See Chicago Dance’s Tristan Bruns reviews Michell Haskell’s debut at the Dance Center of Columbia College, Chicago with “Empty Are My Hands.”
Tap and modern dance styles are more intertwined than one might think. The United States saw a renewed interest in tap during the “Tap Dance Renaissance” of the 1980s, a social, political, and artistic movement immensely influenced by women dancers, many of whom came from traditions of modern dance. The application of modern concert dance aesthetics to tap—like large companies of dancers performing thoroughly-composed, evening-length works—left a significant and lasting impression on the art form.
Dancer and choreographer Michelle Haskell follows in the footsteps of dance pioneers with the debut of “Empty Are My Hands,” August 28-29, at the Dance Center of Columbia College. Choreographed in collaboration with the dancers, four works intertwine tap and modern dance styles while innovatively using the complications that come from such a merger, like changing shoes and the placement of boards for tap dancing, to their advantage…
…Haskell and dancers pass through creative territory rarely explored (i.e., the synthesis of tap and modern dance) and their solutions to problems noticeable in other tap and modern amalgamations (i.e., how to get on the shoes and what to do with the tap boards) are imaginative and inspired. Haskell is on to something, and “Empty Are My Hands” adds to the canon of tap and modern dance collaborations while finding new ways to innovate within both mediums.
Banner photo: “The Arena,” with Michelle Haskell, Tristen Sanborn, Greta Loomis, and Abby Wildak; photo by William Frederking.
