Food truck, flying and fun is all part of the Cirque Kikasse ensemble that performed on Saturday at Crellin Park in Chatham.

Each year, PS/21 Center for Contemporary Performance moves out of its theater and into Crellin Park. There, they share the joys of live arts with the community for free. And this year’s selection was as joyous and silly as it gets -- Cirque Kikasse in “Sante.”
 
This quintet of acrobatic clowns, who are toasting to its audience, performs — believe it or not — atop of a food truck. Yes, the stage is small but the view for the audience is spectacular. And with the help of a trampoline positioned out front of the vending windows, the artists from Quebec City fly and spin through the air and alit easily on top of the truck where the show unfolds.
 
It’s everything one would expect from a human circus – juggling, aerials, balancing, acrobatics and a lot of goofing around. And while the truck, selling beer and popcorn, seems like a gimmick, it works. Mainly because it’s a mobile stage for these artists – no need for a theater or a sound system ever in this all-in-one stage. It’s just so ridiculous that it is brilliant.
 
The troupe is the co-creation of Hugo Ouellet-Cote, the show’s biggest clown who feigns sneaking beers during the performance, and its narrator, the hand-barred mustached William Poliquin-Simms. The latter guides the audience through their daring – and dangerous – feats. The most nail-biting is the balancing act atop of a quartet of chairs. Upside down and scissoring and twisting his legs, the artist, only identified as Jim, hovers in the air – a sight that is nerve-wracking as much as it is awe-inspiring.
 
Yet the most amazing of their acts was the five-way, tri-level juggling. It was like watching an elaborate Rube Goldberg cartoon machine as the cubs fly every which way and mostly land in the right hands.
 
Of course, a lot of this is what one expects from a human circus – a display of moves that make us gasp. But after the show, Cirque Kikasse delivers more. It invites the audience to step up to the truck and buy some treats and drinks. Yes, this is actually a working food truck that helps this kooky ensemble pay the gas to move along to the next gig.
 
Like I said, it’s wacky, but it’s genius.

Gibney Company has expanded in all the right ways.
 
Founded by Gina Gibney and directed by Gilbert T. Smalls, the contemporary dance company has been around since 1991. But over the years, it has embraced a larger community – reaching out to those affected by domestic and gender-based violence to help them heal through dance. At the same time, Gibney advocated for economic empowerment, diversity and mental health support.
 
All this giving has resulted in their receiving an influx of funds – helping them to double the size of the ensemble and commission choreographers beyond the company’s circle. They have also acquired classic modern dance works from the cleverly jaunty Twyla Tharp. And in the company’s first showing at Jacob’s Pillow in years, on Saturday on the outdoor Henry J. Leir Stage, this marvelous troupe showed off two of Tharp’s early works as well as a glorious work by Swedish choreographer Johan Inger, “Bliss.”
 
Like any dance aficionado, I am always excited to see a Tharp work – not matter how old – restaged. The company offered “Bach Duet” and “The Fugue” – two works that are important in how they moved Tharp’s artistry forward. But neither is particularly enjoyable for audiences.
 
“Bach Duet,” to music by Bach’s 78th Cantata, was likely meant to pull the curtain back on the studio where dancers work. The spitting on the ground, which started the piece off and then became overdone, was one signal. Another is Tharp’s flouncy style – head and arms loose with legs and feet that propelled them forward or nailed them to the ground — making it feel that the two dancers — Eleni Loving and Jake Tribus — were in rehearsal.
 
Though the two did an excellent job recreating the duet’s original vibe, it was hardly charming.
 
Just as I’m wondering if this work from 1974 is outdated, on comes “The Fugue.” This dance for a trio is difficult to perform as there is no music. Rather it is driven a 20-count theme that the dancer must maintain in their minds. The piece, from 1970, demonstrates Tharp’s ability to break all dance boundaries to meld modern dance with tap and ballet. Though I missed the music, the dance still endures as a work of contemporary dance.
 
Art is meant to challenge both the artists and is audience, but I was relieved to see Inger’s “Bliss,” one of those pieces that is savory, a meld of music and seamless movement performed by exquisite dancers.  
 
Set to Keith Jarrett’s The Koln Concert, Part 1, this dance is perfect Gibney as it felt like a community spontaneously coming together, enjoying a romp in the Pillow forest. Runners, lovers, strollers, seekers all came together. It topped off the show with a utopian peek at how diversity can lead to realizing a peaceable kingdom.

Members of the Paul Taylor Dance Company embrace retiring dancer Eran Bugge on Saturday night at PS/21 Center for Contemporary Performance. (Photo by Steven Taylor)

It’s always a special night at PS/21 Center for Contemporary Performance when Paul Taylor Dance Company performs. As regulars at the venue, the audience is thoroughly bonded with the ensemble. It helps too that the troupe performs what can universally be considered today's most well-crafted modern dance pieces.
 
But Saturday night was extra special as the company bid an appreciative and love-filled farewell to Eran Bugge, the company’s senior dancer. The evening featured three works by the late Paul Taylor in which Bugge took center stage and then basked in a rose filled curtain call complete with a stomping audience with a standing ovation. There were hugs all-around including from the company members and its artistic leaders, sending Bugge off with deep gratitude and affection.
 
Since the 1950s, the Taylor company has been number one in the modern dance world. And as such, audiences have seen some amazing dancers fly across its international stage. Many of those artists have gone on to run their own top-notch companies – like David Parsons and Robert Battle. While Bugge's next steps are not public, what is clear is she will be missed as her appearance in the trio of Taylor works: the joyous “Brandenburgs,” the mysterious “Runes” and the simmering “Promethean Fire” were scintillating.
 
As soon as the curtain opened on the gorgeous “Brandenburgs,” the audience roared. The piece, set to selections from Bach’s concerti, is a formal delight with a trio of woman, Bugge in the center, tearing through solos for a princely John Harnage who stands watching, enraptured. The courtly display also included a quintet of men who framed the woman and sparked visceral tickles as they leapt and side skipped over the boards in unison.
 
While many of the moves are signature Taylor – swinging arms with long-striding runs – this was one of his most balletic, especially juxtaposed to “Runes.” The piece, to a foreboding and strident piano composition by Gerald Busby, was miles apart from “Brandenburgs.” This ritualistic work from 1975 was set below a rising full-moon was all angles, scissoring arms and spider-like poses. The dancers – who appeared as unknown forest creatures — stalked and rose in the dim landscape as they looked to fulfill an unseen, and seemingly deadly, purpose. And like all Taylor works, the deployment of the dancers was masterful. At one point, the two groups surround a sole figure, as they walked toward each other and then backed away, a new central figure emerged, a move that was repeated again and again. The eerie work, though not a favorite, showed Taylor’s versatility and skill.
 
The evening concluded with “Promethean Fire,” with Bugge and Devon Louis in the central role. To music by Bach, their duet was a plea for connection that was both heart-breaking beautiful and triumphant. And when Bugge went for it, jumping backward in Louis’ arms, there was a relief and then celebration. It was yet another Taylor masterpiece that lit the flame of its audience and dancers like Bugge. We were lucky to have had the privilege of seeing her.
 
Brava Brugge.