Hubbard Street Dance And Second City’s ‘The Art of Falling’ Captivates In West Coast Premiere

Hubbard Street Dance and The Second City, two elite Chicago-based companies, collaborate to fuse music, dance, comedy and drama together into “The Art of Falling,” a beautiful story for its LA audience. The performance is humorous and wildly entertaining, with satire and wit sprinkled throughout.

Hubbard Street’s innovative dancers tell each story by contorting their bodies to represent inanimate objects, while Second City actors employ sketch comedy with clever stories about the workplace, falling in love, and uncomfortable conversations with strangers on an airplane.

One of the most powerful performances features dancer Alicia Delgadillo playing a blow-up doll opposite dance partner Jason Hortin, in a cleverly constructed and brilliantly executed piece titled “Wicked at Heart,” which moves the audience to the point of tears. In the piece, Hortin examines feelings of loneliness and desire for human connection by attempting to dance with Delgadillo’s life-like balloon (which, at one point, begins to deflate).

The musical compositions compliment the contemporary pieces extraordinarily well. Notably, in “White Office Swan,” dancers glide across the stage on swivel chairs to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.

Comic Christina Anthony causes a roar in the skit “Questions,” in which she serenades the audience with questions such as why there are no stars on “Dancing with the Stars,” and what the real motive is behind people announcing that they are deactivating their Facebook — which, she deduces, must be to have their friends beg them to keep it.

At times, the storyline is sentimental and lacks in urgency. A recurring piece starring Travis Turner and Joey Bland as a couple who are repeatedly falling in love is, at moments, weak and devoid of significance in comparison to the other selections.

Each piece builds on the overall theme of the production, reminding us that amidst the chaos life brings and the ever-changing world, one thing remains constant, and that is the need for human connection, and the exhaustive lengths we will go to to attain it.

Overall, however, “The Art of Falling” never fails to make its audience giggle, smirk, or burst into laughter. It may be one of the most unique productions to make its way to LA.

Performance dates: November 7-November 8, at the Ahmanson Theater.

Reach Staff Reporter Ani Mosinyan here. Follow her on Twitter.