Mitchell Oldham

Prelude to a Cruise 1: Cape Town

February 28, 2019 by Mitchell Oldham

Victoria and Albert Waterfront – Cape Town

There are places in the world that let you know immediately how closely we’re connected and Cape Town is one of them. Seventeen hours by air from the United States, three-quarters of an entire day, it is on the surface very much like what a large American city looks like with its solid infrastructure and its thriving tourism economy. Even within the throes of a dire drought, the city continues to bustle with little evidence of its desperate prospects.

Most city dwellers love urban life and they often look for its pleasures when they travel. People from around the world flock to Cape Town during the region’s summer months of November through February. Every day during peak season, 180,000 of them of them end up at the Victoria and Albert Waterfront, a sprawling playground of shops and restaurants that lacks the gaucheness of San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf and exudes a carefree open air European chic. Wonderfully talented musicians like the Ilitha Lelanga Marimba Ensemble and exotic mimes compete to enthrall out of towners with the electric pulse of their sound or the eerie realism of the motionless characters they’re impersonating.

Walking distance from downtown, the Waterfront is just as popular with locals; much in the way Chicago’s Navy Pier remains an irresistible siren to its residents. It’s also where you’ll see the kind of cavalcade of faces that you won’t experience anywhere else on the globe. A place where worlds meet and a place that shows first-hand what humanity looks like when opposite worlds blend. Some of the most engrossing of them all are the native faces that carry the unmistakable look of place. Whether they are Zulu, Dinka, Sotho or another of the many tribes of South Africa, their features are distinct and beguiling.

The gastronomic side of the Waterfront features seafood and fast casual predominantly with a good representation of Italian cuisine. Not only are most restaurants geared to western tastes; most of them can be considered good to very good.

Venturing into the core of the city, a different profile emerges as people wait in queues for buses or walk purposefully along the streets. Here the diversity in faces virtually disappears and the harsher economics of the city come into sharper focus. The architecture of colonialism emerges along with the vestiges of South Africa’s apartheid past. It’s here you begin to see the city’s and the country’s complexity and glimpse some of the challenges that they face.

Robben Island docent and former political prisoner

Some of those challenges stem from one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions: Robben Island. Approximately 20 minutes by ferry from the glistening retail pomp of the Albert and Victoria Waterfront, the island has been in use since the 17^th century. Formerly a leper colony, Robben Island’s true notoriety comes from its use as a maximum-security political prison during the Apartheid period that began in the late 40’s and ended in 1990. Nelson Mandela, it’s most famous inhabitant, eventually rose to become the country’s president after 27 years of incarceration. Now ex-prisoners are docents, giving first person accounts of the types of lives they lived on the island.

Remote and stark, the island carries with it a sense of suspension; like some heinous memorialized purgatory. Walking the grounds, peering into the cells and listening to the guide’s accounts of daily life at the prison, you can also faintly discern the spirit and spirits of the facility. Not only the did the degradation perpetrated at the prison feel tangible, but reliance and strength the prisoners provided each other also become clear through the guide’s narrative. South Africa’s current political struggles leave the impression that Robben Island is as much tied to South Africa’s present as it is to its past.

With a towering 3500’ natural wall at its back, Cape Town also has natural beauty standing right at his shoulder. Table Mountain, with its two-mile-wide plateau at the very top is easily Cape Town’s most photographed attraction. More correctly, the views of Cape Town from the mountain’s summit rack up the most snaps. Although there are many who choose to climb the mountain to the plateau, the preferred mode of transport is a gentle cable car in continuous rotation from the foot of the mountain to its flat top. Crowds can get intense. Planning your visit to avoid peak attendance is highly recommended. If you find yourself in a two-hour queue for a descending cable car, you might question whether the captivating views were worth it. They are. But if you have an option to make the visit less tedious, maximize the quality of time you spend in Cape Town and do your homework on this one.

Next: Into the bush on an African Photographic Safari –

A Hit and a Miss Wrap Up Restaurant Week

February 14, 2019 by Mitchell Oldham

Strolling down memory lane during Restaurant Week (RW) can reap big rewards. It’s been decades since last dining at Topolobampo. Finally that experience and curiosity about how Rick Bayless rocks the yearly food fest became two incentives that drew us into this year’s campaign to fill the towns dining chairs. 2019’s winter vortex threatened to make the festival a bust and caused organizers to extend the “week” to 21 days. Topolobampo was on our hit list well before that happened.

Named after a small Mexican fishing village because of its spiffy name, the restaurant has become a well-regarded fixture on the city’s restaurant scene and sits at the pinnacle of Bayless’s dining empire. Noted not only for the authenticity of its dishes, Topolobampo is just as meticulous about using the best ingredients possible to make them. It’s this double fisted commitment that earned its Michelin rating and that keeps diners’ palettes dancing.

The restaurant’s stature could withstand a mediocre showing during RW. Smaller portions of reasonably good food would likely do little harm to the restaurant’s reputation. Bayless doesn’t take that approach and provides instead one of the best values to be found during the annual celebration.

The dining room may be even more beautiful than last remembered. Lights hang like stars over a beautifully stylized bar and add to the room’s feeling of shelter, privacy and casual posh. The lunch crowd on yet another glacial day in February is a mixed bag of sophistication and utility. The wait staff, lopsided. When asked for recommendations, the woman handling our table said, a bit dismissively, that we didn’t want her opinion. She remained taciturn and cautiously condescending throughout the meal. Her comrade taking care of tables just beyond ours was nothing but sunshine and graciousness. Sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw that determines what kind of service you get. Fortunately, the menu; not the service, lured us to Clark St. that Thursday afternoon.

Soup, quesadillas and tapioca don’t sound terribly groundbreaking. But just like anything else; in the right hands, even the mundane can “poof”, become marvelous. The sopa azteca’s pasilla chili-based broth certainly proved a subtle knockout with its thin homemade masa crisp lid. The quartet of shrimp filled tacos wowed the eyes first. Then got all gratifying with the tongue. As an appetizer, they were a hearty well appreciated roll out to a wonderful lunch. Fresh and premium quality ingredients turned out to be the hallmarks of the opening courses and everything that followed; especially the carne asada. The $12 additional charge was well worth the investment. Drizzled with an Oaxacan black mole, creamy braise of heirloom mushrooms and mezcal infused radishes, indulgences rarely come so delectable or bountiful.

Delicious as they were, the pork quesadillas did disappoint. The quality of the tortillas, salsas, cheese and pork were unassailable. Unfortunately, the protein was not evenly distributed throughout the four wedges. A regrettable surprise but one that only slightly dented the pleasure quotient.

Offering both the novel and the classic for dessert, diners could choose between innovative uses of fruit or chocolate. Door number one held layers of small coconut flavored pearls resting under a sweet ball of lime sorbet. The two distinct tastes made them both bold and distinctive. Door number two opened with two scoops of ice cream and a rich Mexican brownie that would make any sweet tooth feel pampered.

If only Bellemore the following day had proved as rewarding. Just a year old, the restaurant’s something of a media darling. Chef Jimmy Papadopoulous caviar-topped oyster pie received glowing coverage during the latter part of last year and remains a highlighted feature on the menu. During restaurant week it was the Icelandic Cod with harissa charred eggplant that caught our attention. We were counting on the restaurant’s reputation for boldness and innovation to make the dish memorable. It turned out that the first course’s vegetable soup; with its radishes, carrots, kale and beans made a more lasting impression. Another first course option, sweet potato tater tots with parmesan aioli delivered on taste but was meager.

Regrettably, Bellemore’s RW menu was more appealing on paper.

In a merry mood and remembering an outstanding cocktail prepared at the restaurant in November, we decided to ask for the bar’s rendition of an old fashioned; a cocktail called To the Point. At $18, its sticker price was just $6 under the cost of the three-course fixed rate lunch. But past knowledge and the competent reputation of Bellemore’s mixologists proved strong motivators. Neither as complex or as intriguing as hoped for, the highest praise you could give it is competent.

But that’s what makes restaurant week so pleasing, you’re never quite sure what going to happen when you slip into one of those dining chairs organizers are so anxious for you to occupy. And a home run three out of four times at bat will keep you swingin’ every time Restaurant Week rolls around.

Rendezvousing with Explorer – The Flight

February 14, 2019 by Mitchell Oldham

When boarding takes place in cities whose renown rests in a storied history, adventure or exoticism, many cruise lines will offer excursions that brings travelers closer to the distinguishing aspects of the locale. They also provide opportunities to explore cities freestyle by selecting hotel accommodations well situated for walking and discovering.

Even more strategically, business class air options are often built into the cost of the cruise. Lines will routinely provide a credit if you choose to make your own arrangements but the credit often does not result in a savings and can result in a greater expense. And you can always upgrade from business to first class at your own expense.

First class on British Airlines means spaciousness, exaggeratedly attentive service and good food. With a flight time of eight hours between Chicago and London, the trip across may not be Concord quick but it’s still considered short. Boarding at 8pm and arriving early the following morning, a gourmet dinner, a seat that converts to a bed with sheets and blankets and a complimentary pair of pajamas are all intended to insure a restful as well as a pampered experience.

The eight-hour layover in Heathrow may have been inconvenient and tedious, but it provided yet another chance to see how differently cities look from the vantage point of its airports.

London’s Heathrow International Terminal looks more like Chicago’s Michigan Ave. than it does an airport terminal. It’s the energy that gives it a patina of vibrancy. Bustling with shoppers, its aisles are more like streets lined with every haute couture franchise you can imagine. Herme’s, Prada and Gucci; as well as every other name associated with luxury and glamour, have sparkling little outposts teeming with bling.

Dollars are accepted as well as the British pound but change will only be provided in local denominations. Visa, MC and Amex remain the true international currencies. If it doesn’t come as part of your airfare, paying the going rate for access to an airline’s club facility (usually $50) might be worth your while. Some even have showers and sleep rooms. All have food. Compared to Heathrow, the British Airways club lounge in Chicago O’Hare airport is a meager but perfectly functional affair. Although in London there are several hot options from soups to entrees, virtually all of it was very disappointing. The offerings were more like food facsimiles rather than satisfying nutrition options.

An eleven-hour business class flight from London to Cape Town constituted the last leg of the rendezvous with Explorer and the difference in aircraft getting us there couldn’t have been more stark. Reclining seats were oddly arranged and it was often necessary to awkwardly climb over another passenger’s feet to visit the washroom. Flight xxxx also was showing its age with molding around one of the crew’s storage bins becoming loose and dangling dejectedly over the aisle. Even though an air of age and use pervaded the entire cabin, the feeling was one of watching a seasoned workhorse continue to perform soundly and reliably. Both first and business class categories offer full body reclining seats but even by lying completely flat and being provided covering, capturing real sleep was hard, even when exhausted. That said, coach is coach and quarters are even more confining. Your age, resources and maybe even your curiosity should guide final category buy decisions

Is High End Cruising for You?

February 8, 2019 by Mitchell Oldham

The age of elegant cruising when women hopped on board beautiful ocean liners with ten steamer trunks stuffed with gowns and men never went to dinner without a tux are long gone. But fashion evolution is about the only thing that’s changed about cruising. Its popularity remains immense now that the cost to meander on the high seas fits just about any pocket book. Growing with every new season, there are enough niches in the industry to capture any interest. Fitness cruises, holiday cruises, singles cruises, entertainment cruises and cruises for the disabled tell you why the industry can thump its chest and croon about its 40 billion dollars in annual revenues. One segment that is making a not so surprising resurgence are lap of luxury cruises that push the boundaries of sophistication and service.

Seven Seas Explorer. On the coast of St. Helena photo KJ Stone

A no holds barred January vacation provided a glimpse into what that world is like. For those with the means to escape winter by dipping below the equator for a month may find this series illuminating. The complete itinerary includes a journey to Cape Town South Africa, an unforgettable wild life safari, a two week westward voyage across the Atlantic on with stops in Namibia and the remote island of St. Helena before ending in explosively vibrant Rio de Janerio. These observations will give you a sense of how adventure can be grafted onto a luxury sea cruise.

Billing it as“the most luxurious ship ever built”, initially critics thought Regent Seven Seas was taking a big gamble two and a half years ago when it launched Explorer. They doubted the market could sustain such pronounced opulence that includes sumptuous cabin appointments, quietly stunning common areas, multiple exceptional dining options and service that’s as discreet as it is impeccable.

Regent’s five ship fleet was already courting the upper reaches of the cruising market before Explorer joined the pack. Based out of Miami and owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines, Regent recently invested $125 million dollars in refurbishment costs to bring the rest of the fleet in line with the “all balcony, all suite” Explorer which went into service in July 2016.

The all-inclusive pricing structure of luxury cruising ranks as one of its most overwhelming draws. Couple never having to reach for your wallet with pervasively posh beauty and service so polished to approach elegance, it’s really no wonder why traveling of this style has a strong appeal.

The Plan

Every trip starts with a wish and a plan. If it’s on the planet and has a port, there’s a cruise that will get you there. Having spent years enjoying the pleasures of boarding a ship, unpacking and being chauffeured from one exotic location to the next without having to pack again and change hotel rooms, it was time to do it in style. A PBS program on the making of the Regent Explorer and an accidental upgrade a few years ago to a sumptuous boutique cruise line in Alaska propelled the craving.

Then the question became “where”. Settling on a photographic safari in Africa, the last piece in the puzzle became “how”.

For both convenience and ease of management, cruise lines specialize in packages. They can include everything from the cruise itself, the airline arrangements to get to the ship, excursions at the ports of call, hotel accommodations, and ground transportation. And, despite their being more expensive, most guests take advantage of them for sheer expedience.

Next: Rendezvousing with Explorer

Yoko – Zuna’s Voyager Worth the Ride

January 10, 2019 by Mitchell Oldham

Sometimes when music so completely reflects the world we live in through sound, it can leave us a little baffled. And because Yoko – Zuna embodies so many musical forms beyond the progressive contemporary, the forward-thinking band can initially seem incomprehensible. Out of Auckland, New Zealand, the foursome is like a chameleon with an electronic core that can slide easily into other musical territories like jazz, hip hop and stadium rock. That’s why you almost need a song of entry to better appreciate their art. One that will make you want to listen more closely so that you can more easily unlock the band’s musical code.

For us that song was Voltron a little beyond their new album’s Voyager’s mid-point. It’s the track that unleashed so much controlled energy and launched a barrage of hypnotic power vocals that close the track. That thrust got picked up again on Television; a cut that leaves you awed at the group’s prowess at being staggeringly delightful musicians. Along with Northvov, the all too short epilogue featuring sterling guitarist Kenji Iwamitsu – Holdaway, these three songs provide solid footing for enjoying the musical handiwork of some impressively creative and remarkably innovative young musicians. ffffff

The Great (Art) Migration

December 3, 2018 by Mitchell Oldham

Driven by need or opportunity, people have been packing up and leaving long established digs to find brighter futures elsewhere for millennia. Most of these odysseys have gone completely unheralded; occurring quietly and in virtual obscurity. Thanks to an imaginative and multi-focused exhibition currently on show at the Museum of Contemporary Art, we see the results of one very extraordinary relocation by a special group of people; artists.

Jerry McMillan, Joe Goode, Jerry McMillan (self-portrait), and Ed Ruscha with Ed’s 39 Chevy, 1970. Courtesy the artist and Craig Krull Gallery.

West by Midwest is a visual record of the artists who picked up stakes all over the Midwest and headed west to California for the chance to breathe life into their artistic dreams.

Documentation of Anna Halprin and Lawrence Halprin’s Halprin Summer Workshop, 1966 and 1968. Day Thirteen, July 13, 1968: Kentfield, Ritual Celebration The Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania, by the gift of Lawrence Halprin.

Route 66, that hallowed remnant connecting Chicago to Los Angeles in the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s functioned as a yellow brick road carrying all kinds of dreamers, including artists, to California’s golden promise of a new life. Later, Dwight Eisenhower’s massive interstate highway system introduced in the mid-50’s simply made resettlement all the more feasible.

For artists, with the city’s art scene still in its infancy, Los Angeles in the 50’s became the destination of chose. Early arrivals like Ed Ruscha and Mason Williams left their native Oklahoma City to find others like themselves along LA’s La Cienega Boulevard looking for the freedom to redefine what art could be. It wasn’t long before works that were beautiful, intriguing, challenging and innovative began exploding in concentrated enclaves around LA. An extensive array of the work created by those early colonizers is on display in the MCA exhibit as well as the art of much more recent inventive migrants to the coast.

Judy Chicago, Sky Sun from Flesh Gardens series, 1971. Courtesy the artist, Salon 94, New York, and Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco © 2018 Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Not only is the show’s chronological span impressive, its breadth of coverage is gratifyingly inclusive. Highlighting the collaborative support artists extended to one another by opening shared studio space, sponsoring neighborhood workshops and spoon feeding much needed encouragement to one another, narrative accompanying the artwork paint a picture of a community that sustained itself.

It was in this nourishing climate that all types of art began to develop and flourish. Women artists like the exciting Judy Chicago found a haven where they could thrive and do art unfettered by expectations or conceptual restrictions. As encompassing as it was encouraging, a panoply of artists, including black, Latin and artists who explored the margins of society through photography could be found among those making up this diaspora of the imagination.

Senga Nengudi, Freeway Fets, 1978. Courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Gallery, New York and Thomas Erben Gallery, New York Photo: Quaku/Roderick Young.

Perhaps in a bid to showcase the exhibit’s reach, the pieces assembled in the show, many of them from the museum’s archival vaults, boasted a broad and handsome range. Elegance as expressed in the art of Charles White or Judithe Hernandez is displayed just a few feet from the arresting, thought provoking and, to some, confrontational art created by David Hammons. Steps from Hammons, another wall holds the culturally surreal photography of Senga Negundi.

Amanda Ross-Ho, Cradle of Filth, 2013. © Amanda Ross-Ho Courtesy of the artist; Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York; and Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago.

Humor, feminist consciousness, and the meticulous reimagining of the common place as seen in Amanda Ross – Ho’s five-foot-high backpack, Cradle of Filth; inspired by one she found on the street, all find expression in the exhibit that took well over a year to assemble, document and finally mount. By including art work from a host of disciplines, painting, sculpture, photography and video; West by Midwest is ultimately a fascinating homage to the fruits of self-actualization and one that will delight to the end of its run late January next year.

West by Midwest

Nov 17, 2018 – Jan 27, 2019

Museum of Contemporary Art

220 E. Chicago Ave.

Chicago, IL 60611

312-280-2660

A & A Ballet’s Art Deco Nutcracker Finds Perfect Balance of Charm and Polish

December 3, 2018 by Mitchell Oldham

Created from a Russian fairy tale and set to music by Tchaikovsky in the early 1890’s, the indispensable Christmas classic, The Nutcracker, wasn’t performed in the United States until 1944. Today, many consider it as much a part of the holiday season as a Christmas tree. Despite its unflagging popularity, the innocence and purity of romance the ballet embodies is not familiar to everyone. A + A Ballet’s appealing and refined production at the Studebaker Theater over the weekend counts as one of the most endearing introductions to this classic as you’re likely to find. For those who’ve seen this holiday staple performed countless times, the A + A performance was so suffuse with youth and impressive dance talent that it would win over even the most critical eye.

Products of the Bolshoi, where elegance and technical perfection remain paramount, both A + A Ballet’s President and Director, Alexei Kremnev and Anna Reznik, bring that indefinable something that permeates Russian ballet to the company’s The Art Deco Nutcracker. Kremnev arranged the choreography and must be commended not only for the purity and simplicity that saturated the production but also for injecting just enough dramatic interest to not only enliven but also excite.

Characterized by restrained beauty, the evening’s visuals glowed with an ethereal quality that’s so well suited to fantasy. Enhanced by choreography that accentuated the softness of illusion and mounted on a stage that evoked a bygone past, the ballet took on a life of its own and seemed to make time disappear.

Seeing so many young dancers ply their natural gifts and dance training so beautifully and confidently made the two-hour performance whiz by and kept the sense of anticipation pleasingly high. Invariably that anticipation would be rewarded with one treat after another. Both Grace Curry as Clara and Katherine Williams as Sugar Plum were ideal in their dance sequences and wonderfully matched with their respective dance partners, Michael Sayre and Jose Sebastian. Jasmine Wheeler’s Arabian solo in the second act deserves special mention as well for its flawless poetry of movement.

In a contained performance like The Art Deco Nutcracker, care must necessarily be taken in what to highlight. Here costumes were placed at the forefront projecting all that is lush and extravagant. As the show’s wardrobe director and costume designer, Laura Skarich applied a cleverly sophisticated touch to the entire performance; ever mindful of bringing aesthetic pleasure to young and old alike. From William’s stunning lamé body suit in the Arabian segment to the impishly upswept white wigs children wore during the finale and the many impactful flourishes she scattered throughout the production, it was clear a very talented hand was at work.

Missteps were few and kept the performance gently tethered to the imperfections of real life.

The Art Deco Nutcracker

Nov 30 – Dec 2, 2018

The Studebaker Theater

401 S. Michigan Ave.

Chicago, IL 60605

aacenterfordance.org

312-545-2142

Rewards of Struggle Honored in Eclipse Inge Production

November 25, 2018 by Mitchell Oldham

Rubin (Chris Daley) and Cora (Aneisa Hicks), Scott Dray, photography

Eclipse Theater ends its season of William Inge with perhaps the playwright’s barest and most personal work; a rework of his first professional play with autobiographical overtones. The Dark at the Top of the Stairs opens in tension and exists in struggle. It’s also a journey into the unknown that’s familiar to everyone; making it both relevant and relatable.

Most of us have a piece of life that remains either an open question, a source of doubt or an unfulfilled hope or dream. In Inge’s 1957 play set in the early 20’s, he reminds us that those doubts are all a part of who we are.

Although the play’s progression reveals the angsts and anxieties of its main characters, it orbits most intimately around the mother of an Oklahoma family who, although she married very young, is clearly devoted to and very much in love with her traveling salesman husband. Not yet 35, with a 16-year-old daughter, Reenie (Destini Huston) and a 10-year-old boy Sonny (James Leonardi), her concerns for her family extend beyond the everyday. Neither of her children are adapting well to life. Rennie is introverted and seems to cower from reality’s demands. Her 10-year brother loses himself in movies and movie stars and is the victim of incessant bullying.

Eclipse often rattles convention and implements non-standard casting to contemporize and reimagine works from decades past. Here Cora Flood, very admirably played by Aneisa Hicks, is African-American. Rather than simply place a black actor into a role that would ordinarily be assigned to one who is white and leave the plot line unaltered, the story was tweaked to acknowledge the family as mixed. In 1922 Oklahoma, the Flood family would not only be considered highly unorthodox; it would have been illegal. Oklahoma passed anti-miscegnation laws in 1908.

Strangely, race seems to play virtually no role in the difficulties the children have in adjusting to the small town’s insulated social climate. That race may be weight in the marriage receives only a cryptic, “You didn’t want to marry me anyway”. A claim that could stem from any number of factors.

Flirt (Hilary Schwartz), Punky (Tony Rossi), Sonny (James Leonardi), Morris (John Arthur Lewis) and Sammy (Zacch Wagner) Scott Dray photography

Despite the confusing awkwardness in handling the racial component, the core of the play still shines rewardingly through thanks to the strength of its truths.

For the Floods those truths lie in what is valued. What makes Cora so compelling is her clarity in understanding what she treasures: her husband and her children. She also wants to be accepted by the social hierarchy so that her children might enjoy smoother passage into the world.

Being the stay at home parent whose partner is often absent carries its own burden. Burdens the play’s lead faces them with determined dignity. Perhaps it’s that reserve of inner strength that finally drives her to confront her husband about his infidelity. The scene is searingly dramatic and thunders with authenticity. When her husband Rubin (Chris Daley) strikes her and leaves, it’s not clear whether he’ll be coming back.

In some adaptations of The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, Cora’s conflicted about whether to stay with her husband or to leave him. Not here. She may need to find other ways to survive if he doesn’t return, but reconciliation; one that recognizes and respects her own value is what she truly quietly craves.

By placing the mother’s strength opposite her daughter’s weakness and her husband’s obstinacy; the playwright makes her an unwitting yardstick for living and gifts the play moral force.

Sammy (Zach Wagner) and Reenie (Destini Huston), Scott Dray photography

And rather than letting Reenie stew benignly in her shyness, the work shows that losing ourselves in our own regrets can have lasting and sometimes tragic consequences. She didn’t trust the brightness and warmth a brief glimpse at what romance showed her. Her decision to continue to coddle self became deadly. Zachery Wagner as Sammy Goldenbaum, Reenie’s blind date convincingly wore the pain of an emotionally neglected kid exiled to boarding school. One who still put a smile on his loneliness to give hope to those he saw carrying pain similar his own.

When Cora sister Lottie (Sarah-Lucy Hill) shows up with her dentist husband to provide emotional support, we also see how relationships can become so mired in routine and suffer from such a lack of vigor that they ossify and become mere shadows of what they should or could be. Lottie’s buoyancy turns out to be nothing more than bravado hiding a moribund marriage.

A visual coup, Eclipse’s The Dark at the Top of the Stairs carried mood and sense of place beautifully. The use of silhouettes to heighten anticipation added an element of drama that gave a wonderful feel of rightness to the production. As did the accent Hicks devised in her pivotal role as Cora. That gentle southern hill country twang rang with pleasant genuineness that translated into credibility and invited empathy.

The Dark at the Top of the Stairs

Eclipse Theatre Company

Nov 15 – December 16, 2018

The Athenaeum Theatre

2936 N. Southport Ave.

athenaeumtheatre.com

773-935-6875

Dance Comes of Age

November 20, 2018 by Mitchell Oldham

Convergence in the world of dance can be rare. This past weekend’s summit at the Auditorium Theater brought together three quite different dance companies and shed new light on what contemporary dance looks like in an age glistening with technology.

Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, the oldest and most traditionally grounded company of the three; and one that embeds African American influences into the contemporary dance aesthetic, launched what was to feel like a mini-festival.

The other two companies, Visceral Dance and Ate9, distinguish themselves by being much more progressive and, in the case of Ate9, bring shiny new concepts into the mix that radically alter the visual perception of what dance is and can be.

All of the performances proved entertainment juggernauts. And in many ways they all shared two alluring traits; boldness and strength.

Deeply Rooted’s passionate Until the Lambs Become Lions was the first hint at how effective those two characteristics work together. The dance gave each of these properties even more impact by channeling their force through women; effectively reinterpreting the definition of power.

Using the male rather than the female form as its initial focus, Deeply Rooted then flipped the equation by closing with an older work, Heaven, that turned sensuality into a vehicle for promoting human coexistence. There was nothing languid or passive in the music used to carry this message. Drum beats loaded with as much heat as brawn broke through the background to carry the dance in warp speed; all the while retaining and re-enforcing the essence of the Deeply Rooted style.

Amazingly young to be so accomplished, Nick Pupillo founded the relentlessly progressive and endlessly impressive Visceral Dance Chicago just five years ago. Like Ate9, Visceral performed but a single piece, Soft Spoken. A work created this year by Pupillo. With dancers walking, gliding and running across the stage in profile, you’re first struck by the near requisite leanness of dancers’ bodies. Bodies molded by craft. They were like machines on display idling patiently before being called into service. That call came quickly with the full company eventually moving into the core of the work. Crisp, poised, confident; they were like an orchestra performing at its zenith before transitioning into a series of provocatively choreographed duets. Each one was startling because so much got packed into the tiny narrative being danced before your eyes. Each told its own tale of lovers torn between the constants of desire and doubt. Only here, you could sense the realness in the experience whether they were dancing to Sinatra’s Stranger in the Night or to Judy Collins’ melancholy whispers. Elegant, sleek and radical within the lines, Visceral Dance Chicago has all the markings of a major player and one that stimulates as much curiosity as it does excitement.

The same is true for Ate9, the West coast company who closed the night’s Auditorium showcase. Fascinating in their approach to dance, Ate9 merges elements of conventional contemporary dance with concepts more at home in the world of improvisation. Rather than the dancer relying on their own instincts to define and determine their movements, they look to the choreographer or artistic director for guidance on how to interpret what they are asked to do. The process is an entrée to highly innovative dance.

Known as gaga, the approach also creates an environment where the profile of athleticism in dance is raised, even celebrated. Jordan Lovestrand’s demonstration of how well suited lithe can be to any body type was but one remarkable example.

Dancing to live music spilling from the creative wellspring of one man, Wilco’s Glenn Kotche, dancers stirred to life as robots or androids before gaining their stride and settling into pure virtuosic delight. Kotche, alternating between xylophone and drums, made music that was haunting, divine, funny and thrilling. The dancing matched his precociousness at every turn; often by making the awkward beautiful and the silly inspired.

Deeply Rooted Dance Theater

Visceral Dance Chicago

Ate9 Dance Company

November 16, 2018

The Auditorium Theatre

50 E. Ida B. Wells Dr.

Chicago, IL 60605

www.auditoriumtheatre.org

Relations – Flirting with Remarkable

November 10, 2018 by Mitchell Oldham

For those who have an inkling of the progressive and liberated world of improvisational dance, last weekend’s Relations performance on the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Neeson stage must have seemed momentous. Three marvels of the technique would be sharing a dance floor for the first time.

For those who have an appreciation of dance but don’t know what to do with the language of improvisation in that sphere, the performances would prove to be powerfully revelatory and endlessly entertaining.

Bebe Miller, Ishmael Houston-Jones and Ralph Lemon are all extraordinary entertainers in their own right and have each been practicing their art for forty years. In some cases, more.

Ishmael Houston-Jones, Them Photo: Ian Douglas.

How each of them found their way to such a personally expressive form of dance is enlightening and quite ordinary. For Houston Jones, modern dance; or technical dance, was something akin to an ill-fitting suit. Confining and a bit stiff, it didn’t allow him the freedom he craved in dance. Improvisational dance is movement in the moment. You’ll never do the same dance the same way and the audience will never see exactly the same performance twice. In many ways that’s the nature of dance itself. It’s very much a one-time experience even when you see Swan Lake for the millionth time. Time, place, and talent can all alter the performance in subtle but memorable ways. In improvisation, where the cerebral and the spiritual are as important as the physical, the dancer is guided by skill and trust in self.

With a gleaming turntable surrounded by a colorful array of vinyl album covers commanding the upper left hand corner of the stage; the audience, a study in casually refined chic, waited quietly Saturday night. Opening in silence, Miller mounted the floor alone and danced without music in free expression. She later enlivened the mood by putting on a wonderfully earthy and soulful version of Midnight Rambler. Houston-Jones and Lemon poised in wait at the rear of the stage like sentries at ease. It was from that night of soft beginnings that a fascinating evening of closeness, dance virtuosity and unqualified trust would come to full and bright bloom.

Performance view, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Ralph Lemon, and Bebe Miller: Relations, MCA Chicago November 2-3, 2018 Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago.

Alternating from solos to duets to all three dancing together; the dancers were like jazz in physical movement. One would be left alone on the stage to dance to music they’d place on the turntable. Another would later talk about a very personal episode in their life from a standing mic while the others danced their interpretations of the story. The technique injected a tidal wave of intimacy between the dancers that copiously overflowed through the audience as well.

And there was always the music to add color and vibrancy to the dancing and the atmosphere in the hall. Invariably it would be something undeniably cool. Something that would ride on virulent rhythms or sail on mellow beats that sometimes shared a close kinship to roots music. Or it would be contemporary and daring with the dancers always interpreting what they were hearing in fascinatingly unique ways.

Eventually, as the program progressed, a clear sense of how strikingly different each one of these dancers were from one another broke through. And you could see how their careers in this little known and understood tributary of dance make them close members of an uncommon family. It may not be customary for black American dancers to gravitate to a form that many consider so esoteric. But keep in mind, all of these performers came of age in the late 60’s and early 70’s when questioning and challenging convention came with the territory.

By adding physical contact, you take improvisational dance to a much higher rung. Sharing the floor with others who embrace the same love for intuitive spontaneity means that trust becomes the most important variable on the stage.

From the way they talked to one another, the way Lemon, who was barefoot, tied Houston-Jones’s shoelace to prevent a fall; or the way Bebe Miller cradled Lemon until he regained his center after his euphorically endless spin around the stage’s perimeter telegraphed how intently they were looking out for each other.

Dramatic lighting changes, the unifying cohesion of an intermission free performance and the sheer confidence and sense of self each one of these dancers radiated all combined to make for a remarkable experience.

Relations

Ishmael Houston – Jones, Bebe Miller, Ralph Lemon

Museum of Contemporary Art

Edlis Neeson Theater

Nov. 2 – 3, 2018

220 E. Chicago Ave.

Chicago, IL 60611

312-280-2660

mcachicago.org