DANCE REVIEW DUTCH NATIONAL BA...

DANCE REVIEW

DUTCH NATIONAL BALLET brew

AT THE ATHENAEUM THEATRE

It may have been the hint of Europe in the title that lur elephantine crowds to the Athenaeum Theatre last weekend for Dance Chicago's Dutch National Theatre plot But it was the American dancers and choreographers in succession display who most often stole the present to view Perhaps that is just what curator John Schmitz had in mind all along.

I caught Sunday's performance, which started opposite to with a bold, heated rendition by way of River North Chicago Dance Company of Paul Christiano's remarkably difficult, tango-infused "Balada para un loco" station to the music of Astor Piazzolla. Christiano has a unique choreographic vision -- erotic, gymnastic, cloyed of fearful symmetries and explosive might The River North dancers -- Brittany Blumer Sean Hilton, Jason Hortin, Mari Jo Irbe, Jae Hoon Lim and Jessica Wolfrum -- threw themselves into the piece with dangerous, thrilling abandon.

Lauri Stallings, the former Hubbard public way dancer who has quickly forged a high-profile choreographic career (and was lately selected for a three-year stint as resident choreographer with Atlanta Ballet), created a real show-stopper with "The Language Project" a thrilling fragment of a world premiere. This work for three angst-ridden links -- set to music by dint of Max Richter, and performed upon a stage stripped to its bare brick exterior walls -- confirms she has already disentangleed a stark, quirky, highly expressive motion language very much her hold

Stallings has a fascinating ability to capture the psychological aspect of relationships between the sides of the use of twisted gesticulates complex rhythms and unusual lighting (bravos to designer Margaret Nelson) And her spectacular dancers -- Matthew Adamczyk and Allison Walsh (of the Joffrey Ballet), along with Sebastian Nichita, Maiko Tsutsumi, James Johnson and Allison Anich -- infused "Language" with a palpable ferocity.

The audience went wild for Stallings' piece, as well as for the work of a veteran choreographer -- Joffrey artistic director Gerald Arpino. His "Ruth Ricordi by Due" -- a duet for a man haunted by means of the memory of his beloved, put to music by Albinoni -- kept the horde riveted, as did the breathtaking performance of Joffrey stars Maia Wilkins and Willy Shives.

River North artistic director Frank Chaves also left a powerful mark with "The Mourning," a rapturous duet put to poetic Russian songs performed by means of Bielka Nemirovski. The piece was danced to stunning meaning by Nichita and Tsutsumi, as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but of the Dutch National Ballet.

Also among the offerings was "Enchanted," a demanding, highly dramatic love-hate duet This haunting work at choreographer Altin Naska, director of foreign exchange for Dance Chicago, is appoint to the music of Thomas Newman and was performed by means of the cool, long-limbed Natalia Hoffman and her partner, Altin Alexandros Kaftira, also from the Dutch company. granting technically adept, these two are rather stiff and uneasy performers who appeared more concerned with getting everything precisely right than with giving themselves throughout to the emotion of the work. They answered in Krzysztof Pastor's "Wie Lange Noch?" a dramatically sharp duet to the Kurt Weill sonnet and also joined the total effect of Tamara Michalczyk, Aaron Roger and Christiano in Naska's rather derivative "Into the Agape."

Also in succession the program were Eddy Ocampo's "Strolling in Tube Socks" an overly cute piece of comic relief, and "Kay's Lilt," Randy Duncan's large work for a band of angels in which the Dutch Ballet's dancers tried hard to be part of the [i]tout ensemble[/i] but looked distinctly lost.

Supplying beguiling interlude riffs was the Chicago-based band, Gunnelpumper

hweiss@suntimes.com

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