2 performances range from frenetic to fun

November 12, 2007|By Sid Smith, Tribune arts critic

Co-founders Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson bring to their Complexions Contemporary Ballet keen eyes for technical talent and a knack for attracting magnetic, spellbinding dancers.

There's enough talent to fuel a dozen companies, the spins, jumps, pirouettes and updated, quirky arabesques flying by in work after work during Saturday's performance at the Auditorium Theatre. Consider the bravura trio of Gary Jeter II, Jeremy Nedd and Bryan Arias, just an example, in the short, socially pungent work "Gone," set to Odetta and feverish in energy and power. Another technical blitz explodes in the "Gimme Some" selection in "Pretty Gritty Suite," a tribute to Nina Simone. That's not to overlook Christina Dooling's spiky, clubhouse edge in a pop solo to the White Stripes. As if that weren't enough, Richardson, one of the more acclaimed modern performers of our day, showed off his steely muscles and flowing expressiveness in a one-man tour de force to Prince.

Where the company falls short is its collection of choreography, most of it on Saturday's program by Rhoden. Rhoden amply shows off the diverse dancers and eulogizes their varied strengths. But he favors a driving, relentless, frenetic flow of disjointed moves -- his work masters spatial imagery at the cost of dramatic development. Works such as "Dear Frederic," an ambitious tribute to Chopin, don't build and grow so much as they assault. To his credit, he rarely falls back on ensemble synchronicity, on large crowds of dancers performing pleasurably together -- that familiar choreographic crutch. He goes for solos, duets, trios and the like, shrewd because he has so many top talents to showcase. Saturday's enthusiastic audience was wowed accordingly.

Rhoden's "Suite" is the most satisfying on this lineup, demonstrating his affinity for Simone's soulful, scorching relevance and his knack for unusual stage pictures. Though there are joyful moments, too, he'll also craft an ensemble image of loneliness where traditionalists might have the company on its feet, raising each other to the sky.

Also over the weekend, the plucky, fun-filled Chicago troupe Same Planet Different World marked its 10th anniversary with a collection of works from throughout its history. The program at the Ruth Page Center proved a beguiling celebration of wit and stark wisdom. Faye Driscoll's impish, idiosyncratic "Cold Blooded Old Times" blends Smog, the Little Rascals and Erik Satie for a saucy, vaudeville bouillabaisse. Cartoon moves and squeaky-voiced verbalizations are part of the recipe.

Kudos, too, to such austere, sobering works as Jan Erkert's "Antigamente," a beautiful elegy driven by leaps upward off the floor and to Same Planet founder Jason Ohlberg's dark, theatrical "Trinity," an evocative trio of two men and a woman drowning in an interview hinting of political oppression.

Though dating from 1997, Ohlberg's "Bella Pictures," a romantic male pas de deux, remains bold, as well as lovely, while Anna Simone Levin's "Mujeres Caidas" is an uproarious, sexy ode to beleaguered womankind, told through seductive moves and buckets of water ingeniously used as props. Tarah Brown, Connie Fagan, Liz Jenkins and Stephanie Martinez are funny and gorgeous in it.

The one disappointment came from the program's only new work, Ashleigh Leite's "The Drift League." Though blessed with costuming that binds the dancers hands to their sides, "League" indeed drifts and fizzles out. When the three dancers finally free their hands, it's more cop-out than epiphany.