"Gnawa thrummed with the vitality of Duato’s choreography. It seemed that the dancers did not want this compelling composition to end as it inexorably moved to a climax that could not be denied. When the curtain came down, the audience clearly wanted more of what Hubbard Street Dance Chicago had given them that evening." -Exploredance.com

Beginning with the elemental sounds of dripping water, a plucked string sounded. At first, the movement was almost a pantomime of slow motion, receding backwards on the stage. Women in black flowing gowns, holding their arms like temple goddesses being worshipped, chanting, men bare to the waist, and a reappearing couple in gray bodysuits, brought the synergy of Afro-Med movement and compelling rhythms back again and again. Train-like linking and breaking the line of dancers, the ensemble pressed onward, until the couple returned like exotic birds in a mating ritual during a pastoral interlude. Candles, brought as though by acolytes to illuminate their worship, as well as a series of virtuoso solos, almost riffs on a theme, all emphasized the theatrical aspect of this many-flavored tribal delight.