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Dance Thu Jun 04 2015
Hubbard's Summer Series Set to Stun
Hubbard Street Resident Choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo in rehearsal for his Season 37 Summer Series world premiere. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is at it again, with a new, and highly anticipated, Summer Series performance. The program is composed of works rendered entirely by the company's resident choreographer, Alejandro Cerrudo, and promises to provide audience members with a whirlwind of emotions.
Cerrudo has been the company's resident choreographer since 2009, and is the first person to hold that title. He has since choreographed 13 pieces with Hubbard Street, two of which will be showcased in the Summer Series. The third and final piece of the program is a new work created by Cerrudo, making a total of 14 pieces he's choreographed with the company.
"Extremely Close" starts off the series with a bang. The work was Cerrudo's second piece for Hubbard Street, created in 2007 in collaboration with architecture students from the Illinois Institute of Technology. The collaboration resulted in an extremely engaging performance that utilizes *spoiler alert* enormous sliding white walls and pounds of pristine white feathers throughout. Combined with a stark black background, it's a thrill to watch. The Tribune describes it as "unsettling, foreboding, and mysterious."
"Little mortal jump," numbers 10 on Cerrudo's list of the works he's created over the years with Hubbard Street, and will also be featured in the Series. This piece is driven by the intent to tell a story through performance. There is no movement just for movement's sake. Dancers encounter a dreamlike state in the work, surrounded by an unknown, surreal place described by the Tribune as "technically rich and emotionally gripping." Stage and Cinema furthers that description by declaring "Little mortal jump" as "alternately whimsical, romantic, and classical."
The final portion of the program will be the world premiere of "Still in Motion". The new work will feature eight dancers, four men and four women.
Hubbard Street will be performing its Summer Series Thursday, June 11, to Sunday, June 14, at the Harris Theater in Millennium Park, 205 E. Randolph St. Tickets range from $25 to $77.