Infatuation is easy; relationships are hard. And carving the time and energy to explore and nurture new relationships? Well, that can feel downright impossible.

Questions about how to “do” love and sexuality are what prompted choreographer Juel D. Lane to imagine “Touch & Agree,” a 2017 piece newly set on Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. It’s the middle of three works making up Hubbard Street’s Winter Series at Millennium Park’s Harris Theater for Music and Dance.

“Touch & Agree” opens with a vignette for two dancers (on opening night, Dominick Brown and Aaron Choate) plus two chairs. They depict a flirtation and all that comes after when two people try, fail and try again to love one another — Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me” crooning all along with this dapper duo (draped in smartly tailored three-piece suits by Jarrod Barnes and elegantly lit by Stephen Smart).

This sets up a more abstract journey for the full slate of Hubbard Street dancers, who venture through a series of meet-cutes, fleeting explorations and scattered moments of loneliness (most notably in a twitchy solo for Cyrie Topete set to music which finds H.E.R. pleading to “focus on me”).

It ends with joy: Byrell the Great’s spectacular EDM track “Legendary Children” accompanies an equally nice group effort. Sprinkled between sweeping phrases — which seamlessly blend contemporary, jazz, vogue and street flavors — are hints at those magical moments where even we laypeople get swept up by music, movement and the motivation to put yourself out there and feel something. “Touch & Agree” is a reminder that it’s worth the effort to get on the dance floor at two in the morning; to say “yes” to a goofy Cupid Shuffle at your friend’s wedding; to get off your phone and meet a stranger in real life.

Speaking of relationships, “Touch & Agree” is bookended by two works restored from different points in Hubbard Street’s history. From 2022, Amy Hall Garner’s beautiful “As the Wind Blows” returns after a short break from the active repertoire, perhaps a nod to artistic director Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell’s five years in the director’s chair.

“As the Wind Blows” was among Fisher-Harrell’s first commissions, laying the groundwork for her unique vision for the company. Part of that vision has been nurturing relationships not only with folks who’d never choreographed for Hubbard Street (including Garner and Lane), but celebrating the company’s past, too.

Choreographer Amy Hall Garner’s “As the Wind Blows,” part of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s Winter Series at the Harris Theater. (Michelle Reid)

That’s how we get to a revival of Nacho Duato’s “Gnawa,” a piece commissioned for Hubbard Street in 2005 by then-artistic director Jim Vincent. Vincent, who was pivotal in advancing the company’s collection of works by high profile choreographers like Duato, returned to his former artistic home  this winter to stage the piece on this current company, with help from Hubbard Street alum Cheryl Mann.

Though “Gnawa” is quite clearly of another time, two decades later it remains a spectacular showpiece for Hubbard Street, ripe with intricate, difficult choreography that’s designed to look effortless. On opening night, David Schultz and Alexandria Best danced the featured roles: a stunning pas de deux periodically inserted into swirling, sweeping ensemble work.

If “Gnawa” has a message, it’s imbued in the music. Hassan Hakmoun and Adam Rudolph’s score circumnavigates the Mediterranean — a sea which touches Duato’s native Spain, North Africa, the Greek isles, Turkey, Syria, Israel and Gaza.

“Gnawa” by Nacho Duato, part of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s Winter Series at the Harris Theater. (Michelle Reid)

All of it is here. In her curtain speech Thursday, Fisher-Harrell said, “Art is not a luxury; it’s a healer.” Each of these three works is most certainly a salve.

But collectively, this Winter Series doesn’t feel like it’s firing on all cylinders. The Hubbard Street dancers are among the very best, but the company’s bench still isn’t deep enough. A pair of too-long intermissions keep us waiting for them, not the other way around. It’s a program that simmers but can’t quite manage to boil.

Lauren Warnecke is a freelance critic.

Review: Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s Winter Series (3 stars)

When: Through 2 p.m. Sunday

Where: Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph St.

Running time: 2 hours with 2 intermissions

Tickets: $47-$131 at 312-334-7777 and hubbardstreetdance.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/27/review-hubbard-street-dance-winter-2026/