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Dance Tue Oct 01 2013
Alejandro Cerrudo's Chicago Premiere of "Last" with Aspen Santa Fe Ballet
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet's bold vision - top global choreographers, distinctive groundbreaking works, and virtuoso dancers - has fostered a jewel of a dance company in the American West and beyond. Led by Artistic Director Tom Mossbrucker and Executive Director Jean-Philippe Malaty, the company returns to the Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph Street, for one performance only Saturday, October 5 at 7:30 pm.
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet has a long tradition of inviting guest choreographers to create pieces for their dancers and their upcoming performance at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance is no exception. Included in the program are works by international choreographers Jorma Elo and Cayetano Soto. Rounding out the program is Alejandro Cerrudo's Last. Cerrudo is the Resident Choreographer and a dancer with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Despite his regular choreographic presence here, this will be Chicagoans' first look at this work, a 2012 premiere, and the first time a company other than Hubbard Street has presented his work locally. Cerrudo's work is very approachable for the neophyte dance fan. (Disclosure: I actually work for Hubbard Street in fundraising during the day, so have seen a few of his pieces.)
Although he's based in Chicago, Cerrudo worked with the company for four weeks out in Aspen and was inspired by the experience of being in nature in Colorado. "Aspen is nature and green and hikes...it was beautiful. It was a great feeling to wake up every morning and have nature [all around] and then finishing work and having nature around you again." He said that working with a different company was great, but different in that the dance training of the dancers is different, "Ballet training is very hard...the sensations in ballet are very specific and you train your whole life to get those specific sensations."
Cerrudo is tight-lipped about the content and description of the piece. He wants it to remain a bit of a mystery, but will say that he has "specific moments of the piece that [he] really enjoy[s]." and that "...the music is really beautiful." He says that he prefers for the audience to interpret for themselves and access it with whatever viewpoint they bring. As someone who has become a fan of his work over the last two years, what I can tell you is this: expect magical moments and tiny filaments of lyrical beauty mixed with the complication of human relationships and an occasional wink with a twinkle in the eye.
