River North Chicago Dance Company

Looking to add more dance to your repertoire of local entertainment? The River North Chicago Dance Company should make your short list. We caught their Fall Engagement at the Harris Theatre last week, where the genre-bending company unveiled two world premieres for a packed, cheering (and we must add young and beautiful) crowd.

Brittany Blumer of River North Chicago Dance Company

Sherry Zunker’s ultra-modern “Evolution of a Dream,” the first of the world premiers, had the ensemble in black short-shorts and skimpy tanks, with red overhead lights showing off every muscle as the dancers moved in a high-energy piece that culminated in a remix of The Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams.” The lighting, music and choreography moved together in sync, fluctuating together between darker and more optimistic tones until reaching a dramatic climax.

In the other world premier, “Forbidden Boundaries,” choreographer and artistic director, Frank Chaves, has experimented with the most daring use of costumes we’ve seen on stage. The piece involved pairs of dancers holding one another captive by grabbing and yanking at the stretchy, white cardigans that draped over their shoulders. With speedy shakes and yanks, every pair repeatedly achieved complicated fabric wraps and poses with perfect timing. In one portion of the dance, which Chaves says represents the human tendency to hold ourselves back, dancers Michael Gross and Ricky Ruiz suspend Lizzie MacKenzie by her shirtsleeves and she writhed about gracefully. This use of fabric impresses on both a symbolic level and a purely athletic one. If only we could wriggle in and out of our own sweaters with such poise.

The rest of the show demonstrated the group’s versatility. In the contemporary, pared-down “Beat,” structured by Ashley Roland and partially improvised, dancer Christian Denice moved relentlessly to fast drums with strong, passionate moves that expressed everything from desperation to glee. In “Habaneras, the Music of Cuba,” also by Chaves, the ensemble proved its prowess at more traditional, Latin-influenced dance.

River North Chicago’s next engagement at the Harris will be a sweet one, on Valentine’s weekend in February, and we assure you this sexy company of dancers offers perfect date night entertainment. In the mean time, keep an eye out for the documentary River North Dance Company: Every Dancer Has a Story, which aired on WTTW earlier this year and recently earned four Chicago Midwest Emmy nominations. Check out a clip here.