The spectators were drinking Red Bull instead champagne and the performers were wearing electic casual clothes not tutus and tights, but the dancing was incredible on June 20 at Chicago’s Opera House, on the opening night of the 2014 World Tour of the Flying Bach troupe. While there have for many years been interesting crossover music and dance combinations (jazz choral groups singing baroque songs come to mind), pairing the piano and harpsichord of Bach’s Well-Tempered Claviar with breakdancing (usually done to rap or Hip-Hop music) is a real stretch. Especially because the dancers, who usually have a straightforward beat to follow, now had to each follow a separate melody line of a fugue. And we wonder how much impact such performances will have on classic ballet. Ballet is more about women than men, but breakdancing is more of a male activity because of its demands on upper body strength. And to further add to the contrast, the 2014 schedule snubs New York and includes only Chicago for its 6 U.S. performances, but has 10 performances in Chile, 8 in Canada, 3 in Belgium, and 1 each in Azerbaijan and Qatar.
