Review: Coltrane, Edgar Allen Poe and a ‘show pony’ in Hubbard Street’s excellent ‘Elements’ at the MCA.

“The program’s B-side is moodier, beginning with “Nevermore,” a new work from choreographer Thang Dao. Dao leans heavily on Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven,” composer James G. Lindsay goes so far as to fold an eerie recitation of Poe’s narrative poem into his sprawling, cinematic score. Dancer Elliot Hammans, dressed in draped white pants and poet shirt, is framed as the protagonist, seated in a human armchair at the back of the stage. Hammans periodically rises, creating a spooky silhouette on the theater’s back wall. The rest of the company emerges as a flock of Poe’s eponymous birds–their all-black kimonos (by Calvin Tran and Neatly Silva) accentuated by a silvery collar and pop of bright red socks below. Ravens get a bad rep; here, Dao sympathetically positions them at the center of the story, giving the ensemble long, luxurious dance phrases peppered by staccato head pokes and avian fingers flutterings.”
-Lauren Warnecke

-Ellen Dunkel