Surreal meets real with greatest of ease

The Joffrey Ballet is in something of a Cirque du Soleil mood at the moment, and perhaps that is altogether fitting. After all, as it dances “Light Rain” at the Auditorium

Theatre — the final program in its 50th anniversary season, and one comprised of six quirky works that evoke strange, disoriented, acrobatic states of being — it is experiencing a bit of

surreality and precariousness in real life, too.

While construction is well under way on the company’s new permanent home on State and Randolph (a major investment), even more crucially, an international search is in progress for an artistic

director to succeed Gerald Arpino, the company’s 84-year-old co-founder. So there are big changes on every front.

All that noted, perhaps a couple of perilous flights on swings, a haunting look at identity shifts, a wacky sparring match and a voyage into the exotic are just about right for this period

in the Joffrey’s history. And while “Light Rain” may not be a fully satisfying evening, the dancers, in fine fettle (and in several cases clearly blossoming), seem unfazed by all

the hubbub.

Wednesday’s opening-night performance began with a tribute to Arpino, as Calvin Kitten whirled through the Torch Bearer section of “Olympiad,” a 1966 Arpino work that suggested both

the passing of the artistic torch and the possibility that Chicago will host the 2016 Games. It also was announced that Arpino’s favorite perch at the Auditorium — the box from which he has

watched countless performances — will now bear his name. But the ceremony was handled rather clumsily, and Arpino certainly should have been brought onstage to take a well-deserved bow with

his dancers.

Two aerial works on a single program is a bit of overkill. But Erica Lynette Edwards, radiant in red, demonstrated her power to hold the stage even in something as trivial as Joanna Haigood’s “Dance

for Yal,” set to an Edith Piaf song. And Emily Patterson was mesmerizing — like an angel of the annunciation — as the woman longing for a lost lover in “White Widow,” a work

by Momix veterans Moses Pendleton and Cynthia Quinn, set to a song by Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch. Kitten danced another novelty piece, David Parson’s strobe-light experiment “Caught.”

“Untitled,” a work originally created by Pilobolus, relies heavily on the gymnastic balances that are the hallmarks of that troupe’s work. It is a haunting piece that explores sex,

procreation, death, identity and all the shape-shifting aspects of life, with a Victorian-era backdrop adding just the right period flavor to goose it up. Here, two dancers married in real

life — Maia Wilkins, aglow as an Alice-in-Wonderland princess, and her partner, Michael Levine — seemed most at ease in wholly captivating performances. Suzanne Lopez, four months pregnant,

understandably seemed more tentative as she stood atop her partner John Gluckman’s shoulders. Derrick Agnoletti and Brian McSween were deft suitors.

Arpino’s eclectic choreography was on view in two works. “Valentine,” a sharply comic pas de deux for a couple in boxing mode, was superbly danced by Julianne Kepley, whose steely

technique is matched by delicious acting skills, and by the towering Fabrice Calmels, whose confidence and partnering abilities have flowered impressively. The wonderfully zany referee was

Chicago Symphony Orchestra bassist Joe Guastafeste, playing Jacob Druckman’s dissonant score (sadly the only live music of the night).

Bringing things to a rousing close was Arpino’s “Light Rain,” with Calmels partnering the strong, muscular Valerie Robin in its demanding central duet, and with every one of the

12 supporting dancers displaying pure virtuosity.