Women’s flesh—plentiful or scant, covered or bare, yielding or starkly resistant—is the bottom line in “Voices of Strength,” two programs of dance theater by women from Africa. Buzzwords about race and gender can’t convey the visceral jolt delivered by this mini festival of four works by five African women. Most of the participants have studied and performed in Europe; the piece closest to Western sensibilities is the often sardonic Correspondances, a duet by stick-thin Kettly Noel (born in Haiti, based in Mali) and Nelisiwe Xaba (South Africa). But once the piece breaks out into a female free-for-all, irony disappears.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Program A (Correspondances and Quartiers Libres): Thu-Fri 9/13-9/14, 8 PM. Program B (Sombra and Madame Plaza): Sat 9/15, 3 and 8 PM, Dance Center of Columbia College, 1306 S. Michigan, 312-369-8330, colum.edu/dancecenter, $26-$30.
