Review: Dance Theatre of Harlem's FIREBIRD at The Auditorium

Saturday night brought the long-awaited return of Dance Theatre of Harlem to The Auditorium for a celebratory evening of dance that showcased the range and versatility of this 57-year old company, which had not been seen in Chicago since 2016.

The mixed-rep program opened with Artistic Director Robert Garland’s 1999 piece Return, a crowd-pleasing combination of ballet, hip-hop, and urban funk set to songs by James Brown and Aretha Franklin. Return was originally choreographed to celebrate Dance Theatre of Harlem’s 30th anniversary, and it served as an excellent vehicle for the company to demonstrate their effortless mastery of this blend of dance idioms. In the opening section the female corps seamlessly transitioned from percussive upper body contractions and swaggering walks en pointe to pristine pirouettes.

While the raucous celebration of soul and funk had the audience roaring by the time the soul train finale rolled around, I was struck by the quieter moments in the piece. In the second section, set to Aretha Franklin’s Baby, Baby, Baby, Ariana Dickerson and Jhaelin McQuay made a meal out of a duet that began in the shadows, a rich red background receding as the couple slowly made their way into the light. And in Call Me, also performed by Franklin, Delaney Washington and Derek Brockington executed some thrilling lifts directly out of Washington’s crispy, airy turns.

Return demonstrates the company’s ethos and aesthetic. This was 25 minutes of joy, evident not only in the house but clearly radiating from the stage, where the dancers were working right in their element.

The second piece on the program, George Balanchine’s Donizetti Variations, proved more challenging for both the company and frankly for this critic. The cast clearly has the technical skills to execute Balanchine’s cheeky send-up of classic ballet peasant dances, but the madcap pace of the footwork and tricky stage formations left little room for anything but the delivery of choreography. That might be enough to appreciate but for the persistent silliness of the piece – the conceit never rises to be truly amusing, so despite the valiant effort of the company, the antics grated. This has all to do with this particular work, and I imagine that Dance Theatre of Harlem would make other Balanchine dances soar.  

Speaking of soaring, the finale of the evening was John Taras’s Firebird, inspired by the Russian folktale famously set as a ballet by Michael Fokine with music by Igor Stravinksy. Taras sets his Firebird in a lush Caribbean rainforest, complete with stunning scenic scrims painted in native flowers and vegetation (the original stage design, recreated here, is by the iconic multihyphenate artist Geoffrey Holder). Beyond this updated setting, Taras hews closely to the original plot of the piece, telling the tale of a heroic Young Man (Derek Brockington, finding an emotive softness to contrast with his imposing height) who encounters a mystical firebird, then calls on her powers to help him defeat the forces of evil who would conspire to keep him from his beloved, here called the Princess of Unreal Beauty (Kamala Saara).

The performance of the evening belonged to Alexandra Hutchinson, who made a simply stunning Firebird. Classical ballet is peppered with many famous avian creatures, and Hutchinson’s command of the darting gazes, small head twitches, and persistent fluttering felt entirely instinctual. Moreover, in her lush solo following the defeat of the Prince of Evil (Jhaelin McQuay), she found a series of arabesques full of anticipatory stillness, a bird perched poised and ready for flight.

Firebird is an old-fashioned ballet, and it does show its age in some of the larger scenes involving the Princess and her maidens, as well as the ultimately rather comical creatures of evil. After the explosivity of Garland’s Return it was notable to end the night in a classical tableau, with the Firebird aloft after goodness had been restored. This eclectic program succeeded best in underscoring the quality and versatility of Dance Theatre of Harlem’s company of artists. Let us hope their next return is swift.  

Photography Credit: Jose Calvo

More on The Auditorium

Upcoming Shows

Dance Me: The Music of Leonard Cohen

11/7 - 11/7/2026

A Charlie Brown Christmas: Live at The Auditorium

12/12 - 12/12/2026

Recent Articles

DANCE ME: THE MUSIC OF LEONARD COHEN to Make Chicago Debut

9/30/2026

MAMMA MIA! and HADESTOWN Tours To Return To Chicago

9/28/2026