Street style

Young Chang

They go from Bach to Dean Martin, from Baroque dresses to Diesel

jeans.

The members of Hubbard Street Dance Company pride themselves in their

ability to bounce through eras and cultures with dance and will prove

their malleability this weekend.

The first work in the company’s program for the Irvine Barclay Theatre

-- “counter/part” -- is “very contemporary” dance set to Bach’s

Brandenburg Concerti, said company member Charlaine Katsuyoshi.

The women dancers will wear Baroque dresses and the men will look like

“gentlemen,” Katsuyoshi added, with everyone exuding nobility through

their dress and grace. Jim Vincent, the artistic director for Hubbard who

hails from the Netherlands, choreographed the dance.

For a segment titled “Split,” created by American choreographer Trey

McIntyre, six dancers will wear Diesel jeans and T-shirts from Barney’s

New York and put on a high-energy program to percussion-improvised jazz

music.

“Minus 16,” by Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin, will be danced to

Dean Martin tunes, cha-cha, mambo, techno and Israeli music.

“For Hubbard Street to go from a European style to Israeli

choreographer and then have an American piece, it makes for an exciting

program,” said Katsuyoshi, a UC Irvine graduate who was inspired to

audition for Hubbard Street when the company performed at the Barclay

seven years ago.

She will return with the company of 20 dancers today to perform a

distinctively varied repertoire.

“It’s very special because, in the first place, I saw Hubbard Street

at the Barclay as a student and that’s when I first sparked my interest

in the company,” the Honolulu resident said. “The show was very very

diverse in styles.”

Which is still the trademark way for Chicago’s premier dance company.

With dancers of different backgrounds and training, Hubbard Street

takes modern, cutting-edge styles of dance and combines them with jazz,

Broadway and classical ballet training.

Dancer and choreographer Lou Conte, with roots in Broadway jazz,

started the group in the late ‘70s with four dancers. The small troupe

visited elder homes in the Chicago area and danced for seniors. Hubbard

Street grew, Conte brought in different choreographers and two years ago,

Vincent took on the leadership as artistic director.

“We’re trying to take the company in many new directions, but I think

that’s in line with the company’s history,” Vincent said. “The company’s

been through many different changes in style or attitude, and I very much

intend to continue that tradition.”

Katsuyoshi, 25, said the diversity caters to not only the audience’s

varied tastes, but to Hubbard Street’s own members.

“I find it particularly rewarding to work with so many different

choreographers,” she said.

Naharin is one of them. The choreographer has two pieces in the

Barclay show -- “Minus 16” and also “Passomezzo,” a duet danced to the

folk song “Greensleeves.” When asked to describe the dance genre of the

latter work, Katsuyoshi hesitated, unable to zoom in on a single word.

“It’s a very tender duet, which is also very comical,” Katsuyoshi

said. “This is absolutely not ballet . . . it’s Ohad’s style. It is

purely and simply his style.”

“Minus 16,” the final segment to the program, is also difficult to

confine to a single style as the piece includes monologues recorded by

the dancers and improvised dances to these monologues.

“It is so many different things and in so many different places, but

it’s about getting to know the dancers as people as much as you get to

see them as instruments of dance,” Vincent said.

FYI

* What: Hubbard Street Dance Chicago

* When: 8 p.m. today and Saturday

* Where: Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine

* Cost: $35 or $30

* Call: (949) 854-4646