Review: BOOM CRACK! Dance's ‘Bruta' finds the potent potential of hip hop
BOOM CRACK! Dance Company has not gotten the credit it deserves. To be sure, artistic director Trae Turner has made elegant strides in sending his distinct style — a blend of urban contemporary and commercial street dance — to the concert dance stage, and that's garnered some high-profile appearances at festivals in Chicago and beyond over the company's 16-year history.
But BOOM CRACK!'s latest full-length evening, titled 'Bruta' and running two days at Edgewater's Edge Theater on Broadway, seems to subversively say something about the dance field's historic dismissiveness toward the creative capacity of hip hop, without making the project a dull intellectual exercise. On the contrary, 'Bruta' has everything we've come to know and love about this company: it's tightly composed, earthy and hard-hitting, with the right amount of sultry sauciness. And in 11 short pieces spread across three brief acts, the evening implies a narrative arc about breaking free. From what, I'm not totally sure. But I'm here for it.
A prelude by soloist Abdiel Figueroa Reyes opens the evening, the former Hubbard Street dancer confined to a ruddy, lumpy ring at the center of the Edge's petite stage. Reyes writhes and contorts in what, given his history, struck me as the stripped-down, primordial shadow of Kyle Abraham's 'Show Pony.' Or maybe not. But throughout the evening, choreographers Turner and Krista Ellensohn (plus a spectacular second-act trio by company member Alexa Kruchten set to Michael Jackson's 'Dirty Diana') take the audience on a somewhat similar journey, oscillating between dark and light, guttural and ethereal, feral and ferocious.
Those contrasts are most evident in how Turner and Ellensohn divided the performance, with the first act leaning far more heavily on lyrical and contemporary vocabulary outside this company's comfort zone. Guest performers Reyes, Sophia Cozzi, Emma Miquelon and Ella Querry do the heavy lifting on that front, lending an ooey-gooey aesthetic that evolves to meet the moment as the music and dance veers more toward hip hop. But that Middle-earth feel laid down at the beginning returns at the top of Act 3, with BOOM CRACK! dancers Ellensohn, Krutchen and Sophia Santore confined to rings of their own, impatiently pacing within their self-imposed borders. It doesn't last. Santore bursts onstage for an electrifying solo leading into 'Bruta's' rather joy-filled finale, the cast donning baggy fatigues and personalized 'Bruta' T-shirts.
BOOM CRACK!'s full-length productions are few and far between, produced at a rate of less than once every other year. Thus 'Bruta' feels special, and The Edge Theater is perhaps a too-small venue for what it is trying to do and say — in some moments literally. Music, arranged by Turner, ranges from cinematic schmaltz to dubstep to the aforementioned 'Dirty Diana.' One track, featuring the largest cast of the night, with 11 dancers on that tiny stage, says 'I can do anything' on repeat. Another: 'I want that recipe,' a line parroted by an audience advised in Ellensohn's curtain speech to express themselves — which they thankfully did at Thursday's preview. The space is well-appointed enough for lighting designer Michael Gobel to find some striking looks, and smartly used, even in 'Bruta's' more crowded moments. Immersive, booming bass from a great sound system is felt right down to your bones. But with short snippets separated by needed pauses for costume changes, plus two intermissions, 'Bruta' feels like a bit of a tease, serving us peaks and valleys rather than a steady build of momentum — a most delectable tapas, but not quite enough food on the plate to send the table away feeling full.Review: 'Bruta' (3 stars)
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Where: BOOM CRACK! Dance Company at The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway
Running time: 70 minutes with 2 intermissions
Tickets: $30 at boomcrack.com
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