Red letter days

OFF THE MIKE Compagnie Marie Chouinard rocks the MCA in April.

Photo: Marie Chouinard

Avid fans were already boasting about having bought tickets for Batsheva Dance Company back in the fall when seats went on sale. Why? Because the company’s artistic leader and main choregrapher, Ohad Naharin, is a megastar in the world of contemporary dance, and his troupe rarely comes to our city. Two other names are getting dance lovers excited as well: Marie Chouinard and Jirí Kylián. Czech-born Kylián is the eminence grise, the visionary behind the widely influential Nederlands Dans Theater, Chouinard is the maverick leader of her eponymous Montreal-based company.

The three artists and their home companies have fans all over the world. Sadly, Chicago is not a regular stop on their touring schedules, but there is light on the horizon: The Auditorium Theater and the Museum of Contemporary Art will play host to all three of these popular ensembles this year.

Batsheva Dance Company, appearing February 7 and 8 at the Auditorium, was founded in Tel Aviv by modern-dance innovator Martha Graham and patroness Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild in 1964; Naharin has been the main choreographer and artistic director since 1990.

Naharin’s choreography has gained followers here via Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, which maintains his Minus 16 in its repertory. Naharin’s works are also performed by the Lyon Opera Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Nederlands Dans Theatre, Frankfurt Ballet and Rambert Dance Company. At the Auditorium, Batsheva will perform Deca Dance, a mashup of potent choreographic material from ten of Naharin’s previously-made dances.

In contrast, Compagnie Marie Chouinard will offer a new, evening-length work. Orpheus and Eurydice, coming to the Museum of Contemporary Art Theater April 17 and 18, continues Chouinard’s longtime experiment of fusing eroticism and contemporary dance. Based on Greek myths that tell of love and the underworld, costumes for Orpheus show plenty of skin: Women wear baggy rave-style trousers and small gold pasties, while in one section even the men (also topless for most of the show) don superstacked heels. But the human body itself is the real substance of Chouinard’s work. Using movement, breath and voice, she’s a master at peeling away layers of politesse, gender standards and political correctness to show the wild body beneath.

While the company has a history that predates him—the Hauge-based Nederlands Dans Theatre was founded in 1959 by American artist Benjamin Harkarvy, along with other members of the Dutch National Ballet who wanted to explore more contemporary work—Kylián’s name is almost synonymous with the Nederlands Dans Theater. The plastique of his style became a defining characteristic of the troupe since he began making dances for it in the 1970’s—his works have been enthusiastically sought by major companies internationally. Hubbard Street has at various times kept Kylián pieces such as Petite Mort and Sechs Tanze in active rotation. On June 19, NDT begins a three-day run at the Auditorium, bringing works by Kylián as well as in-house choreographer Lightfoot León and others.

Now you know, so take action! We don’t want to see you standing anxiously in line at the box office ten minutes before curtain.

Ticket prices range from $30–$90, visit auditoriumtheatre.org and mcachicago.org for details.