Cacklin' Hen began life in the Joffrey Ballet production called Happily
Ever After, where it served as the concluding section in a Tharp commission
from the Joffrey Ballet [see: Country Dances and Happily Ever After]. This
unusually constituted sextet--one woman alongside five men--resembles the
uniquely arranged quartet of Country Dances, with its man and three women.
Here, the lone woman dominates while her fellow dancers gain their own
focus. Part of the dance involves woman's bringing on of the men, more or
less jauntily yanking them into the view, and into action, by pulling each
from the wings. The country-toned dancing shambles, lopes, and spins into
shape, with the men eventually engaging in marching-style formations
counterpointing the solitary woman's slyly shy body language. In the end,
she's caught in one of the men's embraces.