Kris Eitland

San Diego Arts

"Bottle Night" at the Basic Urban Kitchen & Bar

Jillian Chu: Mover and Shaker
By Kris Eitland
Posted on Mon, Apr 21st, 2008
Last updated Mon, Apr 21st, 2008

Few dance artists in San Diego are as savvy as Jillian Chu. Technically, she's a chameleon; it seems there's nothing she can't do. Her beautiful performances in Malashock's "Stay the Hand" and Sushi's "4x4" have made her the talk of the town. She's a mover and shaker who knows how to network.

Peter Chu and Jillian Chu in

"Pressed Up Against." Photo:

Elazar Harel

Chu is the director of BOUND Contemporary Dance and for several months, she's joined forces with Sushi Performance & Visual Art and [Nancy] McCaleb Dance to produce "Bottle Night" at the Basic Urban Kitchen & Bar, a groovy dance night that features local talent and guests.

Earlier this month, Chu's sensuous performance with Julliard grad Peter Chu had the attentive crowd on the edge of their modular sofas. The drinks and gourmet pizza just had to wait. "Pressed Up Against" was a frisky mixture of chemistry - seductive partnering and daring lifts - all performed on top of a narrow bar and covered pool table. The couple is not related, but 'Oh Betty,they'd make beautiful children. Their dance foreplay finally moved to a bench and the floor with snappy unison slides and syncopation. Peter's credits include Les Ballet Jazz de Montreal and three years with Celine Dion's Vegas show. This dance was a hit, and we can only hope the two Chus return with another mini-drama.

Sarah Keeney in

"Where Flowers Settled."

Photo: Elazar Harel

Sarah Keeney was ready to levitate above the pool table stage in "Where Flowers Settled,"a touching solo by choreographer Liliana Cattaneo that incorporated five balloons. Keeney's expressions and head tilts defined youthful innocence. When she stared up at the balloons attached to her wrists and ankles, you wished for her to rise and float home, or to Paris, or to wherever she longed to go. At other times, the balloons and choreography suggested bouquets of flowers, birthday parties, and letting go of painful memories. Perhaps most poignant was the moment Keeney released a few balloons and boldly popped two more with her hand. No longer a wounded child, she had become a determined adult.

But Jillian Chu didn’t lather the show with love or lovely stuff. The program opened with dancer Jessie Hartley in "Fix Me," a gritty combative solo by LA-based choreographer Sonya Tayeh, performed in an open space near the entryway. Dressed in hot pink and kneepads, Hartley flailed on the concrete floor to a howling scare-the-neighbors score. It was production genius because it quickly broke the stuck up atmosphere and helped the crowd settle in for the longer dances.

The end of the show has become a tradition and is not to be missed. "Cork" is Yolande Snaith's iconic bar dance where dancers throw bottles and create more tension and thrills than Alfred Hitchcock. Adapted from "Ten Green Bottles Standing On a Bar," seen in Sept. in Jean Isaacs' "Trolley Dances," the dance never grows stale. Each handstand and psycho stare becomes more exciting each time you see it. Just watching it makes you jittery, as if you've robbed a bank. And the music driven performance keeps changing. This month, just as the score reached a train-locomotion climax, Jillian Chu shoved Greg Lane. With the Amtrak and trolley tracks just a few blocks away, it painted a vivid image of a heartless woman shoving a man onto the tracks that nobody saw in earlier productions. It was powerful dance theater and might not work in a big theater. Like Sushi's "4x4," the beauty of this venue is the intimacy, the close proximity to the dancers. You could sense their hearts beating and see their eyes darting back and forth. You're so close that you could almost grab one of the bottles out of the air, but I don't recommend it.

Veronica Martin-Lamm and

Greg Lane in "Corked."

Photo: Elazar Harel.

"Bottle Night" ends May 5th with a new work by Yolande Snaith. It's Pay What You Can. Seating is limited. Basic Urban Kitchen & Bar. 410 Tenth Ave.

Download program here

About the author: Kris Eitland's critiques and features have appeared in Dance Magazine, Dance San Diego Magazine, San Diego CityBeat, sandiegotheaterscene.com, and sandiego.com since 2006. Her writing career includes stints in both commercial and public radio news. She studied dance extensively at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and SDSU and holds a journalism degree
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