As the Wind Blows

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s Winter Series takes its audience on a journey back through time. We start with Amy Hall Garner’s “As the Wind Blows” from 2022, followed by “Touch & Agree” by Joel D. Lane from 2009 (reshaped with Hubbard for this performance), and finishing with “Gnawa” by Nacho Duato, created for the company in 2005. As always, the Hubbard dancers bring liquid-smooth technique and full-bodied performativity to the choreography. I also always appreciate the pre-recorded introduction from artistic director Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell to respond to the performance however feels authentic to you.

Performance

Hubbard Street Dance: Amy Hall Garner’s “As the Wind Blows” / “Touch & Agree” by Joel D. Lane / “Gnawa” by Nacho Duato

Place

Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Chicago, IL, Februay 26, 2026

Words

Róisín O'Brien

Hubbard Street Dance in Amy Hall Garner’s “As the Wind Blows.” Photograph by Michelle Reid

Garner’s “As the Wind Blows” allows the dancers to display both modern dance and classical ballet lineages through the choreography’s detailed jumps, arcing arm movements, and curved spines. Harrison Pearse-Pollack’s light design is colour-rich, opening with a burnished orange backdrop that shifts through deep pinks and blues throughout the work. At the opening, this bold backdrop allows the dancers’ crisp and intricately curved silhouettes to stand out and project beyond the scope of their physical body.

The dancers respond to a suite of different musical instruments, from piercing flute to urgent piano. It’s a visually soothing work, the choreography smoothly transitioning between individual and ensemble sequences. A younger dancer, aspiring to perform one day, might itch to perform a technically assured work such as this.

Hubbard Street Dance in “Touch & Agree” by Joel D. Lane. Photograph by Michelle Reid

“Touch & Agree” from Juel D. Lane is a collage of different scenarios and moods, with a loose through-line that explores the choreographer’s navigation of love. Throughout the piece, the dancers are dressed in pinstriped suits, some of which have red, bondage-esque straps on the back; a play, perhaps, on heteronormativity and a sense of confinement.

We start with a fractious duet, touchingly performed by Alexandria Best and Simone Stevens, who move through affection, rejection, and misinterpretation in their relationship, soundtracked by Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me.” There’s a frantic solo from Shota Miyoshi which asks for attention and understanding. We end with the whole company amping up the energy to “Legendary Children” by Byrell the Great. The choreographic reference points scramble all over each other; there’s a dance-mat era sense of tapping in and executing the correct movement, with crisp elbow movements and hip thrusts. There’s hip-hop, there’s funk, there’s contemporary, a hybrid language that showcases what Hubbard does best.

Hubbard Street Dance in “Gnawa” by Nacho Duato. Photograph by Michelle Reid

Duato’s “Gnawa” provides a strong end to the evening; the work is restaged by former Hubbard Street Artistic Director Jim Vincent. There is a striking interplay between Nicolâs Fischtel’s lighting design and Modesto Lomba’s costumes, lending an intense, ritual atmosphere to the work. The costumes of flared, black dresses and gleaming, cream trousers, combined with the dark overlay of the stage and flickering candles, treats us to a chiaroscuro effect as the dancers move in and out of the black backdrop or shine out suddenly from the wings. It’s great to see a dark piece that is not simply moody but is instead interested in the aesthetic possibilities of darkness.

Though dark, it is not a heavy work. The dancers move with alacrity through Duato’s musically complex movements; each thrill in the soundtrack is picked up with a flexed foot, a turned head, a sharp change of gravity in a lift. Duato embraces the choreographic freedom of having many dancers on stage; group formations emerge with seamless dexterity, giving the audience that experiential joy of group cohesion but always keeping texture and complexity. Through these beings wander two nudely-dressed dancers, Elliot Hammans and Morgan Clune, voyagers in this ancient world. The music is a mixture of soft drums, textured vocals, and bird sounds, inspired by ‘cultures around the Mediterranean Sea’. It’s a welcome return to the company for the season.

Róisín O'Brien

Róisín is a dance artist and writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. She regularly writes for Springback Magazine, The Skinny and Seeing Dance, and has contributed to The Guardian and Film Stories. She loves being in the studio working on a new choreography with a group of dancers, or talking to brilliant people in the dance world about their projects and opinions. She tries not to spend too much time obsessing over Crystal Pite.

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As the Wind Blows

Róisín O'Brien

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