Exquisite Joffrey at Harris

Joffrey headed across the Loop from their home at the Civic Opera House to present their touring program “Matters of the Heart” at the Harris Theatre in Millenium Park and boy was Chicago lucky to see this two ballet program.

First up was  Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s visually stunning Broken Wings, a ballet that celebrates  acclaimed artist Frida Kahlo in a way that references her iconic works without copying them. Danced by the spitfire Anais Bueno, it is a moving tribute to a woman whose work continues to inspire. Bueno is “partnered” by five intriguing skeletons and a surrealistic deer (Lucia Connolly) and surrounded by nine brightly clad Frida styled La Caterina’s  (a Day of the Dead symbol popularized by Frida’s husband, the artist Diego Rivera)and here  danced by men. Costume designer Dieuweke van Reij also designed the magic box set that becomes Frida’s bed, paintings and Blue House.  Chicago audiences are quite familiar with Frida’s work so that the visual Easter Eggs throughout this ballet are wondrous and satisfying. The choreography, like the visuals, is full of evolving surprises and effortless physical beauty as well as depictions of pain which Kahlo suffered all of her life due to a catastrophic accident when she was a young woman where she was impaled on a bus railing. 

A shout out to Dylan Gutierrez’s portrayal of Diego Rivera, capturing the man’s literal larger than lifeness as well as his complicated love of Frida.

Peter Salem’s score played live by Chiago Philharmonic) incorporates a heart rending live performance of La Llorona sung by recent Ryan Center alum Denise Vélez. 

This ballet demands exceptional physical prowess as well as superb acting in order to tell the story of Frida’s complex life as an artist, a woman, and a person plagued by pain. This company brings this work, originally commissioned by the English National Ballet, to masterpiece status and is not to be missed because those of us who saw it will never forget it: emotional and lovely and resonant, and coming at a time where it seems we need to highlight the unending  cultural contributions of our neighbor to the south. 

After intermission we settled in to enjoy Wabash and You, choreographer Chanel DaSilva’s love letter to urban life and love.  Amanda Assucena is the Girl who moves to downtown Chicago under the tracks and meets Boy Xavier Núñez. She’s not sure he’s for real and he’s not ready to commit, so she ends it and moves on.  Accompanied by the sweet soulful sounds of The Main Squeeze band playing their original works, this is a romantic and realistic tale of life in the Big City. A dozen ensemble members weave through as denizens of the neighborhood, giving the couple a “stand out in the crowd” life. Da Silva’s movement choices are filled with pedestrian drawn from real life and real people movements that then soar into technically demanding moments as in the love scene in the Girl’s apartment. 

This delicious ballet may have you dancing in the aisles.  While the love story ends, the tale is a rich one, filled with tour de force dancing and believable acting.  When Assucena closes the door and sinks to the floor in that heady new love bliss after an early date we all can relate and laugh. 

This a beautiful new ballet and I hope to see it on the program again so I can once more appreciate the layers of it: the story is simple, the choreography is not.  The phrases are so well put together and the dancers make it look so seamless that you might not see how much is going on here. 

This two hour program was unabashedly stellar.  Sign up to get emails from Joffrey so you won’t miss a single show, even when they aren’t “at home”. 

Matters of the Heart took place November 6-9 at the Harris Theater in Chicago’s Millenium Park. For more information go to https://www.harristheaterchicago.org/performance/joffrey-harris-matters-heart

 No part of this article was created using AI

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