**** Highly Recommended Joffrey Ballet’s Grainger Academy’s 14th Annual Winning Works, presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art, is a performance I await with great anticipation. It’s a chance to see brand new pieces by new choreographers, all ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab and Native American) artists, performed by up-and-coming dancers who get a chance to shine. This year’s program was absolutely fabulous! 4 BIG Spotlights
Each piece is preceded by a short video in which the choreographer explains his/her vision, while working with the dancers in the studio. The dancers for all five pieces are drawn from the Joffrey Studio Company, Ballet Trainee Program, Contemporary Ballet Trainee Program and the Conservatory Program.
Éclat. Photo by Katie Miller
Please note: the cast members I mention might be different from those at another performance.
The first piece, To Carry Our Own Names was choreographed by DaYoung Jung to music by Alfonso Peduto and Philip Daniel.
On a dark stage, the dancers move rapidly on and off stage. Unfortunately, the only illumination is a pair of floor-level spotlights (which hit me directly in the eye!) at the rear of the stage. With the dancers wearing black, it was very difficult to see. As the piece progresses, the lighting improves, and fast-moving, ever-changing, combinations – twos, threes, multiples – become completely visible.
Dancers: Gael Arturo Andrade Rodriguez, Rose Grim, William Hanford, Elsa Herr, Skyler Jarman, Jiyoung Kang, Ava Kinzler, Jake Lapham, Cassidy Leishman, Rowan Lindamood, Sophia Longid, Audrey Lyons, Elena Martinez Santamaria, Kross Michaels, Aoi Morohashi, Max Prince-Rosenberg, Paul Rivard, Uzay Usta
To Carry Our Own Names. Photo by Katie Miller
The second piece, Hushed Power, choreographed by Alexandra Schooling to Music Composition by Claude Debussy, Gregor Quendel, Christian Sinding and Anonymous Choir.
I thought this piece was just gorgeous with the dancers in smock-like lamé tops in harvest colors – gold, orange, and a blackish gold moving against a morning (yellow-orange) to evening (light blue) background. There was almost a yoga feel to this more traditional piece, with its highly synchronized and fluid movements.
Dancers: Paloma Bas, Georgia Blackwell, Zaria Johnson, Ariana Mendoza, Amelia Parkinson, Zoey Schmit, Luisa Suarez, Alizé Valencony, Adeline Vinson, Kate Waters, Gianna Zingone
Hushed Power. Photo by Katie Miller.
Piece #3, Visitors, is choreographed by Daniel Ojeda to Music Composition by Gideon Broshy with additional compositions by Cuba Quartet, Jeremy Steward, and The BOMB Pulse (Cuba Quartet / La Tierra Tuya / Courtesy of Epidemic Sound).
In this piece, a male dancer, wearing red socks with his gray coveralls, follows a female dance, into a crowd, all wearing plain gray. He tries to join the group repeatedly but he’s rejected. As he hangs around the fringes of the group, he joins in different dance styles until he’s chased away. He keeps trying to get her attention, even when she sits on a chair with her back turned.
Featured dancers: Elsa Herr and Jake Lapham
Dancers: Jacob Anderson, Gael Arturo Andrade Rodriguez, Ireber Bilbao, HannahJane Case, Ella Champion, Amelie Rose Clyde, Charlotte Deike, Jennifer Firschein, Alexiane Fivaz, Aria Geye, Rose Grim, William Hanford, Olivia Jalandoon, Skyler Jarman, Sophia Longid, Audrey Lyons, Elena Martinez Santamaria, Naranbaatar Myagmarsuren, Xiao Ortega Valverde, Paul Rivard, Abby Sanchez, Emma Tomlinson, Clair-Elise Villaflor, Abigail Welenc.
Visitors. Photo by Katie Miller
Éclat was choreographed by Julia Feldman to Music Composition by John Adams (presented under license from Associated Music Publishers, Inc., copyright owners}.
Éclat was my friend Helen’s favorite piece of the night. I couldn’t decide between Éclat and Hushed Power. Éclat is more traditional yet faster moving. The female dancers wore long white skirts with a kind of corset top while the men were wearing loose white shirts and grayish plants. Dancers seemed to be constantly running on stage, executing a ifts, a pirouette, a jeté or a leap before running off stage again. The one pas de deux was exquisite, the moment when every dancer's feet leave the floor - astonishing!
Dancers: Jacob Anderson, Gael Arturo Andrade Rodriguez, Aiko Arakaki, HannahJane Case, Rose Grim, Olivia Jalandoon, Jiyoung Kang, Ava Kinzler, Sophia Longid, Audrey Lyons, Sydney McAllister-Bowen, Aoi Morohashi, Naranbaatar Myagmarsuren, Meghan Ong, Paul Rivard, Allyson Schmitt-Vallejo, Uzay Usta
Éclat. Photo by Katie Miller
The final piece, A Strange House We Must Keep and Fill, is choreographed by Fran Diaz, Music Composition by Yantó.
I’m not sure what to call the dance style in this piece. It’s not ballet, it’s not modern, it’s was kind of but not quite hip hop, although the cast wore warm-up suits and sneakers. It was very angular and stylized, with staccato movements between the beats of very discordant music. Even though this was not my favorite piece, I must say that the dancers were totally in sync.
Dancers: Gael Arturo Andrade Rodriguez, Makenzie Agdeppa, Jennifer Firschein, Olivia Jalandoon, Skyler Jarman, Jake Lapham, Georgia Neal, Xiao Ortega Valverde, Ashlie Rohan, Tatiyana Subotnik, Reilly VerSchure, Clair-Elise Villaflor
A Strange House We Must Keep and Fill. Photo by Katie Miller
Winning Works runs through March 22nd in the Edlis Neeson Theatre at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Avenue, Chicago. Parking is available at a reduced rate with validation in the MCA garage. Running time is about 90 minutes with an intermission. Remaining performances: Thursday, March 19th at 7:30 pm, Friday, March 20th at 7:30 pm, Saturday, March 21st at 2:00 & 7:30 pm, and Sunday, March 22nd at 2:00 pm. FYI www.joffrey.org/winningworks.