Reviews

Rubbernecks: Chicago Tribune

Title: With ‘Rubbernecks,’ Chicago Dance Crash relies on old habits in moving toward a new era

Publication: The Chicago Tribune

Author: Lauren Warnecke

A group of seven walks to the stage’s edge and stands there for what feels like forever. In fact, it’s one of the most powerful images of the night. They’re looking at, not through us, as some performers do. In the relatively tiny Ruth Page theater, it feels intimate and vulnerable, as if to say, “Look at me. No really — look at me. See me.”

To what end they engage with this exercise isn’t totally clear. Empathy, probably. Confronting stereotypes? Maybe. But it is honestly beautiful and surrounded by an elegant composition that is approximately three parts James Morrow (another Chicago expat who teaches at Motley’s alma mater, Old Dominion University), and one part Trisha Brown.

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