Last week marked the close of the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival for 2024. It seems fitting that one of the last performances I saw this summer, on my last night at the Pillow, was South Chicago Dance Theatre , an up-and-coming company founded in 2017 by School of Jacob’s Pillow alum Kia S. Smith.
Fitting because, all summer, when alumni of Jacob’s Pillow came back to the Pillow as members of dance companies, the Pillow noted it in the program. And, over the course of this summer, a lot of successful alumni returned, working in dance companies from all over this country and beyond. The success of these alums is just another reminder of some of the impact the Pillow has on the dance community.
There is a pronounced buzz around South Chicago Dance Theatre, and around Smith herself. The Chicago Tribune called the company “the next big thing to hit Chicago’s dance scene,” which is no small praise, given that Chicago, not historically known as a center for dance, seems to now in fact have a growing dance scene. And Smith is clearly a powerhouse: Among the many accolades she has received of late, Dance Magazine chose her as one of their “ 25 to Watch ” in 2024.
One of the most interesting things about Smith is that, even though she is the company’s resident choreographer (while also being its founder and artistic director), she is not myopic as a creative artist. So far, it seems she has not fallen into the trap that many creative people do: focusing solely on the creative side and neglecting the “business” end of the arts world. Smith has taken a big-picture, functional approach to the company, helping create and administer seven core programs which the company has developed, including an emerging-artist program, educational and community programs, and the company’s singularly striking Choreographic Diplomacy initiative.
According to the company, one of the goals of its Choreographic Diplomacy program is to use choreographic and educational processes, in partnership with dance companies and dance schools in other, often far-flung, countries to “fight xenophobia through the universal language of movement.” An extremely worthy goal indeed, especially in this day and age. The company brought four diverse pieces to the outdoor Henry J.
Leir Stage last week. “On a Lark,” choreographed by Stephanie Martinez, opened the program. The piece, danced in part to familiar tunes such as “When You Wish Upon a Star,” “Get Happy,” and “Moon River,” as well as to jazz music with a swing feel, was indeed a lark, as the title suggested.
However, it had noteworthy, thoughtful movement twists along the way, particularly in the opening, with the movement overall having a distinctly jazz flair. It also used one or two fairly unconventional covers of the familiar songs. Unfortunately, some of the lighter moments in the piece were communicated, at least partly, through the dancers’ faces, and I was sitting in a place where the setting sun (beautiful though it was) interfered with my ability to see faces.
Thus, the impact of the piece may have been somewhat diminished for me, though clearly not for other audience members sitting at a more advantageous angle. “Garnered by Grace,” was a solo choreographed by Smith, and danced by company member Chloe Chandler. Chandler danced it with calmness and serenity, especially in the head and shoulders, that evoked the “grace” of the title.
To her credit, though, she danced with subtlety and nuance, and was never overbearing or obvious. And although I don’t pretend to really “know” all the various forms of breakdancing that have evolved since the 1970s, I do recognize the forms of movement when I see them. “Garnered by Grace,” it seems to me, is yet another piece of choreography greatly influenced, in the best possible way, by the forms.
It is appearing more and more clear that, just as ballet movements and shapes arguably influenced the initial development of “modern dance” in this country and around the world, all current dance is being influenced, profoundly and wonderfully, by various forms of breakdancing, and that this has been the enriching state of affairs for quite some time now. The company then presented an excerpt from Smith’s evening-length piece “Memoirs of Jazz in the Alley.” During the post-performance Q&A, Smith explained that when she was a young girl, her father, a well-known jazz musician in Chicago, presented impromptu music events in the city he called “Jazz in the Alley.
” The piece is, at least in part, Smith’s recollection of—and perhaps homage to—those memories. The excerpt the company performed, even though short, conveyed dramatic complexity in the staging and dancing. The dancing across the board was very strong, and the ensemble work, which generally consisted of recognizable and familiar “jazz” movement, was cohesive and robust.
Also during the Q&A, Smith briefly touched on the complicated relationship she had with her father, and that, coupled with the excerpt presented, just made me want to see the full-length version all the more. The program concluded with Tsai His Hung’s extremely powerful work “Under the Skin.” The costumes strongly suggested monks in a monastery, and, together with the raucous movement in the piece (as well as the music), I immediately thought of Carmina Burana and its wantonness, decadence, and impiety.
The piece beautifully linked the intellectual and intentional thoughtfulness of the choreography and staging with full-out, explosive, unpredictable, and volatile movement. And it perfectly showcased the strength and quality of the dancers in this company. Uniformly, the dancing in this piece was superb.
One very nice touch was the hair: The dancers had their hair down, and it was flying all over the place, adding another layer to the wonderfully riotous pandemonium. The buzz around South Chicago Dance Theatre is well deserved. With Smith at the helm, it is most assuredly a company to watch in 2025 and beyond.
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