`Hubbard Street Dance Chicago'

Through May 2 Shubert Theatre, 22 W. Monroe Tickets: $12-45; (312)902-1500. Highly recommended

Both nature and human nature are in the spotlight in the third -and in many ways the most intriguing - of the mixed bills beingpresented by Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in its ongoing Springseason at the Shubert Theatre.

Watching the transcendent work of Spanish choreographer NachoDuato, you realize that a sense of nature is too often missing fromcontemporary dance.In "Jardi Tancat" ("Enclosed Garden"), one of his earliest pieces,three couples conjure an entire little farming village where prayer,the tilling of the soil, the chirping of birds and the interlockingof fates fill a day. Set to music by Maria Del Mar Bonet -entrancing songs and drumming from Spain's Basque region - the piecehas the smell of freshly turned soil and sunshine. The strikingdancers in Thursday night's performance were Meredith Dincolo, MaryNesvadba, Cheryl Mann, David Gomez, Joseph P. Pantaleon and JohnRoss.Kevin O'Day's duet, "To Have and To Hold" - one of this season'sworld premieres - is also about nature, as a couple explores weightand weightlessness, darkness and light, and as these physical forcesassume emotional qualities. Meredith Dincolo, a large-boned womanwho can project strength, maturity and an easy elegance - and who ismaking a real artistic breakthrough this season - was partnered witheffortless grace by Gomez.Among the pieces that explored human nature was another premiere -Harrison McEldowney's playful and witty "Group Therapy." On secondviewing, this comical study of four dysfunctional couples seemedricher and more complex in its movement. And its characters,mismatched and ripe with personality quirks, have great audienceappeal. The dancers, especially the acrobatic Kendra Moore (dancingto Chicago diva Kathy Santen's recording of the Gershwins' "Treat MeRough"), and the rubbery-limbed Ron De Jesus, were superb.Daniel Ezralow's "SUPER STRAIGHT is coming down," a starklydramatic, unpredictable look at the yuppie jungle, was superblydanced. So was Jiri Kylian's irresistible "Sechs Tanz" - themarionette madness set to Mozart that brought the evening to a zanyclose.