Some Chicago audiences might remember Kyle Abraham from the Harris Theater last year in the duet he created for himself and Wendy Whelan as part of her “Restless Creature” program. Or the name might ring a bell from a Hubbard Street program a year ago, when the young choreographer was commissioned to create a new work for the company. This month, Abraham brings his own New York-based company, Abraham.In.Motion, back to the MCA Stage in a production of his 2014 trilogy that both celebrates and questions the progress of the 1960s civil rights movement, inspired by the Max Roach protest album “We Insist! Freedom Now Suite.” In the first section, dancers in beehive wigs and bodysuits manipulate each other’s movements. In the final section, entitled “The Gettin’,” Abraham’s signature movement style–an interweaving of powerful, extended lines and internalized rippling waves of torso and limb—is energetically deployed by six dancers in mid-century-inspired costumes before projected images of South African apartheid and the U.S. civil rights movement while an on stage jazz combo rips through Roach’s rolling, splashing drum solos. (Sharon Hoyer)
Abraham.In.Motion at the MCA Stage, 220 East Chicago, (312)397-4010. Thursday-Saturday, April 28-30 at 7:30pm, Sunday, May 1 at 3pm. $30, $24 MCA members, $10 students.
