews. Followed by the sexy Russian, Spanish, Czardas and Burlesque dances, the colorful costumes (by Jean-Marc Puissant) are in stark contrast to demure lakeside scene; this party is so much fun. Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra led by Scott Speck blends Tchaikovsky’s music with dance so perfectly that not a moment is out of sync; it’s divine.

Joffrey’s Corps de Ballet indisputably consists of world class dancers whose technical skills and ballet mastery make every performance exquisite; every one of their moves is executed with razor-like precision. Combined with brilliant Wheeldon’s choreography and gorgeous Tchaikovsky’s music, Swan Lake is a treat for the senses. In short, it is magnificent.

For more information on this beautifully executed production, visit www.joffrey.org.

Forget everything you know about A Midsummer Night's Dream. Don't recall images of the classical ballet, or lines from Shakespeare's play, and definitely don't think about how often the singular possessive noun is used incorrectly by putting the possessive on the wrong word. A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Joffrey Ballet trumps any rendition of the classic you’ve ever seen. It is a trip, and needs to be experienced in order to fully appreciate it.

The artistic direction was inspired not by the play but by the actual tradition of Midsummer, specifically celebrated in Sweden. In Sweden, Midsummer's Eve is one of the most important days of the year, rivaling Christmas with its festive spirit and traditions. Traditionally, Midsummer was celebrated on June 24, the feast day of St. John the Baptist, but the holiday has its roots in a pre-Christian solstice festival.

The play opens with a sleeping man who awakes in a dream like state to take a roll in the hay. The curtain rises revealing the Joffrey corps beating and rolling in the hay in perfect unison. They are jubilant, frolicking before an enormous sun, the entire stage and wings exposed to lend the scene a rustic, industrial feel. After cleaning up the hay, the midsummer festivities begin, there is laughter, kissing, sunbathing, dancing around a maypole, wearing crowns of wild flowers, toasting to the audience, all culminating in a Gatsby like way until they pass out, crawl, or drag each other home. Americans needs to adopt this holiday immediately. Accompanied by a haunting, ethereal vocalist, the ballet took us on a fantastic and hilarious trip.

Contrasting the first act’s dreamlike party, the second act was a trippy nightmare complete with a passionate pas de deux, dead fish, and Wild Wild Country-like expressions of raw emotion (those who've watched the documentary know what I’m talking about). The trip was a slow burn, building in intensity and complexity, leaving the audience to exclaim, “I have no idea what I just watched, but I loved it.”

Sitting behind the Swedish ambassador to the United States and her delegation, Rahm Emmanuel and his wife in attendance, and a packed house, the Joffrey's premiere of this production could not have been more well received. The swedish guests beamed and marveled at the ballet, and were the first to rise and give a standing ovation. Ashley Wheater, the ballet’s artistic director, celebrating his 10th year with the company, has created a modern festival that encapsulates the fervor and the magic of the Midsummer holiday. The jubilation is not lost in translation even though Americans do not have an equivalent holiday to reference, instead they are exposed to what seems to be the greatest holiday since Halloween. With choreography and set design by Alexander Ekman, and music by Mikael Karlsson, they've developed a piece that showcases not only the ballet dancers contemporary prowess, strength, and grace, but also gave them room to act, and laugh, and show their personalities in a way that I've never seen in any other ballet production. It's nothing short of a modern masterpiece.

There's an old Swedish proverb that says “Midsummer night is not long, but it sets many cradles to rock,” which accurately summarizes this ballet. I encourage you to let your imagination interpret the proverb, think about this when viewing this marvelous and magical production, and to lobby Rahm to adopt this holiday as Chicago’s newest summer tradition.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream plays at the Auditorium Theater through May 6th, tickets can be purchased at http://www.joffrey.org/midsummer.

As the era of streaming entertainment and sweatpants-clad binge watching continues, you have to applaud those who attend the performing arts. It’s certainly not an easier medium to consume, but some would argue it’s much more rewarding. Unfortunately, ballet and opera are struggling to attract a millennial audience. 

The Joffrey Ballet, however, opened its Modern Masters to no lack of enthusiasm. The massive Auditorium Theater was packed with audiences of all ages. Modern Masters is a four-piece show featuring the works of four different choreographers including the popular George Balanchine. Modern Masters is presented as part of the Ashley Anniversary, celebrating Ashley Wheater’s 10th season as artistic director of the Joffrey. 

They begin with Balanchine’s ‘Four Temperaments’, a visual take on the ancient belief that the body is influenced by four humors. This piece is the most traditional and lengthy of the four. The costumes and staging are sparse. Music by Paul Hindemith is soft but stirring. 

After a brief intermission, they return with Myles Thatcher’s ‘Body of Your Dreams’. The energy picks up here. With colorful 80s-flavored workout inspired costumes, 'Body of Your Dreams' is a cheeky take on fitness. It's a little ironic for a stage full of perfectly sculpted dancers to slightly criticize the "perfect body" obsession. The steps are fun, and the music is catchy. 

Next is the world premiere of Nicolas Blanc's multi-part piece 'Beyond the Shore'. This one is more similar in style to Balanchine's. The staging is as sparse, but the choreography is visually stunning. Music by Mason Bates is intricate with a cinematic scope. Think John Williams. 

The final piece is the Chicago premiere of 'Glass Pieces' by legendary choreographer Jerome Robbins. This is the piece to come for. Ballet fans of Chicago have been waiting for this one. It's well worth the hype. The set and costumes are striking. Philip Glass' music really shines in this meticulously choreographed number. The dance begins chaotic and busy but comes full circle to inspire the movement of a busy city. Bright and thrilling, 'Glass Pieces' is the strongest of the four. 

Modern Masters is a perfect evening for those looking to touch their toe into the waters of modern dance. Tread without fear of boredom for this highly engrossing show. Joffrey has a great way of being accessible to all audiences despite familiarity with the art of dance. 

Through February 18th at Joffrey Ballet. 50 E Congress Parkway. 312-386-8905

A delightful winter holiday ballet staple, Joffrey’s The Nutcracker gets a make-over by Tony Award-winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and Joffrey’s Artistic Director Ashley Wheater. The all-American all-Chicago version that premiered last December at The Auditorium Theatre takes us to a very exciting time in our history: 1892, five months before the World’s Fair in Chicago is set to open (story by Brian Selznick). Though the circumstances are different, creators of the ballet kept many elements of the original story by E.T.A. Hoffmann, and most importantly, the spirit of Christmas, intact. No more rich children and their fancy Christmas party with expensive presents - we’re back to the real world. Marie is from a poor immigrant family; she lives with her widowed mother, who is a sculptress working on the golden Statue of the Republic for the Columbian Exposition, and a younger brother Franz. The construction is in full swing and employs mostly immigrants from around the world.

In Act I the workers come to Marie’s house bearing food and drink for a lively Christmas celebration. Three musicians [from the orchestra] are invited on stage to accompany the dancing, much like it would be in those days. Marie is performed by very talented Amanda Assucena, a remarkably expressive ballerina; her gestures are all we need to understand what’s happening in the story. When a mysterious man who designed The World Fair and is known as The Great Impresario (Miguel Angel Blanco), shows up at the party, he captures everyone’s imagination with his visions of the completed Fair and gives out Christmas gifts. Marie receives a toy Nutcracker, and she couldn’t be happier. When she goes to bed that night she dreams that her new favorite toy leads an army of soldiers against a pack of rats who invade their shack and are always around in the streets (doesn't that sound painfully familiar, at least to Chicago city dwellers?). After she saves her Nutcracker from being eaten by The Rat King, he promptly turns into a handsome Prince. Whimsical costumes, gorgeous set and wonderful puppetry make for very enjoyable ballet experience  and a long cast of characters danced by children adds even more charm to the ballet.

Joffrey Ballet dancers are unquestionably world class masters, and this production showcases its many talented members. Victoria Jaiani who dances the parts of both Marie’s mother and The Queen of the Fair couldn’t be any more graceful and is always quite marvelous.

In Act II Marie, the Prince and The Great Impresario sail to the World Fair in a gondola where the Queen of the Fair (Victoria Jaiani) takes them to different pavilions where countries are represented by their dances – exotic Chinese and Spanish Dances are great, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show is really fun too, but then there’s the sexy Arabian Dance. Here Weeldon’s brilliant choreography is masterfully executed by Christine Rocas and Fabrice Calmels ; watching them dance is like eating some exquisite dessert that you wish would never end. It’s that good.

Somewhere towards the end of Second Act the drama of Tchaikovsky’s music gets lost in the romantic love dance of The Great Impresario and The Queen of Fair and leaves us longing for something else, but that’s easy to get over.

Live score is provided by Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra under Conductor/ Music Director Scott Speck.

The performance can be seen at Auditorium Theatre and runs two hours and twenty minutes and includes a twenty-minute intermission. For more information on Joffrey Ballet's The Nutcracker visit www.joffrey.org. 

Giselle, Adolphe Adam’s beautiful tale created for the ballet’s premiere in Paris back in 1841, has been re-imagined by the Ballet Master and Stager Lola de Avila, marking the opening of Joffrey Ballet’s 2017-2018 Season. Set in the Middle Ages on the day of the grape harvest festival, Act I takes us to the happy village and its villagers celebrating the harvest with dancing. The mood is cheerful and lighthearted, the music is fantastic (live orchestra under music director Scott Speck); colorful costumes and a gorgeous set (scenic and costume designs by Peter Farmer) prepare us for what’s about to unfold. Young and beautiful, child-like Giselle meets nobleman Duke Albrecht who comes to the village dressed as a peasant. Albrecht (very talented Temur Suluashvili) is actually engaged to marry Bathilde (Jeraldine Mendoza), the daughter of the Prince of Courland, but Giselle is unaware of any of that. The two flirt and dance together, and Giselle falls madly in love. Victoria Jaiani ,as Giselle, is divinely graceful; if she was any more weightless, she’d likely fly away. Rory Hohenstein, who portrays Hilarion, a young villager in love with Giselle, is wonderful; his acting is on par with his dancing- so expressive and precise, one can almost hear what he’s trying to convey. Both Hilarion and Giselle’s mother Berthe (Olivia Tang-Mifsud) try to worn Giselle of Albrecht’s deceitful nature, but she won’t listen.

If traditional classical ballet moves and dancers’ perfect form keeps Giselle true to the Romantic ballet era, what comes next sets it apart from most ballets of that time and their usual happy endings. When Giselle finally learns the truth about Albrecht, she becomes inconsolable, her love passion turns into heartache so severe her heart literally breaks; she collapses and dies. This day didn’t end so well after all.

Act II: no more fun and games, we’re at Giselle’s graveyard on the night of her burial. Lit up by very realistic-looking moon, the set is mysterious and lifeless. Motionless Hilarion is grieving Giselle’s death, when he’s suddenly frightened by Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis. According to German poet Henrich Heine, the legend of Wilis came from Slav folklore: the spirits of young brides who died before their wedding could not rest in peace because of their unfulfilled desire for dancing on their wedding day. Vengeful Wilis rise from their graves at night and attempt to lure young men and dance them to death. It is believed that the phrase “gave me the Wilis” comes from this legend.

The stage is quickly traversed by a side-way moving female dancer in a very spooky manner. Then, dressed in white wedding gowns with flower garlands in their hair, the Wilis show up. Though their dance is breathtakingly slow, dreamy and completely void of any emotion, they appear to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. The ballerinas join together in a circle creating a wispy fluff with their puffy dresses. Surreal feeling, created by the light (lighting design by Michael Mazzola), the subdued colors of the costumes and the Wilis’ seductive dancing is enough to give anyone the wilis.

Hilarion is sentenced to death by dancing and is subsequently thrown into the nearby lake. Albrecht enters looking for Giselle’s grave, and Giselle’s spirit appears to him. He begs her for forgiveness; fortunately, her love for him is unchanged and she protects him from the Willis who insists on dancing him to exhaustion. As the day breaks, Albrecht’s life is spared, the Wilis return to their graves, and Giselle’s spirit, freed from vengeance, returns to her grave and can now rest in peace. Unbelievably beautiful (and just in time for Halloween)!

Joffrey Ballet’s Giselle is being performed at Auditorium Theatre through October 29th. For more information visit http://www.joffrey.org/giselle.

The first time I went to the opera was in elementary school to see La Triviata. It was a school sponsored field trip that took kids to Los Angeles to see the opera, the symphony, museums, and the ballet, exposing them to the arts at an early age. Though I had no idea what was being said, or what I was really watching, I loved it, and not just because I wasn’t in class on a school day. The orchestra, the singers, the theater itself, it was all so grand for a child. Though I didn’t have the same reaction to the Lyric Opera on Friday, it was nonetheless that childhood experience that helped to shape my appreciation and love for the opera.

The Lyric Opera of Chicago opened its 2017 season with Orphée et Eurydice. The plot centers on Orphée (Dmitry Korchak), whose singing was so beautiful that it could charm the fierce guardians of the Underworld. Encouraged by the god of love, Amour (Lauren Snouffer), Orphée travels to Hades to bring his dead wife, Eurydice (Andriana Chuchman), back to earth. This opera was a powerhouse of talent with 60 members of the Lyric Opera Chorus, 47 members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra, and 43 dancers of The Joffrey Ballet all working to put on this production; not to mention the ushers, the ticket agents, the janitors, and more, just to stage this opera with a run time of a little more than 2 hours.

There wasn’t much to this opera lyric-wise. There are many repetitious lines to accompany the score, but very little substance despite being such an enthralling mythological story line. What made this opera worth seeing was the Joffrey Ballet. Their performance was one of the best I have seen from the company. They added movement and beauty to the opera, bringing visual clarity to the mythical worlds of Hades and Elysium. Overall, it was a spectacular engagement of the fine arts. A performance that should be enjoyed by the masses.

Unfortunately, the opera is inherently old and doesn’t attract the masses. It’s target audience is old. The theater it performs in is old. The Lyric Opera is currently fundraising in order to renovate its theater, but it hasn’t had much luck. Tickets prices are exorbitant and the people who can afford to go are old. Like any passing of the guard, the opera needs to focus on reaching out to the next generation of opera-lovers, otherwise their primary patrons will be gone within the next decade or so with few people left to appreciate, or afford, the opera. And that’s why exposure at a young age is so vital. You’ll be hard pressed to find many millennials who say “I love the opera” or even “I’m going to the opera!” Just in my immediate circle of friends and co-workers, very few people had even seen the opera. What the Lyrics Opera should do is work with local school districts; bus kids in from all area of the city and the surrounding area to see performances throughout their season. They should offer discount nights in order to attract new audiences, or play the show live in the park for discounted tickets or free; anything to increase opera’s fan base and expose the art to different audiences the most important of those being youths. I was lucky as a child to have had the opportunity to see the opera, and I’ve been lucky to have gotten to see shows as an adult. I only hope the Lyric Opera of Chicago does community outreach like this, or increases its outreach or I fear, like Eurydice, it will die, only there might not be an Orphée around to save it.

Remaining performance dates for Orphée et Eurydice are Oct. 12th and 15th at 2pm. For tickets and information call (312) 827-5600 or go to lyricopera.org/orphee.

The Joffrey Ballet closes its 2016-2017 Season with Global Visionaries featuring works of international ballet visionaries: Russian born choreographer Yuri Possokhov with The Miraculous Mandarin, Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman with Joy, and Colombian-Belgian choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa with Mammatus.

The show opens with sexy, dark The Miraculous Mandarin. It’s a disturbing tale of a girl forced to act as a decoy by thugs, luring men into her room, only to be robbed and kicked out. The girl (immensely talented dancer Victoria Jaiani who moves with otherworldly grace and can possibly express just about any emotion with her body or even a subtle turn of the head) seduces men with her beauty, and then turns them over to her “friends” who finish the job. The wealthy mandarin (wonderfully performed by Yoshihisa Arai) is her last victim. He is cool and composed, like a Kung Fu master, but falls hard for the girl, and refuses to let go of her even when her deceitful nature is reveled to him. There’s nothing abstract about this performance: there’s an engaging plot, and all seven characters are extremely well developed; the brutality of the Chinese man’s murder is quite uncomfortable. Set to Bela Bartok’s score composed in 1918-1919, this “pantomime grotesque” was based on a magazine story of that time. Premiered November 27, 1926 in Cologne, Germany, it caused a scandal and was subsequently banned on moral grounds. Yuri Possokhov has created this work specifically for The Joffrey Ballet in collaboration with Cleveland Orchestra, which premiered in March 2016 in Cleveland. This is the Chicago premiere with Chicago’s own Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Joffrey Music Director Scott Speck providing live accompaniment on stage.

Here comes Joy! Alexander Ekman’s piece is original and playful, its delightful silliness reminiscent of a circus show. It opens with the stage brightly lit and slippery, crowded with dancers acting like happy children on a playground: they run and slide around, walk upside down, dance and act out while wearing suits. When prompted, everyone strips down to flesh colored underwear and things get even less serious. There’s a pack of gorgeous female ballerinas dropping their shoes on the floor in unison, like some bratty toddlers. They are childish and gracefully feminine, all at the same time. A very young audience member sitting next to me (she was around four-years-old) found the sketch very entertaining: she laughed the entire time. Joy is a ballet/ mixed media of sorts, with voice narration and the dancers having speaking parts. It’s unexpected, whimsical and energetic; a pure joy. Set to a mix of modern music featuring selections from Grammy-nominated Brad Meldau Trio, experimental rock band Django Django, Tiga’s pop hit Shoes, and Moby.

The final part of the event, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa‘s Mammatus, is a stimulating twenty-minute abstract piece featuring twenty dancers in a series of ensembles and duets. Right away, there’s a thunder on the stage, then the music begins ("Weather One" by composer Michael Gordon). The music is sharp and urgent, the frantic forceful strings giving it that old world quality. The costumes (designed by Dieuweke Van Reij) are stylishly black, enveloping dancers’ hands and making them look animal or bird-like. The dancers’ movements are precise and fast, there isn’t much emotion here, just breathtaking fluidity of ever changing shapes and positions. Towards the end, a dance pair clad in all white comes in; their dance is sensual and full of grace. Is it possible that the contrast between the colors and the styles of dancers allude to the duality of our reality: the good and evil, the light and darkness, the emotion and thought?

Joffrey’s Global Visionaries is being performed at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University: April 26-May 7, 2017. For more show information, or to purchase tickets, click here.  

There's nothing more cloying than an evening of bad holiday theatre. Each December countless Chicago theaters put up their annual Christmas shows. Some are better than others. For a reliable standard, Joffrey Ballet's "Nutcracker" is a safe bet.

For 2016, Joffrey presents an entirely new version of the classic Tchaikovsky ballet. Conceived by English choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, this new production is sleek and tailor-made for Chicago. An interesting variation on ETA Hoffman's original Russian fairy tale. In this version, Marie is from a working class family and it's set during the construction of the Chicago World's Fair. The dance sequences in the second act are Clara's dreams of what the Columbian Exposition will hold. Wheeldon's aesthetic borrows from holiday favorites like "A Christmas Carol" and "Meet Me in St. Louis" Sets by Julian Crouch combine the classic imagery of the original and newer conventions like projections. Accompanied by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, this "Nutcracker" is a little more grown up than the pastel versions you might remember.

The talent will be of no surprise to Joffrey regulars. Dancing the part of Marie is Amanda Assucena. Her performance portrays the lead character with a more teenage curiosity about romance. Miguel Angel Blanco dances a variation of Uncle Drosselmeyer, otherwise known as the Impresario of the Fair. It's playful and a little creepy. In the dream sequence, Christine Rocas and Fabrice Calmels turn up the heat as the Arabian Dancers. Wheeldon's choreography creates quite a spectacle and the large cast sequences are magical.

For those bored with run-of-the-mill "Nutcrackers" (a dime-a-dozen this time of year), this brand new production at The Joffrey will leave an impression. It's refreshing to see a local cultural institution take what they know works and turning it on its head. If only more of Chicago's tried and true holiday shows would take the same path, maybe we wouldn't dread them so much.

Through December 30th at Joffrey Ballet. 50 East Congress Parkway. 

I haven't enjoyed a full night of dance as much as these three pieces presented by Joffrey Ballet at the Auditorium Theatre in a very long time, the first a world premiere and two marvelous pieces back by popular demand.

The world premiere is Ashley Page’s Tipping Point. Page refers to Adès’ music as the “primary investigator”, transforming its dark, dramatic tones into physical form. “It’s not easy to write so specifically about an abstract dance work that hasn’t been created yet,” he said, “but I want to stress that this will not be a narrative ballet… My task as choreographer is to try to harness this complex, often powerfully dark material and make it ‘visible’ to the audience.” And Ades does just that.

In Tipping Point twelve dancers, sometimes in pairs or groups of three, sway and are swept away by the music in beautiful free flowing gowns which reveal a hint of red or orange colors each time they leap, which is very powerful to watch. 

Although Page mentions this piece is not a "narrative" one, it does seem to allow the audience to unleash our own inner narratives while watching especially as it ends with a couple "trapped' or perhaps "saved" in what seems to be a box made entirely of white light. 

With lush, yet melancholic music by Benjamin Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem, Jiří Kylián’s 1981 creation (performed by the Joffrey four years ago) its inspiration is Edvard Munch’s Dance of Life portrait from 1899 of a group of women staring hopefully at the sea.

In "Forgotten Land" six couples move in and among each other, sometimes dancing with modern and complex movements of joy and other times pulling apart in anger. It seems that all are haunted by some memories of loved ones and sometime delight and revel in their memories - while other times they are overcome with despair defeated or aggravated by the same ghosts floating like foam put of the gray seas  painted on the massive backdrop behind them.

The story ballet RAkU is artistically honest and truly narrative with a smashing score by Shinji Eshima. RAkU retells with beautiful video screens and exquisite choreography the torching of Kyoto’s Golden Pavilion in 1950, the work of an evil monk sexually obsessed with the Emperors wife. With the emperor away engaged in battle, the Monk takes advantage of the lonely Empress and after a frantic dance to get away from what seemed a dance meant to comfort her, she is raped by the priest, thrown finally way up against a giant white wall like a butterfly finally pinned into a glass case. Then the monk sets fire to her castle which was also her temple and their home. 

When her dutiful soldiers return and find her in this bedraggled state, using her last sword as a cane in order to crawl across the stage as if she still believes she has the strength to avenge her family, they have the awful duty of presenting her with a box full of the ashes of her own home and possibly the Emperor himself.

It is a moment in ballet that I will never forget when the Empress, played with magnificent emotion and perfection to craft and detail by the phenomenal Victoria Jaiani, takes down her jet black hair and pours the white ashes her own face and body before succumbing to her wounds with one last graceful breath and the deathly uncurling of her graceful white fingers and legs. Brava! 

I highly recommend seeing the well-chosen pieces in "Bold Moves" for a full night of dance that will leave you feeling both refreshed and deeply moved at the same time.