CheekyChicago

If Giordano: Move! reminded us of one truth about dance, that art form so often overlooked in the performance listings, we could sum it up very simply: Dance is hot.

The legendary Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago company unveiled three exciting new pieces at the Harris Theatre in Millennium Park on Friday night. Move proved the perfect title, as the energetic flurry of bodies on stage never seemed to cease throughout the evening, whether during a lively hip-hop-influenced group piece or a somber pas de deux.

We caught Giordano’s last show at the Harris in March. In that performance, the group’s rousing premier of Brand New Day used an onstage children’s choir, and an old-school, comedic piece bid farewell to the company’s outgoing Executive Director. If that evening centered on sweet hope and fond memories, this new line-up felt more passionate, sexy and raw.

After a crowd-pleasing opener (Jon Leher’s A Ritual Dynamic) came the first of the three premiers, Autumn Eckman’s commonthread. Chicago musician Dan Myers, who composed the score with John Ovnick, played electric violin on stage as five dancers twirled and leaped through complex choreography. This piece felt both touching and playful at once, with great chemistry between dancers.

Closing out the first act came another favorite from the Giordano repertoire, Rapture. Hypnotic electronic music gives this piece a dreamlike quality, as dancers embrace and climb all over one another through technically precise choreography. The second act opened with Give and Take, which offers a dark look at love as dance partners get downright brutal in power struggles.

Continuing the theme of troubled relationships came the second premier, Lindsey Leduc Brenner’s Gravity. Set to a modern Sara Bareilles ballad, this pas de deux epitomizes the emotional “dance” couples can go through without saying a word. In modern costumes – he’s in jeans and a t-shirt, she’s in a sexy nightie – the dancers move frenetically, as if in constant distress. The literal interpretation of Bareilles’ lyrics gives the piece an almost music-video feel, which some may find that too on the nose. But the dancers themselves (Craig Kaufman and Meredith Schultz on the night I attended) sold the hell out of this piece.

Choreographer Rennie Harris, of Philadelphia’s RHPM company, has been called the “Basquiat of the U.S. contemporary dance scene” for bringing hip-hop culture to the concert stage. True to form, the premier of Harris’ I Want You has the ensemble in a dance-off of sorts, complete with plenty of booty-shaking and the screeching of James Brown. Unsexy costumes (the girls are in suspenders and knee-socks) add a funny twist to the hot lyrics and moves. The audience clapped along and each performer got a chance to shine in solos.

This show was just a two-night engagement, but Giordano will perform Move! again at the Park West in January. In the mean time, you should check out the other world class dance companies on the calendar at the Harris. With its hip, industrial design, pristine sound and sightlines and roster of world class artists, the Harris has become a must-see venue in Chicago’s cultural scene.