Energetic and Engaging Moves by Hubbard Street Dance

It's not often audiences leave a modern dance performance feeling thoroughly entertained. Confused or deeply moved, yes, but not like the previous two hours were a rip-roaring good time. Hubbard Street Dance Chicago delivered just such a crowd-pleasing evening Saturday at George Mason University.

All three pieces on the program put this youthful troupe through frenetic paces. The show opened with "Off Screen," company member Alejandro Cerrudo's work-in-progress set to snippets from recent film scores. Here's hoping he has time to expand this clever premise. Six dancers cast as stagehands dash around a movie set finagling props. Once the backdrops are properly configured, two dancers reappear to perform pas de deux. These pairs were, presumably, the stars of an indie drama, a romantic comedy and a buddy flick. But the 17-minute work ends abruptly, with a baffling adagio for the stagehands.

John Adams's piano sonata "Hallelujah Junction" provides the undulating rhythms for Doug Varone's "The Constant Shift of Pulse," a recent company premiere. There's a lot of catch-and-release choreography here, and the effect conjures up a Gap commercial: girl in T-shirt and denim dashes onstage backwards, guy wearing T-shirt and cords lifts her, then turns to catch a khaki-clad chick jetéing by from stage right. It's fleeting fun.

"Minus 16," the finale, was more memorable, especially for 20 audience members who unexpectedly found themselves onstage doing the cha-cha with Hubbard Street dancers. Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin is fond of breaking down the fourth wall. This piece depends on an enthusiastic crowd and it got one. "Minus 16" is a medley of Naharin's most popular pieces, with music including Israeli folk melodies and a rock "Hava Nagila." At the techno-breakdown curtain call, the audience was on its feet, rhythmically clapping.

-- Rebecca J. Ritzel