RIVER NORTH CHICAGO DANCE COMPANY.

RIVER NORTH CHICAGO DANCE COMPANY NAVY PIER BALLROOM THEATRE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS OCTOBER 1, 1999 REVIEWED BY ANN BARZEL

River North Dance Company has added "Chicago" to its title because the company performs nationwide and wants to let audiences know where it comes from. And what does "River North" in the title mean? It is the Chicago locale of many art galleries and of the dance studio in which the company was born. The designation signals that the company offers art as well as entertainment.

The company's product is notably artistic but entertainment looms large in the background and experience of the company directors and performers. The dance art offered is colored by heady entertainment values. Virtuosic dancing is paramount. Performances abound in showy physical ability--balletic, athletic, acrobatic--most often to a jazz beat.

Co-founder and director Sherry Zunker Dow, an outstanding dancer, was on the road to a career in classical ballet when she discovered jazz dance--or was it vice versa, for the stunningly beautiful, exciting, and stylish performer danced in a number of musicals before co-founding River North.

Co-director Frank Chaves, a former dancer with Hubbard Street Dance Company, performed in works by many choreographers but harbored a great desire to create dances. He has made many successful pieces for River North, including Charanga, a large-scale, joyous frolic in the spicy style of Latin-American dance to music by Yello. This piece was the colorful conclusion of the program covered in this review, a gala celebrating River North's tenth anniversary.

Zunker Dow contributed several numbers, notably The Man That Got Away (to music of Gershwin and Arlen), a humorous tale of an obviously unhappy lady (Tiffiny Flaim) wooing an imperturbable male. He stood immovable as she threw herself in anguish on his stony person. It was a pas de deux for one.

Randy Duncan, a leading Chicago choreographer, created Lean On Me, a moving work, for the annual "Dance for Life" benefit. He expanded the piece and gave it to River North, whose dancers performed it with feeling and expanded virtuosity at the gala.

The program's one choreographic misstep was Stroller Derby, parodying the hectic maneuvers of mothers airing their infants. The number was cutely hectic rather than truly amusing.

River North lists its dozen or so dancers alphabetically, but it has a star--Sara Ayers, a fine dancer whose wholesome femininity is a joy. One must also note the extraordinary virtuosity of Stephanie Martinez and Lara Tinari. And versatile Jeffery Hancock, the leader of the excellent male contingent, is a company asset.