ICONS DANCE FESTIVAL

Performances by Joffrey Concert Group, Limon2, and BH2
April 17 & 18, 2026 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater
Produced by the Joffrey Concert Group

The Joffrey Concert Group, Artistic Director Bradley Shelver, has a unique and a fine idea by bringing together three "second" companies - Joffrey Concert Group, Limon2, and BH2 (Ballet Hispanico), though it looks to me that there is nothing "second" about the training, the attack, the discipline, and the energy of these three companies.

Couple in "Sombrerisimo" performed by BH2 (Ballet Hispanico 2), photo by Layla Shoobridge, courtesy of the Joffrey Ballet School.

After a greeting to the audience by Shelver, the program opened with "And The Things That Remain," a masterfully crafted company work by Shelver. The dance showed a full technique of non-stop quick-fire jumps, extensions, and partnering, urged on by the driving scores of Ezzio Bosso, Johan Ullen, and Christian Svarfvar, broken up into group dances, solos, duets, and trios. Interestingly, some of the female dancers were on pointe, others in ballet shoes, obviously allowing them to according to their best capabilities.

This was followed by an excerpt from Jose Limon's "Psalm," danced by Limon2. It's a beautiful work, one of the Limon classics, and the young dancers did Limon proud with a performance that was beautifully rehearsed, and filled with the Limon passion and sense of community - the simple costumes, the "togetherness", the circle dance, all the Limon classic movements.

"Sombrerisimo," by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, was danced by BH2. According to program notes, it was inspired by the surrealist world of Belgian painter Rene Magritte, famous for his paintings of men in bowler hats and, indeed, one of the dances had much play with the dancers' hats, which were all thrown up into the air at the end. One little note about printed programs: programs were available only by scanning. There were no printed programs, though they would have been helpful to the non-technical audience members! The work seemed disjointed, but was well performed by the dancers.

Limon2 returned with an excerpt of a new work, Pukllay, by Miguel Miranda. It was a dark tale of an outsider, a single female in somber black who, in the end, appeared to be devoured or killed by the group, reminiscent of The Rite of Spring. A primitive feeling pervaded the movement, supported by the music which included jungle sounds, exotic birds and such.

BH2 returned with choreographer Gabrielle Sprauve's "A Dream Is A Wish," opening with an ensemble of female dancers in long tutus and on pointe, showing the versatility of their training, which ranges from salsa to classical ballet. The sound collage included the song "A Dream is a Wish (your heart makes)" a la Disney; the song Estrallita, and spoken words by Maya Angelou.

"3114" choreography by Bradley Shelver, performed by the Joffrey Concert Group. Photo by Layla Shoobridge, courtesy of the Joffrey Ballet School

The program ended with Bradley Shelver's spectacular "3114" set to Ravel's Bolero. Did I remark that Pukllay had a primitive quality? Compared with "3114," it seemed like a tea party at Buckingham Palace. Like all dancers on the program, the Joffrey Concert Group gave a no-holds-barred performance of this savage work, with confrontations, choreographed mayhem, dancers literally getting thrown around the stage, and screaming directly to the audience. [PB]