Hubbard returns to Seattle

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago has always been immediately appealing, with very few inaccessible moments. That was true when it was a jazz dance company in its earliest days and of which the company gave ample evidence Friday night at the Paramount Theatre.

Spectrum Dance Company followed a similar path — a mixed repertory, concentrating on jazz dance which it often did it very well for most of its history. The major exception was that Spectrum always struggled for audiences and money. Hubbard, which maintained a national presence from its base in Chicago, may have had its difficulties but had better dancers, a stronger board and greater institutional support. Yet, in some both took almost the same road. When Spectrum hired modern dance choreographer Donald Byrd, the old days were thrown aside and the company essentially became a sole choreographer showcase. It may use jazz scores, but nothing suggests the kind of good times the old ensemble projected on a regular basis. The same thing happened at Hubbard, although not to the same degree. The repertory is is still mixed and often projects a similar image, but it looks to the wider world. The dancers remain virtuosic.

Four choreographers were represented Friday night. Two are well-known. Jorma Elo is a young, talented Finnish choreographer who is in residence at Boston Ballet. A number of important ballet companies dance his pieces, including San Francisco Ballet which commissioned a brilliant bravura dance, particularly the men, for its new works festival a year ago. Nacho Duato is mostly a modern dance choreographer who is arguably the most important choreographer from Spain. Pacific Northwest Ballet is among several ballet companies who have Duato’s work in their repertory. The others are not as well known: Alejandro Cerrudo and Lucas Candall, both on Hubbard’s artistic staff.

Even though the choreography sometimes seemed remarkably similar in shape and spirit, with any number of references to Paul Taylor, there was enough diversity to satisfy most tastes. Cerrudo, Hubbard’s resident choreographer, contributed the opening work — Lickety-Split.” Its theme is the nature of couples, coming together and separating. It is amusing, occasionally telling and effective. He captures the dancers’ luid sense of pacing and ease of movement. The choreography never stays in one expressive mode for long, which gives the whole piece its resonance.

The other staff contribution, by Crandall, the company’s associate artistic director, brought levity to the whole evening. It is titled “The Set.” Cerrudo was in the evening’s performance along with Meredith Dincolo and Terence Marling. It is a kind of menage a trois in which the hyper-feminine guy, in fanciful costume, lusts after the very straight boy who is interested in only the girl. It is full of pratfalls and sight gags all centered on a sofa over which people leap and fall. Without the right dancers — in acting and speed and lightness of movement — “The Set” could horribly fail. That was not the problem with Dincolo, Cerrudo and Marling. They suited their assignments and gave them hilarious comic power. Set to music of Bach, in perfect counterpoint, the work should stay in the repertory a long time.

For “Bitter Suite,” Elo looked to music of Mendelssohn — a piano trio, violin sonata and the final two movements of the violin concerto — as well as arias of Monteverdi. Although the music is disparate, Elo made the choreography a seamless whole. There is a strong expressive presence here coupled with his typical acts of physical bravado. It is a striking combination that bears repeated visits. The work is brand-new: It was commissioned by Hubbard and premiered by the company earlier this month in Chicago.

Duato’s “Gnawa,” like much of his work, is sober. A convincing closing number, the work employs 15 dancers that use the entire Paramount stage in a variety of ways. Always, they seem to own the stage. Duato is not a choreographer who is satisfied with surface appearances. Neither is “Gnawa.”

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