Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Chicago Tribune - November 13, 2004
Lucia Mauro, Special to the Tribune
"MOVE!: A Half Evening in Three Movements," a collaborative dance-music-spoken-word piece conceived by artistic director Kevin Iega Jeff and associate artistic director Gary Abbott, charts the course of unbridled attraction, illness and redemption. A potent dance-drama, it is hindered by the creators' choice to place an intermission, then a very long pause, between each section. The gaps break the momentum and give the performance a fragmented, belabored feel.
"MOVE!" opens with a brief prologue of club denizens preening for a wild night out. This obvious introduction segues into "The Club," which moves from playful to predatory as dancers make uninhibited, empty connections.
"Jagged Ledges,"the second part, premiered at Chicago's DanceAfrica festival in 2003. It's the heart and soul of the trilogy, with its incorporation of the incendiary words of performance-poet Staceyann Chin (now performed by Shonnese C.L. Coleman, with her additional text) and the dancers clutching each other for answers and justice in the face of HIV/AIDS. A physical vocabulary -- that includes caved-in torsos, the wringing of hands and inert bodies -- conveys the staggering alone-ness of the disease. All leads up to the poet's final call: "We just have to be able to hold each other while we let ourselves go."
The work naturally progresses to "Heaven," where the 12 muscular performers cluster into the deepest rhythmic recesses of Anthony Moten's original revivalist score. The final portion radiates hope even as it reminds us that the AIDS crisis is still very much with us.
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Deeply Rooted Dance Theater performs through Saturday at the Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph Drive. Tickets: $20-$45. Call 312-334-7777.
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