Dancer-choreographer Ayako Kato set herself a huge challenge with Dear BACH—Goldberg Variations, a 50-minute solo now receiving its U.S. premiere as part of an evening titled “Existencia Esencia.” Kato’s dancing is so eloquent that it easily justifies her temerity in taking on Johann Sebastian’s mathematically complex Goldberg Variations. Though Kato also performs Dear BACH to Gustav Leonhardt’s harpsichord version of the Variations, the piece comes across with particular power when done to the brilliantly idiosyncratic 1981 recording by pianist Glenn Gould, who can be heard crooning as he plays. Kato’s gift for channeling unseen forces—for distancing herself from herself yet remaining uncannily invested in the moment—pays off here. She inhabits and embodies the obsessiveness, the fierce jubilation, sadness, and resignation of both geniuses, Bach and Gould. (The Leonhardt is on Thursday, the Gould on Friday.)
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Through 10/19: Thu-Fri 7:30 PM, Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater, 3035 N. Hoyne, 312-330-4171, fanfueled.com, $10-$15 in advance, $15-$20 at the door, some $25-$30 twofers available.
