It’s fitting that October brings a cornucopia of international connections to Chicago dance stages, coinciding with the national celebration of United Nations Month, which commemorates the signing of the UN Charter, now completing its 68th year.  

With international dance connections ranging from as far away as China and as close to home as Cuba, Chicago audiences have a wonderful opportunity to experience how the cultural traditions, stories, and theatrical conventions of far-away lands enrich and inform our sense of global community. 

International collaborations like Trade Winds/Aires De Cambio (The Dance Center of Columbia College, October 9-11 at 8 PM), the culmination of Hedwig Dances’ multi-year relationship with Cuba’s DanzAbierta, take lots of work and determination to sustain. The necessity of travel between the two countries, navigating the complexity of international regulations and documentation, grappling with technology incompatibility and language issues, securing funding, and sheer physical distance make collaboration especially challenging.  It’s all worth the effort, according to Jan Bartoszek, artistic director of Chicago-based Hedwig Dances. “Artistic communication between the two countries diffuses the politics,” says Bartoszek. She is especially taken by the sophistication of the arts in Cuba and how tuned-in they are to Latin America and Europe. “This is a unique collaboration,” she says, “because we’re creating it together and performing it both here and in Cuba.” 

Trade Winds/Aires de Cambio” combines two, separately-choreographed, interlocking pieces--Trade Winds by Bartoszek and Aires de Cambio (Air of Change) by Susana Pous, resident choreographer of DanzAbierta. Both pieces explore the relationship of cyclical time in two different cultures: north and south, temperate and tropical.  The performance unfolds in a series of intersecting episodes following the course of the seasons, becoming a call and response between the two companies, Hedwig Dances primarily on one side of the stage and and DanzAbierta on the other. Several scenes cross over and intersect.

Cinematographer Daniel Kullman and videographer Nadia Oussenko of Chicago, and Havana filmmaker Claudio Pairot have created video projections as a unifying element. Chicago and Havana are woven into the fabric of the dance, with seasonal landscape portraits of the two cities, relating to the movement on stage. 

All the pieces come together in a joint rehearsal process at Links Hall (lead commissioner for “Trade Winds,”) when DanzAbierta arrives this Sunday. The Dance Center of Columbia College, where performances will take place, is a co-presenter with Links Hall. 

The U.S. premiere of Spanish dancer/choreographer Iván Pérez’s Flesh (2011) brings international seasoning to River North Dance Chicago’s 25th Anniversary program (Harris Theater, October 10-11). Based in the Netherlands, Pérez created Flesh, set to Keith Douglas’s poem, “The Knife,” for Nederlands Dans Theater II and dedicated it to his parents after their death. This will be the first time his work is seen in America. “Flesh was a kind of choreographic debut for me when it was created for Nedelands Dans II, and now it is like a double beginning, very special for me, the first time my work will be seen in the U.S., and an honor to be part of a window to the future for River North.” Pérez says the most challenging aspect of the movement is for the dancers to find their own space in the work, not just replicate it. “My work confronts them with themselves. As a dancer, you have tools, technique, that get you where you want to be, but sometimes in your career, a piece comes along that makes you have to break your own rules. That’s the kind of piece that Flesh is.” 

Chicago choreographer and Columbia College Dance Department chair Onye Ozuzu teams up with Wisconsin-based choreographer Peggy Choy for “Explorations in Afro-Asian Futurism” with their collaborative River-Mouth-Ocean (Links Hall, October 10-12). The two connected initially through their shared experiences as contemporary dance artists trained in traditional non-western forms. Choy, raised in Hawaii and of Korean descent, specializes in Javanese and Korean dance and Chinese martial arts. Ozuzu, of Nigerian and American Mennonite parentage, focuses on Djembe dances of West Africa and Japanese martial arts. Both artists find common ground in Jazz music that fuses African and Asian influences. Their collaboration in developing River-Mouth-Ocean incorporates new dances each choreographer designed for the other, as well as separate pieces, independently created by each, although united by the theme of “water issues linked to cultural survival, environmental justice, and hybrid identities.” 

“Cup of Water,”  an excerpt from Choy's larger work, Thirst, is a duet that uses Capoeira Angola, Afro-Brazilian martial arts, to tell the story of a thirsty miner on an island with no water and his dream of a sea-goddess. The choreography uses the inverted Capoeira movement of cartwheels, handstands, twirling and kicking, with partners in close proximity to each other.  “Walk The River,” Choy’s solo for Ozuzu, is a “water journey of the mind-heart,” a spiritual piece inspired by pictographs of ancient Chinese writing inspired by Daoist philosophy. 

“Glow in Deep Darkness,” Ozuzu’s solo composition for Choy, is an abstract exploration of bio-luminescence and the mysterious realm of the deepest ocean environments where creatures glow from within. Music by Usef Lateef combines the influence of African forms with Asian instrumentation and rhythms, reflecting both choreographers’ fascination with African-Asian fusion. “Water as a universal stimulus of change is a perfect conceptual orientation for working with Peggy,” says Ozuzu, who will perform her own choreography in the solo, “Make Wake.”

Ayodele Drum and Dance, a Chicago-based company, will perform Ozuzu’s “Seven,” set to original music by tabla player Rajesh Bandari and strongly driven by traditional African dance forms, although clearly in the realm of contemporary dance. “I am interested in cross and intercultural explorations that are....deeper than aesthetics,” says Ozuzu. While neither choreographer comes to Chicago from abroad, the world tours through them, through their cross-cultural lives, and through their work. River-Mouth-Ocean is an international tour of their interior world.

The Museum of Contemporary Art’s “Global Stage” series has been a prominent presenter of international dance and theater in Chicago. This month the Belgian company, “Rosas” returns to perform Rosas Danst Rosas (MCA, October 9-12), a pivotal artistic work that brought the company initial recognition as one of the foremost contemporary dance companies in Europe and has remained strong in its repertory for thirty years. Choreographed for four women, its underlying emotional arc is the development of young women through various stages of maturity. “This would qualify as a signature piece,” says MCA Director of Performance Programs Peter Taub. “I’m always interested in how individual dance makers draw on their heritage.” Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Artistic Director of Rosas and choreographer of Rosas Danst Rosas, combines simple, everyday gestures with abstract movement. “She has a keen sense of the language of the body,” Taub says. “The dancing is exceptional,” with a driving energy that completely captivates audiences. Following a curious plagiarism near-scandal with Beyoncé, de Keersmaeker instituted an open invitation to replicate her choreography on-line. In the same spirit, the MCA invites inspired audience members to follow in Beyoncé’s footsteps and join others from all over the globe by creating a video for the Re:Rosas project, whether it’s a 6-second Vine, a 15-second Instagram video, or an all-out YouTube production. Put your own spin on this stunning dance, post it online, and tag #ReRosas and mention MCA Chicago, and they’ll share it.

Also at the MCA, the London-based Michael Clark Company will perform October 25-27, in conjunction with the museum’s David Bowie exhibit. In Clark’s come, been and gone, “ballet meets punk, and neither comes out the same.”  In its first visit to Chicago, the Michael Clark Company pays homage to the decadence and unbridled fun of 1970s club culture. British dance iconoclast Michael Clark sets his choreography in come, been and gone to the music of fellow rebel David Bowie, and collaborates with video artist and dance film pioneer Charles Atlas.

Rounding out the global inundation of dance in Chicago this month, the Beijing Dance Theater presents Wild Grass (Harris Theater, October 28-29), the newest work from company artistic director Wang Yuanyuan. In Wild Grass,Wang takes inspiration from the poems of Chinese writer and literary giant Lu Xun. The three-part performance is rooted in ideas of spirituality and individuality. 

So celebrate United Nations Month with a cross-cultural night out, a global dance date, or an international escapade! For more details and tickets, click on “Upcoming Events.”

Lynn Colburn Shapiro
Editor 

Long before the aroma of roast turkey tantalizes our taste buds, Nutcrackers across the world begin flexing their jaws for the holiday season. As countless holiday productions can attest, there’s more than one way to crack a nut. 

“The Nutcracker” dominates Chicago holiday programming, along with “A Christmas Carol,” and “The Messiah,” giving a decidedly Christmasy emphasis to audience options. While The Nutcracker Ballet, based on the tale by E.T.A. Hoffmann, is the hallmark spectacle and prime audience draw of the year for many professional dance companies and countless ballet schools, Chicago boasts at least two notable holiday alternatives. 

“Tidings of Tap” (December 12-14, UIC Theatre) is Chicago Tap Theatre’s answer to Christmas, Chanukah, and Winter.  “It recognizes and honors everyone’s traditions,” says company director Mark Yonally. This year Rich Ashworth brings two new pieces to the line-up of family-friendly tap numbers. His “Twelve Days of Christmas” features a comedic look at the holiday mania, and his “Bohemian Tapsody” pairs hot footwork with the popular Queen tune.

Joel Hall Dancers’ “Nuts and Bolts” (November 29-30, Ruth Page Center) returns for another season of fun in the jazz idiom. Hall calls his multi-cultural offering “The Un-Nutcracker,” with racially, culturally, and sexually diverse dancers in a piece that is built around Duke Ellington’s riff on Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker score, with additional music by a mix of House Music.  In the traditional “Nutcracker,” Act I is mostly mime, where “Nuts and Bolts” is more dance right from the start. Hall hopes “Nuts and Bolts’” will “bring people of all ages who wouldn’t normally be drawn to dance.”

Despite its Christmas-specific setting in Act I, “The Nutcracker’s” message is undeniably universal. It’s got everything a ballet company marketing director could want in a holiday show--a fairy tale story with colorful characters and plenty of magic, scenic spectacle, dazzling costumes, a built-in talent show for virtuoso dancing, and an unapologetic excuse to parade dozens of adorable children out on stage.   

In 1987, Robert Joffrey held open auditions in New York for all the children’s roles he intended to create for his new, distinctively American take on “The Nutcracker.” Children of all ages showed up. One was in a wheel chair. Joffrey was so moved by the courage and determination of this child that he decided to create a role in the Act I party scene for a disabled child, a tradition that continues to this day in The Joffrey Ballet’s “Nutcracker,” (December 5-28, Auditorium Theater).  

E.T.A.Hoffmann’s original story portrayed Drosselmeyer as a very dark and scary character, but he has evolved into a capricious avuncular fellow. “I love this role!” says Joffrey dancer Matthew Adamczyk, who describes Drosselmeyer as loving but also mysterious. He admires Robert Joffrey’s attention to detail that creates through-lines in the story, such as the 1850’s-era toys of Act I replicated exactly in life-size versions in Act II. But most of all, he loves interacting with the children, especially with a child whose disability would normally exclude him from such an opportunity. At one point, Drosselmeyer sprinkles fairy dust over the children. “For me to be able to play Drosselmeyer and have this interaction with this child; we’re making dreams come true!”  

Joffrey Ballet’s April Daly, a ballerina’s ballerina, plays the roles of Snow Queen, Sugar Plum Fairy, and Pansy (Waltz of the Flowers). “I love Nutcracker,” she says, “because it’s such a great opportunity for the company to dance so many different roles.” For Daly, “Nutcracker” embodies the essence of the holiday season with the traditions of family and friends coming together. Her very first Nutcracker was at the age of eleven in her home town of Rockford, where she played a Polichinelle with The Rockford Dance Company.  She has returned as guest artist to dance the Sugar Plum Fairy. Snow Queen is her favorite Nutcracker role, she says, citing the Joffrey version’s parallel casting of Mother and Father Stallbaum of Act I as the Snow Queen and King of Act II. “The music for Snow is so powerful and  the mood so magical. Doing 40-some performances, you have to keep the magic alive!”

“Candy Cane is devilishly tricky,” says Ballet Chicago artistic director Daniel Duell of his 15 years dancing in George Balanchine’s “Nutcracker” for New York City Ballet.  Duell and his wife, Patricia Blair, have choreographed Ballet Chicago’s “Nutcracker,” (December 13-21, Athenaeum Theatre), with Balanchine’s Act II pas de deux, for which they received permission from the Balanchine Trust.  “Dancing the Cavalier is the lexicon of partnering,” says Duell, who was coached in the part by Balanchine himself. “He spent a lot of time teaching each and every step, with very specific goals for partnering.” With Balanchine, “the man is always dancing; the way he moves his hands on and off the ballerina’s body. You don’t see the wind-up or the preparation for a turn or lift.” Ballet Chicago’s “Nutcracker” features 150 cast members from pre-school through pre-professional. The production, with a running time of 1 hour and 50 minutes, also features company alum Ted Seymour of the Suzanne Farell Ballet as the Cavalier, and Joshua Ishmon, of Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre as Drosselmeyer.

The Ruth Page Civic Ballet carries on the tradition of Page's Nutcracker, which played for 31 years and was sponsored by Chicago Tribune Charities. “We had to know every part,” says Dolores Long, who stages the production, along with Birute Barodicaite and Victor Alexander of the Ruth Page School and Center for the Performing Arts. Long danced The Sugar Plum Fairy, Snow, and the Dancing Doll, but could have jumped in to play Arabian or Marzipan if needed. “Ruth didn’t let you sit around! That way, if anyone got sick or injured, there was always someone to cover the part.” Long loves this production, because “it’s very classical. Ruth put children in as many of the dances as she possibly could, not only in Act I, but in the variations of Act II as well.” Page called her production, “an affectionate and good old fashioned Christmas present to the children of Chicago and their parents and friends.” A new twist to the Civic’s production is the addition of a first act script, by U of I theater professor Bill Raffeld,  with the characters of Clara, Fritz, Drosselmeyer (played by Randy Newsom), the nephew, and parents taking speaking roles. “For people who aren’t dance aficionados, it really helps!”

Hyde Park School of Dance director August Tye’s favorite “Nutcracker” role is Spanish, “But I never got to dance it!” She did get to dance many other roles, including the Sugar Plum Fairy and Snow, and uses her own experience as an example for her students, who all want to be Clara. “You’re lucky to get a role in “The Nutcracker,”  she tells them. Not all dance students who audition for Nutcracker productions are so fortunate. At Hyde Park School of Dance, there are Nutcracker auditions, but everyone gets a part. Parent volunteers fuel the engine of HPSD’s “Nutcracker” (December 12-14, Mandel Hall), which features145 children and adults. “The community is what makes us unique,” Tye says of her volunteers. “It comes together as sheer effort and sheer love.” This year, parent volunteer Peter Gotsch plays Drosselmeyer with a decidedly “steam punk feeling.”  With Gotsch’s wife playing the wife of Mayor Stallbaum, and lots of flirty winks going on between Drosselmeyer and Mrs. Stallbaum, there’s material for an on-stage gossip column, too. Local celebrities typically take some of the character roles. This year Hyde Park Bank president Mike McGarry will play the role of Mother Ginger, with other cameos TBA. A brand new growing tree was designed and built by one of the dads, who is an engineer, and his wife, a professional artist, designed and painted the sets.

Salt Creek Ballet’s “Nutcracker” (November 29-30, Hinsdale Central Auditorium; Dec. 6, Governor’s State University; Dec. 13-14, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts) boasts exciting new sets and costumes by designers formerly from the Leningrad Kirov Ballet. Company directors Sergey Kozadayev and Zhanna Dubrovskaya , graduates of Russia’s Vaganova School, have choreographed this production, now in its 30th anniversary season. 100 dancers from ages 8-18 will join professional guest artists in a traditional version that pays allegiance to the concept and style of Lev Ivanov’s original ballet. “Everything is already in the Tchaikovsky score as stage directions,” says Kozadayev, “so I don’t want to ignore tradition.” Kozadayev notes that the Balanchine version was very much influenced by Ivanov’s. One of the delights of this production for Kozadayev is the children. “They are honest. They are great pretenders, and they cannot lie on stage.” 

Dancenter North continues its Nutcracker tradition under the leadership of  new company director Karen Landrian, but “It’s every bit Sherry Lindell’s production!” she says, referring to the recently retired artistic director and choreographer. “Why meddle with a good thing?”  Guest artists, including River North’s Hank Hunter as the Nutcracker Prince and Pablo Sanchez of the Atlanta Ballet as the Cavalier and Snow Prince, complement the cast, comprised of 83 student dancers, children through pre-professionals. (December 6-7, Libertyville High School; December 13, Genessee Theater, Waukegan)

Lynn Colburn Shapiro, Editor

What a wonderful year 2014 has been for dance in Chicago!  So many outstanding creative enterprises in so many different genres make our city an ever-expanding hub for deepening dance traditions, pioneering exciting dance innovation, cross disciplinary collaborating, and world class performance. Whether you are a dancer, choreographer, composer, musician, designer, producer, or patron, you can be proud to be a part of this flourishing arts community.  Throughout the month of December, the dance writers at seechicagodance will be reflecting on some of the highlights of 2014 that we have found especially memorable, but for this newsletter, we look forward to the new year and a sampling of just a few of the upcoming events you won’t want to miss.

Giordano Dance Chicago kicks off the new year on January 31st as part of the Auditorium Theatre’s “Made in Chicago” series. Pertinent to the series’ Chicago theme is Autumn Eckman’s “Moving Sidewalks.” Restaged with new costuming for all sixteen Giordano dancers, the piece makes a journey back in time to the historic Pilsen neighborhood, where periodic flooding created an unusual landscape of unstable layers.

“Shirt Off My Back,” a world premiere by Ray Mercer (of “The Lion King” fame), Roni Koresh’s “Exit 4,” Ray Leeper’s “Felling Good Suite,” and Eckman’s “Alloy” round out the program. Giordano’s spring season at the Harris Theater March 27-29 will feature three Broadway-themed pieces and a world premiere by company dancer Joshua Blake Carter.

The Joffrey Ballet, "Unique Voices"The Joffrey Ballet’s winter season, “Unique Voices,”  at the Auditorium Theatre February  11-22, features the U.S. premiere of Alexander Ekman’s “Tulle,” a ballet about ballet. Originally created in Sweden in 2012, it was his first work using pointe shoes and classical vocabulary.  Stanton Welch’s “Maninyas” and James Kudelka’s “The Man In Black” are Joffrey premieres. The Joffrey’s spring program, “New Works” will take place at The Cadillac Place Theatre, due to the relocation of the NFL Draft to Chicago.  New York City Ballet soloist Justin Peck sets his “In Creases,” on the company for the first time. Joffrey ballet master Nicholas Blanc’s “Evenfall” and Christopher Wheeldon’s “Liturgy” are also Joffrey premieres. Val Caniparoli reprises his 2012 Joffrey world premiere “Incantations.”

River North Dance Chicago returns to the Auditorium Theatre March 28th with a new work by longtime company dancer Hana Bricston.River North Dance Chicago

Harris Theater For Music and Dance brings former New York City Ballet principal Wendy Whelan January 21st, Alonzo King Lines Ballet March 3-5, Visceral Dance Chicago March 21-22, and the Scottish Ballet’s production of “A Streetcar Named Desire May 7-9. 

Both spring and summer seasons of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago will also take place at the Harris. The spring season, March 12-15, will feature “Cloudless,” a duet by Crystal Pite, and works by Jiri Kylian and Alejandro Cerudo, in a unique program revolving around the theme of gender identities and relationships. HSDC’s summer season (June 11-14) will celebrate resident company choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo’s prolific and successful choreographic career with a world premiere, his 14th original creation for the company. 

Chicago Human Rhythm Project The Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s (CHRP) 25th anniversary celebration includes The Chicago Rhythm Fest May 13th as part of the Auditorium Theatre’s “Made In Chicago” series. Re-imagining the CHRP’s first ever Tap Dance Day concert 25 years ago,  the program includes CHRP’s resident company, BAM!, Trinity Irish Dance Company, Mexican Dance Ensemble, Muntu Dance Theatre, and Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater.

Hedwig Dances travels to Havana to perform Trade Winds/Aires de Cambio in collaboration with Cuba’s DanzAbierta on January 30-31. The company's 30th anniversary concert will take place May 15-16 at the Athenaeum Theatre, featuring select work that artistic director Jan Bartoszek created for Hedwig Dances' repertoire in “One Grand Dance.” Company member and choreographer Edson Cabrera will also create a new work called Bangweulu.  The word "Bangweulu" is of African origin and means literally where the water meets the sky or the infinite horizon or timelessness. The dance will be structured as three separate duets based on the theme of relationships between friends, family members and lovers.

The Dance Center of Columbia College brings David Roussève February 5-7; Chicago Dance Crash February 19-21; Shantala Shivalingappa March 5-7; and Urban Bush Women March 19-21. 

The Auditorium Theatre also brings an exciting roster of touring programs, beginning with Tango Buenos Aires January 25th, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater March 6-8, The Eifman Ballet May 8-10, and The Royal Ballet in Carlos Acosta’s production of “Don Quixote June 18-21.

The staff and writers of SeeChicagoDance wish you Happy Holidays and a whole new year filled with wonderful dance! 

Lynn Colburn Shapiro, editor

Elizabeth “Nana” Shineflug grew up on the North Shore, following what might be considered an ordinary path. After earning a degree in mathematics, Nana taught briefly at New Trier High School, until her unbridled, creative spirit lead her down a different path. After attempting a dance career in New York, she returned to Chicago during a time in which there were few places and opportunities for modern dancers. In 1972, Nana started a repertory company called the Chicago Moving Company (CMC), in response to this need.

Flash forward to 2012, and CMC celebrated its 40th anniversary at The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago after decades of creation and innovation. The company had evolved from a repertory company to a creative home for Nana’s choreography, and her most beloved dances were revived for the anniversary performance. The celebration turned out to be Shineflug’s swan song; news of her death on January 15, 2015 at age 79 quickly spread through Chicago’s tightly knit dance community. It’s a community, in fact, knit together by Nana. Her impact and influence on dance in Chicago is undeniable, the loss of which will be deeply felt. Nana’s love for dance and dancers led her from an ordinary path to an extraordinary one; as word of her death spread on social media it became apparent that few dancers in Chicago had not been touched or affected by Nana in some way.

According to Kay LaSota, CMC’s long-time Managing Director, Producer, and Nana’s right-hand woman, the subject of planning for the company’s future was not a new one. As Nana quietly battled cancer, CMC began making subtle changes to its infrastructure. Out of such conversations came a carefully crafted new series designed to support new, emerging, and under-produced artists. Dubbed Dance for $9.99 (or D49), the summer series and companion performance Dance Shelter provide opportunities for dancers and choreographers within CMC and Nana’s wider circle of “dance family.”

Perhaps the greatest tribute to any artist is preserving all she has built in an ever-changing artistic and economic climate. LaSota says that the company will go on, maintaining its now iconic home on the second floor of the Hamlin Park Fieldhouse, a Chicago Park District Arts Partnership occupied by CMC since the mid-1990’s. The company hopes to ramp up its activity in a hybrid form that blends CMC’s past histories as a repertory company, producer of others’ work, and house for Nana’s choreography. It will eventually seek a new director, ideally from within the company, “but of course that is hundreds of people,” said LaSota. Indeed, Nana’s impact has been long, broad, and deep.

For this author, Nana was the first to introduce me to a way of moving “from the center.” She was tough, but not in the way that many dance teachers are tough; she taught with a fierce positivity, joyful intensity, and a great passion for the body in movement. Her ideas and aesthetic are synonymous with Chicago modern dance. Perhaps most endearing and inspiring was Nana’s ability to continue to learn and evolve as an artist, feeding off fresh inspiration from CMC’s dancers and her students at Columbia College Chicago, where she was a tenured professor in the Theater department. “Words that I associate with Nana,” said LaSota, “are optimistic and relentless. She was not afraid to fail. She got knocked down many times, as we all do in this field, but she had the ability to always get back up, because it matters.”

Nana died peacefully in her home at the age of 79, surrounded by family. Chicago Moving Company is planning a public celebration Spring 2015 at Hamlin Park Fieldhouse, with details to come. In lieu of flowers, Nana’s family requests donations be made in her name to the Chicago Moving Company or the Trinity Booster Club, a nonprofit organization supporting the Trinity Irish Dancers.

--Lauren Warnecke

February is nationally designated as Black History Month throughout the United States, but in Chicago, you don’t have to wait for February to experience the strength and vitality of African American culture on our dance stages. SeeChicagoDance spoke with several artistic directors of dance companies that are making a difference through their commitment to the expression of African American identity through dance in the diaspora.

Expression of identity and transmission of cultural values comes in all shapes and sizes, from authentic folkloric replications to permutations of tradition with amalgamations of modern idioms, each pursuing its goals in unique ways. African American dance in Chicago reflects diversity of expression across a spectrum of vibrant work, from the jazzy tap-dance energy of Bril Barrett’s M.A.D.D. RHYTHMS to the sublime contemporary concert dance of Deeply Rooted Dance, and Homer Bryant’s young troupe of classically-trained ballet dancers doing hip-hop and African dance forms en pointe; from Ayodele Drum and Dance in traditional African costumes and face paint, to the African-inspired dances of Muntu Dance Theatre. But it’s not enough to just be a company of African American dancers. On the other hand, many African American companies employ dancers of diverse races. The key is in the specifically African American heritage at the center of the work they do.

Muntu Dance Theatre
Muntu is the oldest continuously producing African American dance company in America, according to Joan Gray, president of the company. Its origins go back to 1972, when a group of drummers came together looking for a way to express  the African American cultural heritage. But of course, no one can hold still listening to those infectious rhythms, and they soon added a dance component, initially calling themselves “Unifying Humanity Through Cultural Creativity” (UHTCC). Their goal was just that: harnessing the power of music and dance to bring people of diverse traditions, nationalities, races, and cultural backgrounds together in a mutually-inclusive celebration of life. Founding dancer and choreographer Alyo Tolbert favored “Muntu,” a Bantu language term for the same idea, as a company name that had a better chance of grabbing people’s attention. Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago produced its first full-length concert at the Francis Parker School auditorium in 1975, a historically significant venue for dance in Chicago.  (American modern dance pioneer Doris Humphrey made her debut there as well.) In the first years, Muntu was asked to perform regularly at community events such as weddings and funerals, solidifying its community-based objectives early on. The company founders saw a great need to educate Chicago’s African American community, as well as the population at large, about African American history and culture. “It’s a travesty that the story of how we came here is not taught in the schools,” says Gray, despite the state mandate to do so. “We get overly worked during Black History Month!” Muntu’s educational outreach programs have an especially critical impact in the inner city, where people know very little about their African and African American history and culture. “The more you know about yourself, and the more you love yourself, the more likely you are to love others,” Gray says. Muntu conducts dance and music classes at the Beverly Arts Center, with educational outreach programming in schools, community centers and group homes, reaching over 800 children a year. The 18-member company conducts open forms classes for adults as well, eliciting family stories from the community which they are compiling to use in their choreography. “How do we begin as a people to heal ourselves, and to forgive?” she asks.  Muntu’s answer is in the work. New this year will be “Healing Hearts,” which will be a collaboration with a gospel choir. Catch Muntu at 10 AM on February 5 and 26 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie; May 13th at 7:30 PM in the Chicago Rhythm Festival at the Auditorium Theatre; and July 18th for the Summer Concert and Gala at the Logan Center for the Arts in Hyde Park. 

Homer Bryant. Photo by Preston Davis

At the opposite end of the spectrum is The Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center, The School of Homer Bryant, at 47 West Polk, where  75 % of the 150 students are African American. Bryant, former principal dancer with Dance Theatre of Harlem, says African dance is part of the fabric, but classical ballet is at the heart of the training. Two of his more well-known students, Malia and Sasha, went on to the White House, but many of Bryant’s students go on to dance in professional companies in Chicago and nationally.   “We are not only training dancers,” he says, “but making better human beings.” As with many of the artistic directors we spoke with, strong values are an important component of the training. While funding is always an issue for the not-for-profit school, Bryant never turns away a student, offering many scholarships. Community outreach includes weekly Friday workshops for 80 students from the Village Language Academy. The school’s housing in the basement of the former Dearborn Street Station is something of a challenge, but that doesn’t stop the school from turning out superbly-trained dancers. The Bryant Youth Professional Dance Company will perform with the Chicago Philharmonic at Navy Pier in March. Dance Center teacher and choreographer, Nina Rose Wardanian, in collaboration with Bryant, will premiere a ballet set to John Adams’ “The Chairman Dances.”

Ayodele Drum and Dance

Ayoldele Drum and Dance, founded by former Muntu dancer, Tosha “Ayo” Alston in 2009, is “a diverse sister circle of performing artists committed to performing drum and dance as a healing element.”  Ayo, who grew up in Brooklyn, NY, found African dance as a pre-teen after the death of her mother. It was dance that gave her a way to heal herself, and gain self-esteem, confidence, and strength. She has traveled to Guinea and Senegal as well as Brazil, studying authentic African dance forms and drumming. She sees drums, which traditionally only men were allowed to play, as a means to women’s self-empowerment. She has developed a curriculum for using dance and music to teach girls and women to build self-esteem, confidence, and a strong sense of identity. The dance curriculum supports positive moral practices of family support, loyalty, and commitment to community. Her ultimate message: women can do it all! Ayodele conducts classes at the Sherman Park District at 52nd and Racine. The company’s spring concert will take place on May 8-9 at the Logan Center for the Arts in Hyde Park, and will include “Herstory To Tell,” the stories of women of strength, in collaboration with Columbia College’s Onye Ozuzu, chairman of the Dance Department. 

Urban Bushwomen

It’s not surprising that one of Ayo’s most influential mentors is Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, founding artistic director of New York-based Urban Bush Women. Zollar brings her company to The Dance Center of Columbia College March 19-21. Urban Bush Women brings the untold and undertold histories of disenfranchised people to light through dance. With a woman-centered perspective, and as members of the African Diaspora comunity, UBW seeks to create a more equitable balance of power in the dance world and beyond. The program will present three pieces, including Zollar’s newest work, “Hep Hep Sweet Sweet” a personal memoir of her family’s migration from Texas to Kansas City. Set in a fictional night club, the work draws upon the music and culture of the African American migration: south to north up the Mississippi River. Guest choreographer Nora Chipaumire’s dark swan interrogates and subverts how we present and represent African female bodies. Additional repertory will encapsulate the best of this extraordinary company's 30-year history. Zollar's work focuses on relevance in the times in which we’re living. At present, the most compelling issue she is addressing is “how to resist oppression and at the same time celebrate a sense of oneself and a liberated future.”

Deeply Rooted Dance Theater

Deeply Rooted Dance Theater is a contemporary concert dance company committed to transmitting the African American aesthetic through dance. That aesthetic, says company founding artistic director Kevin Iega Jeff, “is connected to the diaspora and all the dance forms that have come to influence American art as it is experienced and seen through an African American vision of dance.” African American concert dance is rooted in the techniques that have been developed by artists before us, such as Katherine Dunham, Alvin Ailey, and Lester Horton, as well as by African dance forms, ballet, and modern dance, as long as they are “scientifically useful.”  His artistic mission is “to examine ourselves socially,”  and to personalize and define individuality. “With Black dance, that is extremely important,” Iega says, because for so long, dancers of color have had to prove and define themselves by the aesthetics and values of conventional Western theatrical traditions, exemplified by the European model for ballet companies, and not on their own terms. The goal is “to liberate our voices.” He sees dance as a uniquely powerful tool for that because it bares the human body to its essential truth. “To dance the aesthetic, you have to understand the history and culture, the spirituality that drives it.” This is true of any choreographic aesthetic, but especially so of African American dance. “I am most concerned about process,” Iega says, “ what dance is for the dancers we are training.” The essential question he asks them to answer for themselves is, “Who am I and how do I relate to this work?” Deeply Rooted is very much a part of the Chicago dance community, “but I’ve also had to liberate myself,” Iega says. “I began to lose my own values.” Instead, he wants to use dance to foster authentic conversations for artists and educators. “The work has got to inform the values and consciousness of the artists.” Deeply Rooted kicks off its spring season in May with its “Emerging Choreographers” showcase, preceding the summer intensive. This fall, Deeply Rooted will travel to South Africa to premiere its collaborative work with Durban’s Flatfoot Dance Company, which will be included in its December Chicago concerts. 

For details of performances, go to Upcoming Events. 

--Lynn Colburn Shapiro, editor

APRIL FOOLS! Gotcha there? Well, even though there is no Olympic Dance Event to date, Chicago might as well be declared the unofficial winner for the sheer number of terrific dance events taking place this month. April is CHICAGO DANCE MONTH, making our fair city a dancing fool’s paradise. Celebrate by seeing your favorite companies in familiar places, or try something new in a non-traditional space. Dancers and dance lovers can also attend open rehearsals, sneak peeks, sample classes, lectures, or panel discussions. 

Chicago Dance Month is your chance to see and explore dance with more than 90 performances, classes and events, many offered at special “Hot Deal” prices of 20-50% off! Enjoy performances throughout the Loop in Pritzker Park and famous Landmark buildings. Take in world renowned companies at Chicago’s beautiful downtown theaters, or try something new and off the beaten path.

OPEN SPACES:
This week, Open Spaces: Thank Dance It’s Friday! (TDIF!) is happening at Pritzker Park from 4pm-6pm! Join us outdoors on the corner of State Street and VanBuren and enjoy performances by Elements Contemporary Ballet, Nejla Yasmine Yatkin Dance, Jason Torres Hancock, and Silvita Diaz Brown Sildance/AcroDanza. 

MOVING DIALOGS:
Are you curious about the intersection of culture and dance where ancient traditions and modern notions collide? Then join us for a conversation to expand your cultural perspective at Moving Dialogs: "Cultural Connections," STOMPING GROUNDS, next Tuesday April 14 from 6:00pm to 7:30pm at the Chicago Cultural Center's 1st Floor Garland Room, 78 E. Washington Street. Some of Chicago’s most celebrated practitioners of American Tap, Spanish Flamenco, Mexican folkloric dance, Irish step dancing, and African dance will discuss the roots of these forms as well as their continued relevance today. 

MOVING DIALOGS UPDATE: 
The 4:45pm pre-discussion performance has been canceled, but we will still be meeting at 6pm for a thought provoking conversation. Please join us!

ENTER TO WIN:
Now you can see Chicago dance and be entered to win fantastic prizes with our Chicago Dance Month Giveaway! There are two ways to win: Post about your Dance Month plans and experiences on Twitter using hashtag #ChiDanceMonth or sign up for our SeeChicagoDance.com enewsletter. We know since you're reading this, you're already an awesome dance fan, so forward this to email to a friend so they can enter to win too! Read more about our Chicago Dance Month giveaway and prize packages HERE. 

Stay up to date this April on all of the amazing Chicago Dance Month events HERE and see below for the latest Hot Deal ticket discounts. 

How are you going to celebrate May Day this Friday, May 1st? With traditions across many cultures dating back to ancient Rome, you have all kinds of wild options. Go crazy dancing around a Maypole, if you can find one, or clog with friends in a Morris Dance across the Chicago River. You could trip the light fantastic delivering baskets of flowers and candy to your neighbors, or toast Flora the Roman goddess of flowers with May wine and cake.  Or, you could head on over to Block 37 for Audience Architects’ Chicago Dance Month Dance Takeover (4-7 PM), featuring three dance stages, thirteen different Chicago dance companies, and a special raffle drawing. You can still ENTER TO WIN (no purchase necessary) with our Chicago Dance Month giveaway! There’s still time to enter. PRIZES INCLUDE:

• A "Spanish Night Out" with two tickets to the Ensemble Español American Spanish Dance and Music Festival and a $100 gift card to Tapas Barcelona
• A "Downtown Dance Night" with two tickets to Giordano Dance Chicago's Fall 2015 Performance and $100 Gift Certificate to Primebar
• A GoPro Camera
• A Household membership to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
• A two-night stay at The Palmer House A Hilton Hotel

(Click HERE for more details.)

You can also celebrate May 1st by exploring any number of concert dance performances, beginning with “Rituals of Abundance for Lean Times #14: Curious Reinventions” by Peter Carpenter and Margo Cole. Check out their “unorthodox compositional styles, high velocity dancing, and irreverent theatricality” at the DCA Storefront Theatre. 

Red Clay presents “riflekSHens in 6,” a full-length Afro-contemporary work by company artistic director Vershawn Ward at the Beverly Arts Center.

The Joffrey Ballet continues through May 3rd with “New Works,” including boy-wonder Justin Peck’s brilliant geometric, “In Creases” to music by Philip Glass, at the Cadillac Palace. 

Cerqua Rivera premieres three innovative dance and music collaborations with “Inside Out” at Stage 773. This interactive program incorporates audience participation. 

Elements Ballet Company showcases multi-faceted talents of company members in “Elemental Components” at Visceral Dance Studio.

Columbia College Dance Center launches student performances, continuing through May 14th.

All of these on May 1st alone! Way to kick up your heels!

May continues to be a merry month for dance in Chicago, with two international touring ballet companies visiting our city. The Scottish Ballet brings its adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ play, “A Streetcar Named Desire” to the Harris May 7-8, and The Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg brings the American premiere of Boris Eifman’s full-length story ballet, “Up & Down,” set to a jazz score, at the Auditorium Theatre May 8-10.

Natya Dance Theatre presents family-friendly stories of Hindu gods and goddesses in “Explorations of Tradition: Narratives from Mythology of India,” May 2nd at Indian Boundary Park. Also, on May 10th,  Natya presents renowned dancer Urmila Sathyanarayan and Group in “The Lotus of Prem” at North Central College.

Ayodele Drum and Dance celebrates the strength of the daughters, mothers, nurturers and warriors May 8-9 at Logan Center for the Arts in “HerStory to Tell,” of the women who “when tested by the trials of life, bathe in the waters of Yemanja and come through triumphant...shining.” 

The Chicago Moving Company produces six risk-taking choreographers in “Dance Shelter” May 7-8 at the Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater, including a reinterpretation of the late Nana Shineflug’s iconic “The Women” by the CMC. Premieres include new  works by CMC artists in residence Rachel Bunting and Ayako Kato (in collaboration with Bryan Saner) and premieres by Lydia Feuerhelm, Joanna Furnans, and Christopher Knowlton.

May 13th marks the 25th anniversary of The Chicago Human Rhythm Project in the Auditorium Theatre’s “Made In Chicago” series, as CHRP re-imagines its inaugural concert with many of Chicago’s finest tap and percussive dance companies, including CHRP’s resident company BAM, Trinity Irish Dance Company, Muntu Dance Theatre, Ensemble Espagñol, and the Mexican Dance Ensemble.

“You’re So Stubborn” presented by DCASE at the Storefront theater May 15-17, is a sardonic dance theater piece about deception, based on true stories of performers and audience members.

Hedwig Dances celebrates its 30th anniversary May 15-16 at the Athenaeum Theatre with “One Grand Dance,” select iconic works from Artistic Director Jan Bartoszek’s repertory, and a company premiere by company dancer Edson Cabrera.

The Salt Creek Ballet showcases its “Sleeping Beuaty: Aurora’s Wedding” plus the world premiere of company director Ilya Kozadayaev’s “Capricco Espagnol” and Eddy Ocampo’s “MOZheart” on May 16 at McAninch Arts Center of the College of DuPage.

Nomi Dance Company highlights works by former River North dancers Monique Haley and Stephanie Martinez,  Giordano Dance Chicago’s Joshua Blake Carter, and Nomi’s own Katie Carey in “Spring Affair,”  Nomi’s annual fundraiser May 23rd at the Athenaeum Theatre.

Dance Chance continues its monthly informal showings with audience participation at the Lou Conte Dance Studio May 29th.

Dropshift Dance offers “Imposter/Contained” at Links Hall May 29-31. 

Kate Jablonski presents a night of dancing, deception, and death In “Confidential” on May 29th at Mr. Boddy’s Loft.

Last, but certainly not least, Ballet Chicago concludes a breathtaking month of spectacular dance with “Illuminate” in two performances May 30th at the Harris. Included in the program are Balanchine’s jazzy “Who Cares?” and his sumptuous “Tchaikovsky Pas De Deux,” resident choreographer Ted Syemour’s “A Pulse Stolen” and Danzon!” and the return of company artistic director Daniel Duell’s “Concerto in A Minor.” 

For details and tickets, go to SeeChicagoDance.com's “Upcoming Events.”

--Lynn Colburn Shapiro, editor

If Alejandro Cerrudo’s name isn’t dancing off your tongue, it is sure to be June 11-14, when Hubbard Street Dance Chicago features a full evening of its first resident choreographer’s work, including a world premiere and two other Cerrudo slam-dunks. In addition to the new work, as yet unnamed, Hubbard Street’s Summer Series includes ‘Extremely Close” (2007), the second piece Cerrudo created for the company, in collaboration with students at Illinois Institute of Technology, and “Little mortal jump,” (2012), a cinematic approach to stagecraft. Cerrudo, a riveting presence as a dancer on stage, prefers not to dance in his own pieces. “What feels good doesn’t always look good,” he says, maintaining the artistic perspective he needs to recognize and capture moments that take him by surprise in the rehearsal process. Of the 14 pieces he has created for Hubbard Street, Cerrudo says, “I grow, and the audience grows with me.”

The Royal Ballet The British are coming! Her Majesty’s dancers (aka The Royal Ballet) will grace the stage of the Auditorium Theatre June 18-21 with Carlos Acosta’s production of “Don Quixote.”  Chicago is one of only three North American cities included in the Royal Ballet tour, it’s first visit here in 37 years. Some of us may remember Dame Margot (Fonteyn) and Rudy (Nureyev) and how they took Chicago by storm with a steamy performance of “Romeo and Juliet.” This month Chicago has a rare opportunity to see Acosta dance the lead role of Don Q in his 2013 adaptation of Marius Petipa’s classic ballet, set to the music of Russian composer Ludwig Minkus. Cuban born Acosta, acclaimed as one of the world’s greatest ballet dancers, has announced his retirement from the stage following his upcoming performances of the role of Don Jose in the September Royal Ballet premiere of his ballet “Carmen.” 

Starting off the month of June, Esoteric Dance Project brings two new collaborative works to Links Hall June 5-7. “Orchestrated Homage in Five Movements” looks at the structure of classical music and how that structure is reflected in choreographic patterns. “Public Privacy” uses overheard conversations to fuel movement.

Tapman Productions presents “La Raison d’Etre" June 5-7 at the Athenaeum Theatre. The company, newly formed by director Tristan Bruns, mixes tap and modern dance with music and live singing from the past and present.Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble

“Xtigone” is Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble’s modern-day, inner-city take on Sophocles’ Antigone, June 5-14 at Ebenezer Lutheral Church. The production was developed under the auspices of Lynn Nottage for LaMaMa’s International Symposium for Playwrights.

Aerial Dance Chicago’s “Shifting Limits” explores the air-ground continuum with daring creativity June 12-28 at the Ruth Page Center. Using suspended ropes, hoops, fabrics, and metal rings, the work looks at limitations and how we break free of them.

Jump Rhythm Jazz Project’s “Getting Down, Going Forward” features work by company members and students at the Josephine Louis Theatre June 12-13.

Erica Mott Productions offers a look at male stereotypes, identity, and image in “Cowboys and Vikings Across Chicago” June 17-18 at Indian Boundary Park.

Butoh Chicago presents "IKRU-Requiem para Pina Bausch” at Old Town School of Folk Music June 24th. Tadashi Endo, former student of the great butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno, is currently director of the Butoh-Center MAMU and the Butoh-Festivals MAMU, based in Göttingen, Vienna. His repertoire includes Noh theatre, Kabuki, and Butoh, as well as the traditional forms of Occidental theatre. In his extraordinary dances, Endo expresses the field of tension between Ying and Yang, the male and female, and their ever-lasting alteration. Tadashi Endo and Pina Bausch got to know each other through their friendship to Peter Kowald (double bass) and to the great Butoh-Master Kazuo Ohno. 

Dance Chance continues June 26th at The Lou Conte Dance Studio. Sponsored by Danceworks Chicago, Dance Chance offers audiences an opportunity to collaborate in the creative process as choreographers present works-in-progress.Chicago Tap Theatre

Chicago Tap Theatre continues in the circus mode with “Circo Tap” June 27th at the Athenaeum Theatre. Choreographed by company
director Mark Yonally in collaboration with circus professionals, the production brings back some of the characters from “Tightwire,” with a blend of circus arts and tap dancing. Production collaborator Marc Kelly Smith reprises his role as Ringmaster and company music director Kurt Schewitz provides original live music. 

For details and tickets, go to SeeChicagoDance.com's Upcoming Events. 

--Lynn Colburn Shapiro, editor

July brings a month of concerts that showcase new works by multiple choreographers, including Thodos Dance Chicago, Dance In The Parks, Hyde Park School of Dance, Dance Chance, and JUBA. Add to that concerts by solo artists Mitsu Salmon, Ahmad Simmons, and Tommy Tune, and full-company performances from Joel Hall Dancers, Muntu Dance Theatre, Natya Dance Theatre, Ayodele, Red Clay Dance, and The Chicago Human Rhythm Project, and you have a July that’s shaping up to be a great month to explore a diversity of dance styles, genres and cultures across Chicagoland.

Performances July 18 and 19 mark the 15th consecutive year of Thodos Dance Chicago’s “New Dances” series, Chicago’s earliest and most comprehensive in-house choreography series.  In addition to eight exciting and diverse brand new works created by dancers in the company, each year a guest choreographer is hand-picked by artistic director Melissa Thodos from the dance community at large to create a new work for the project. The invited guest choreographer for New Dance’s 15th anniversary is Brian McGinnis, who had a professional performance career with Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Lisa Monte Dance, Parsons Dance Company, and Buglisi Dance Theatre. 

New Dances

Thodos Dance Chicago’s New Dances series is one-of-a-kind, unique and admired nationally due to the length of time and depth of support afforded the Company’s artists, who are each invited to join Thodos Dance Chicago after auditioning and demonstrating their passion and skills not only as dancers, but also as choreographers and educators. Current Thodos ensemble members presenting new works at New Dances 2015 include John Cartwright, Tenley Dorrill, Abby Ellison, Kyle Hadenfeldt, Taylor Mitchell, Briana Robinson, Alissa Tollefson and Jessica Miller Tomlinson.

New Dances was first produced by the Chicago Repertory Dance Ensemble in the late 1980s, where Melissa Thodos, before founding her own company, was an ensemble member and created her first early dance pieces. The impact of the early New Dances projects was so profound that she was passionate about recreating the project for her own company of dancers. When Chicago Repertory Dance closed, Thodos inherited the project, which she launched at Thodos Dance Chicago in 2001.

Today, by being nurtured and promoted from within the organization, Thodos ensemble members continue to gain much-needed hands on experience as choreographers backed with strong production skills, an experience specifically designed to serve them well both during and, perhaps most importantly, following their careers as performers. Since Thodos resurrected the project in 2001, New Dances has yielded 132 world premieres, while helping 73 Chicago-based choreographers and more than 300 dance artists develop and showcase their skills and build their reputations.

Many works from past New Dances have subsequently entered the repertory of Thodos Dance and have been showcased at festivals ranging from Jacob’s Pillow to Dance Chicago. Others have been embraced and received subsequent productions by noted directors Gerald Arpino of the Joffrey Ballet and Jim Vincent of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Thanks to New Dances, TDC dancer/choreographers have gone on to set works on the Joffrey Ballet, Hubbard Street, River North, Dutch National Ballet Project, Dance Kaleidoscope, Atlanta Ballet, Dance Works Chicago, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Idaho Dance Theatre, Grand Rapids Ballet, Giordano Dance Chicago, Eisenhower Dance Ensemble and the second companies of Alvin Ailey and American Ballet Theater.

Dance in the Parks presents its seventh season of FREE, outdoor, professional dance concerts in Chicago city parks, beginning July 15th at 6:30 PM at Moran Playground Park, and continuing through August. In partnership with the Chicago Park District as part of Mayor Emanuel's Night Out in the Parks initiative, Dance in the Parks presents a program of works created by eight Chicago choreographers and performed by nine professional dancers.    This year's program includes works by choreographers Rich Ashford, Peter Carpenter, Autumn Eckman, Kimberly Fletcher-Stibal, Cheryl Mann, Tom Mattingly, Emily Stein, and Jessica Miller Tomlinson. In addition to the professional performance, all Dance In The Parks concerts showcase local youth dance performances from each venue community. 

On July 19th, The Hyde Park School of Dance and the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts present Piece by Piece, a dance show created by multiple choreographers to benefit children with autism, produced by 12-year-old Shaina Grossman. Proceeds from the show will benefit the Beard Elementary school, a CPS school for children on the autism spectrum.

Other July productions of note begin the month with “On Your Feet,” the musical story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan, continuing its run through July 5th at the Oriental Theatre. 

Laboratory Dancers continues its First Wednesday Open Mic series July 1st at The Fukton Street Collective.

Choreographer Ahmad Simmons and director Kacie Smith’s “THEM,” July 9-26th, is the culmination of Simmons’ Lab Artist Award from the Chicago Dancemakers Forum and an Individual Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.  Thedance-theater exploration of the fear, discrimination, and violence that result from categorizing ourselves and creating an “other” or “them” in our community. 

THEM

On July 16th, sponsored Artist Mitsu Salmon presents “TSUCHI,” her multidisciplinary solo dance piece Tsuchi on July 16th at High Concept Labs. “TSICHI” draws from Salmon’s grandfather’s experience growing up in Hawaii as a Japanese-American, and then as an American GI in Japan. The work explores questions of family and modernization through Butoh, Nihon Buyo (Japanese folk dance), contemporary dance, and everyday movements with music and text. Nihon Buyo and Butoh are heavily influenced by farming and a connection with the earth. Similarly, Tsuchi examines earth and roots as connected to the body, heritage, and place. The work is a collaboration between Salmon, sound artist Alyssa Moxley, accordionist Ryotaro and musician Kevin Carey. A preview of Tsuchi was performed in April as part of the Post Butoh Festival in Chicago.

Ayodele and red Clay Dance present “Rhythmic Fusions: An African | Afro-Contemporary Dance” from 4-6 PM on July 18th at Hamilton Park is a an evening of family-friendly fun with a movement workshop taught by T. Ayo Alston and Vershawn Sanders Ward featuring DJ Nick Nonstop; followed by a performance by both companies. Bring the young ones to Kidz Korner for a movement workshop and arts and crafts. 

Also on the 18th, Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago brings its summer installation of “Healing Hearts” to the Logan Center for the Arts.

 Check out Maggie Daley Park on the 24th at 6 PM for Natya Dance Theatre’s  “Avata” on the 24th. Based on the mythology of India, Avatar - Incarnations presents narratives that express the oneness of all nature, as one energy transforms into another. Natya Dance Theatre dancers employ percussive footwork and dynamic movements, along with hand gestures and facial expressions to allow characters to come alive. 

Natya Dance Theatre

Joel Hall Dancers makes its Ravinia appearance on the 26th at 5 PM.

Also on the 26th, you can join the students of Institute for the Rhythmic Arts (IFTRA) and Youth Tap Ensemble Conference (YTEC) on July 26th for an evening of unforgettable talent from the next generation of American foot and body drummers. The  performance will include youth tap ensembles from across the country.  

The Chicago Human Rhythm Project features Rhythm World faculty, Vijay Tellis Nayak (Music Director), and special guests for Jazz Showcase 2015 on July 27th.

The Chicago Human Rhythm Project (CHRP) launches the twenty-fifth festival of American tap and percussive dance with ten-time Tony Award and National Medal of the Arts winner Tommy Tune, performing his one-man show Taps, Tunes and Tall Tales, at the July 30th Gala at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) with Michael Biagi on piano. Crowning the illustrious evening, which includes a reception and dinner, Tune receives the CHRP 25th Anniversary JUBA! Award for Extraordinary Lifetime Achievement.

Topping off July’s month-long fireworks on the 31st and August 1st are JUBA ‘s culminating performances on the MCA stage at 7:30 PM  Upcoming and international masters of American tap connect with the singular Billy Strayhorn, the late legendary pianist, composer, and collaborator with Duke Ellington, for this evening of new arrangements by Greg Spero as well as new choreography set to his cherished songbook, including Take the A Train. Headliners include Martin “Tre” Dumas and Nico Rubio of Jus’LisTeN, tour de force soloists Starinah Dixon and Jumaane Taylor, both recognized by Dance Spirit Magazine, Dani Borak (Switzerland), Marina Coura (Brazil), Yukiko Misumi (Japan), and others. 

JUBA!

For details and tickets to all of these wonderful events, go to: seechicagodance.com and click on “Upcoming Events.”

Lynn Colburn Shapiro

Editor

Chicago Dancing Festival
August is blooming with a lush garden of dance delights on Chicago stages across the city.

AUGUST HIGHLIGHTS:

Rhythm World tops off its summer-long 25th anniversary celebration of tap and percussive dance with a gala benefit and JUBA!, two nights featuring stellar tappers from Chicago, North and South America, Europe, and Asia for a veritable love-in of tap solidarity.

Rhythm World At the center of it all are founding artistic director Lane Alexander and the Chicago Human Rhythm Project (CHRP), which has led the national and international tap movement and been the visionary force behind the creation of the most vibrant percussive dance community in the world right here in Chicago.  Given the bi-cultural roots of tap dance—Irish and African—Alexander saw an opportunity here for social reconciliation across cultural and geographic boundaries.  In the year 2000, CHRP began performing half its concerts on the South Side at the South Shore Cultural Center, and half on the North Side, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Northwestern, and Vittum Theatre. “After eight years,” Alexander said, “audiences started migrating” to venues outside their own neighborhoods. 

Alexander began Rhythm World initially as a platform for tap artists, to help elevate the profile of tap dance regionally and nationally, and to create a replicable template. His meta mission was “to get people together and find affinity for each other through rhythm.”  Rhythm World has grown exponentially, becoming the oldest and largest annual festival of American tap and percussive dance in the world.

Today, a melting pot of cultures comprises both performers and audiences for JUBA!, the grand finale of Rhythm World at Edlis Neeson Theatre of The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), one of the co-sponsors of Rhythm World.

Tommy Tune is the honoree and guest artist of Thursday night’s Jubalee Gala Benefit at the MCA, where he will receive CHRP’s 25th anniversary JUBA! Award for Extraordinary Lifetime Achievement and perform his one-man show, “Taps, Tunes, and Tall Tales,” accompanied by his musical director, Michael Biagi. 

On Friday, July 31st, up-and-coming and international masters of American tap pay tribute to Billy Strayhorn, the late legendary pianist, composer and Duke Ellington collaborator. Headliners include the incomparable Sam Weber, Martin “Tre” Dumas, Yukiko “Smilie” Misumi from Japan, and new works by dancer/choreographers Star Dixon and Zada Cheeks.

On Saturday, August 1st,  CHRP resident ensemble BAM! performs Michelle Dorance’s Princess Grace Award-commissioned “Push Past Break,” and Alexander’s “Reflections” and “Prisms.” New voices include Sarah Savelli, Jumaane Taylor, Nico Rubio, and Jay Fagan, alongside international multi-form masters Daniel Borak of Switzerland, Brazilian Marina Coura, and a new work by BAM’s own Marty Bronson. The Greg Spero Trio accompanies both Friday and Saturday concerts.

The Joel Hall Dancers celebrate the company’s 40th anniversary with Hall’s “Anja: The Unexpected,” a world premiere in collaboration with Chicago jazz music legends Charles Heath on drums, Ray Silkman, saxophone, and Jesse Charbonier, vocals. Performances take place August 7-8 and 14-15 at Logan Center for the Arts. 

“Dance For Life” lights up the Auditorium Theatre August 15th for its annual benefit for The Dancers’ Fund, providing financial assistance to dance community professionals dealing with critical health issues. In the past, The Dancers’ Fund has provided assistance to qualified applicants dealing with HIV/AIDS, leukemia, various forms of cancer, and traumatic injury. The fund will offer assistance in, but not limited to, the following areas: rent, utilities, insurance, medication and travel.

For the past 23 years, Dance for Life has showcased 32 Chicago-based professional dance companies and choreographers across all ethnicities, genres, and styles. This year’s roster includes Giordano Dance Chicago, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, The Joffrey Ballet, River North Dance Chicago, C5, Chicago Human Rhythm Project, and Same Planet, Different World.

Chicago Dancing FestivalThe Chicago Dancing Festival kicks off its five-concert extravaganza of some of the best dancing you’ll ever hope to see, all free to the public, beginning Tuesday, August 25th at the Harris Theater with the Lar Lubovich Dance Company, Ballet Hispanico, and Pam Tanowitz Dance, accompanied by members of the Chicago Philharmonic.

New this year for the ninth annual Chicago Dancing Festival is “Modern Women,” showcasing six women choreographers, three historic modern dance pioneers and three contemporary artists, at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Wednesday, August 26th. As they looked over previous Festival rosters, co-founder/producers Lar Lubovich and Jay Franke saw a preponderance of male choreographers and a real need to focus attention on the significant contributions of women to the art form.  The evening-length concert will feature Lori Belilove and The Isadora Duncan Dance Company in “Valse Brillante” by Duncan; The Martha Graham Dance Company in Graham’s “Deep Song,” and the 1896 film of Loie Fuller in “The Butterfly,” the first ever movie footage of a dance performance. Works by contemporary dance innovators Crystal Pyte, Pam Tanowitz, and Kate Weare represent the pioneering spirit into the 21st century.

The Harris Theater presents a second, completely different program Thursday, August 27th with the Festival-commissioned world premiere of Lane Alexander’s “In The Meantime,” performed by Chicago Human Rhythm Project with members of Ensemble Espanol and Triinity Irish Dance. Also on the program are The Joffrey Ballet in Stanton Welch’s “Maninyas,” the first ever Festival appearance of Miami City Ballet performing Balanchine’s “Allegro Brillante,” soloists from  American Ballet Theatre, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in “I Am Mister B,” by Gustavo Ramirez Sansano.

Friday’s Gala at the MCA features American Ballet Theatre, Brian Brooks Moving Company, Miami City Ballet, and The Joffrey.

The Festival concludes on Saturday, August 29th in the outdoor Jay Pritzker Pavillion with a reprise of “In The Meantime,” 30 dancers of the Pittzburgh Ballet performing “Sandpaper Ballet” by Mark Morris, The Joffrey Ballet in Justin Peck’s “In Creases,” and Miami City Ballet in Twyla Tharp’s “Sweet Fields."

Thank Dance It’s Friday (TDIF!),” a FREE dance concert series hosted by Audience Architects in partnership with the Chicago Loop Alliance at 4pm every Friday from August 7 - September 4. TDIF! will feature three to five diverse dance companies at Pritzker Park, located at 310 S. Wabash.

ALSO IN AUGUST:

August 5th, First Wednesday Open Mic by Laboratory Dancers at the Fulton Street Collective.

August 8-9, Push Dance Company presents “Honey Pot Performance” at Links Hall, featuring a premiere musical collaboration with acclaimed composer Renee Baker. HPP presents their 2015 work-in-progress, Ma(s)king Her-- a dance theater work of speculative fiction.

August 9 and 16, J. Lindsay Brown Dance and The Glitter Island Gang present: “Spectacle Spectacular!” – A fully improvised song and dance musical at the Hamlin Park Fieldhouse.

August 22 and 29 Ayodele Drum and Dance and Red Clay Productions collaborate in “Rhythmic Fusions” at Sherman Park.

Watch out for flying toilet paper, Chicago! It's like the Red Hot Chili Peppers combined with Blue Man Group for kids on August 23rd, when Imagination Movers presents its program at North Shore Center for the Performing Arts.

August 28th, at Mayne Stage, Chicago Dance Crash continues to blur the line between art and entertainment with the city's most notorious dance battle. KTF matches competitive dance with the energy of late-night theatre and the spectacle of sports entertainment, featuring some of the city's most accomplished dancers battling it out for YOUR vote and the coveted KTF title belt!
Crash hosts a night of “summer lovin'” in honor of Grease, the film that was born to hand jive. Pink Ladies vs. T-Birds, a hickie from Kenickie, and a sock hop round are just a few surprises to help you shake off those beauty school dropout blues!

On August 30th, Ballet 5:8 will host its second annual Ballet 5:8 Season Preview Party at St.Paul’s Bible Church. This event is an exclusive opportunity to experience the creation process that takes place behind the scenes and makes Ballet 5:8’s performances possible.

For Tickets and performance details, go to seechicagodance.com and click on "Coming Events."

See Chicago Dance! It may change your life. You never know, when you witness a live dance performance, when it’s going to make an imprint that fires your muscles, rearranges your neurons, and emblazons new sensory perception on your whole system.

September ushers in opportunities to experience just that, with exciting new performing seasons for many Chicago dance companies.

At the very least, you may see something that merely entertains, which is worthwhile in  itself.  Or something more may happen, something that lets you imagine. Then you become equal partners with the dance and the dancers in the heightening of the human capacity to attain beauty and meaning.

Or maybe it will elevate your understanding of the human condition in a way that quickens your breath and stirs up a call to action in your circulatory system. Or it may even hold up the proverbial “mirror to nature,” inviting you to join forces with fellow audience members in recognizing ourselves in common, and thereby connecting us to each other in the collective bond of the here and now as it happens, right in front of our very eyes.  

So take a chance this month, try something new, and see what happens!

September Highlights

Concert Dance, Inc.CDI/Concert Dance, Inc. returns to Ravinia September 1-2 with the world premiere of artistic director Venetia Stifler’s “Fly Me ToThe Moon,” set to music by Frank Sinatra. In addition, the company will perform three other works by Stifler. ”El Salon” (2010) is set to music by Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein and performed live by duo-pianists Kay Kim and Susan Tang. “Four Last Songs” (2014), with music by Richard Strauss, will feature a live performance by soprano Christina Kaloyanides. All three pieces were commissioned by The Ravinia Festival. The final piece, “Meetings Along The Edge” (2007), is set to music by Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass.  These concerts will mark the retirement performance of dancer and choreographer Victor Alexander, who has danced with CDI for over twelve years and serves as director of the Ruth Page School of Dance and co-director of the Ruth Page Civic Ballet. He was named to Dance Magazine’s “25 To Watch” list in 2013.

Tapman ProductionsTapman Productions  presents “Supreme Love,” featuring M.A.D.D. Rhythms at the Athenaeum Theatre September 4-20. “Supreme Love” seeks to express true life through the art of tap dance, set to music from John Coltrane’s album “A Love Supreme.” The program also celebrates the sounds of Hip Hop music. Choreographer Jumaane Taylor and saxophonist Rajiv Halim present “Acknowledgement”  to “Psalm” from the 1965 classic. Incorporating the original jazz music, Rajiv reinvents the classic jazz quartet and narrates the dancers’ transitions with his instrumentation.

 
Barak adé Soleil is a disabled artist of color committed to “exploring the beauty of the disabled, racialized body as an inherent reflection of humanity. Adé Soleil “believes it is critical that bodies of all abilities move--in public streets, open spaces, and on formal stages. He dances because the movement of disability is a movement of itself.” He performs new works at the Museum of Contemporary Art on September 12th.  The program includes “turttle,” a solo, “objects are objects,” a duet created by adé Soleil in collaboration with Awilda Rodriguez Lora, and “reRace: a movement study,” a duet excerpted from Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s four-part “Come Out.”

Momenta performs “Counter Balance” September 19th at the National Museum of Mexican Art. The company features “physically integrated dance” exploring the aesthetic richness of dance that taps the physical and expressive resources of dancers of conventional mobility and of those with various mobility differences. The program features works by Ginger Lane, Anna Leo, Jessica Martin, Sarah Najera, Douglas Scott (Full Radius) and Alice Sheppard.
Both Barak adé Soleil and Momenta are presented in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act and as part of ADA25 Chicago.

The Joffrey Ballet's “Millenials” program at the Auditorium Theatre September 16-20 showcases new works by some of the world's most exciting choreographers. Following the triumphant success of the Joffrey premiere of his reimagined Swan Lake and on the heels of his Tony Award for Best Choreography, the Joffrey will premiere Christopher Wheeldon's Fool's Paradise. Annabelle Lopez Ochoa is a rising star female choreographer with a fierce improvisational talent. Dance Magazine says "one of her trademarks is the ability to suggest powerful emotions through abstract movement." Myles Thatcher, a current dancer with the San Francisco Ballet, will premiere a work set to music by Steve Reich. The SF Gate says "there's fearlessness to Thatcher's own eye-catching and dynamic choreography."

Additional September Concerts

Laboratory Dancers presents its First Wednesdays Series Open Mic September 2nd at the Fulton Street Collective.

Audience Architects sponsors “Thank Dance It’s Friday” on September 4th at Pritzker Park, 310 S. State Street, featuring:
4:00-4:20pm - Dancing Petals
4:20-4:40pm - Erica Mott Productions
4:40-5:00pm - Duncan Dance Chicago/Classical Modern
5:00-5:20pm - Ballet 5:8
5:20-5:40pm - The Humans

PREVIOUSLY BLUE: a poetic summit on the mystery of disaster, resilience and beauty takes place September 11-13. The sky’s gone black. The ground is toxic. Clean water is contraband and ransom. Survivors gather for a final argument on good and evil, the madness of love, and the future of the soul…PREVIOUSLY BLUE is created by seven artists who have trained and influenced artists all over the world. Devised from unconventional choreodirection, speak-singing tragic “songlines”, hand percussion, and scenic presence, PREVIOUSLY BLUE translates catastrophe into the soul's hunger to find beauty in the face of tragedy.

Ballet 5:8's Fall Program, “The Beauty of Introspection” on (September 12th at the Athenaeum Theatre) is made up of three dynamic works that, though diverse, converge on a relatable theme: being human.

"Here & There" by The Monacle Eclectic Dance Company showcases seven different choreographers’ world premier works. Hailing from the North, South, East, and West, the choreographers create this two-act work that fills the audience-goers
' palate with multiple genres of dance and music, including contemporary dance, hip hop, R&B/Soul, Burlesque dance, jazz and more- September 17-20th at Links Hall.

Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival celebrates its sixth anniversary at the Ruth Page Center for Arts September 18-26.   HCCDF's mission is to celebrate the work of practicing contemporary dance artists.  Over the course of two weekends, 19 dance companies from across Chicago and around the nation meet for a series of innovative, dynamic performances.  

“Nasty Brutish & Short” (September 17th at Links Hall) is an evening of contemporary short-form puppet and object based theater for adult audiences. The cabaret is a
low risk environment for artists to perform new and experimental work and foster artistic exchange between puppet artists of different generations and mediums.

“LinkUP” is the Links Hall Fall Showcase 2015 on September 26th, featuring work developed during LinkUP, Links Hall's six month residency program supporting Chicago based independent artists and collaboratives in the research, development and presentation of new innovative work in movement based arts.

For details and tickets, go to seechicagodance.com and click on “Upcoming Events.”

Chicago Dance sets October on fire with autumn color in a jam-packed month with major seasons by Chicago’s “big four” (Joffrey, Hubbard Street, Giordano, and River North) and exciting work across the spectrum of genres in venues large and small.

OCTOBER HIGHLIGHTS:

Stephen PetronioTHE STEPHEN PETRONIO COMPANY brings historic modern dance revivals to The Dance Center of Columbia College October 1-3.  For its Chicago program, the New York-based company performs Glacial Decoy (1979) by Trisha Brown, with visual design by Robert Rauschenberg, and RainForest (1968) by Merce Cunningham, with music by David Tudor and visual design by Andy Warhol.  Stephen Petronio Company is the first contemporary American company to perform these works outside the original choreographers’ companies. Also on the program is Petronio’s Non Locomotor (2015) with an original musical score by Clams Casino, featuring vocal elements by the Young People’s Chorus of New York City.

RIVER NORTH DANCE CHICAGO presents a one-night only tribute to retiring artistic director Frank Chaves at the Auditorium Theatre this Saturday, October 3rd, as part of the theatre’s “Made In Chicago” series.  Former executive director Gail Kalver credits Chaves with creating River North’s artistic profile and unique style, “a mix of high energy, lyricism, and passion.”  Kalver notes that this program is particularly special, not only because it honors Chaves’ artistry and tireless devotion to expanding and strengthening the repertoire over his 23-year tenure at the helm, but because it features Frank’s seminal works as well as his favorites by choreographers he has engaged to work with the company over the years.

 
The evening’s tribute includes revivals of Chaves’ “Love Will Follow,” (2001) “Temporal Trance,” (1998) and “Habaneras, The Music of Cuba” (2005).  Ashley Roland’s  “Beat” (2001), “A Mi Manera (My Way) (2001) by Sherry Zunker, Ginger Farley and Kevin Iega Jeff, “Renatus,” (2012) by Nejla Yatkin, Robert Battle’s solo from “Train” (2008),  Sherry Zunker’s “The Man That Got Away” (1990), and Randy Duncan’s “Turning Tides” (1991) will complete the program.

“What he loves is connecting with music,” Kalver says. Under Chaves direction, the company has become “more and more sophisticated in both its repertory and the technical and artistic level of its dancers, known today for their passion, athleticism, and technical precision.” Look for the company to pull out all the stops honoring a beloved director.

THE JOFFREY BALLET brings the North American premiere of John Neumeier’s modern remake of the classic ballet “Sylvia,” to the Auditorium Theatre October 14-25. Created by Neumeier for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1997, the ballet retains the music of Léo Delibes, one of the world’s most famous ballet scores, performed live by the Chicago Philharmonic. Sylvia presents a young woman at the crossroads of adolescence and womanhood, struggling to find balance between strength and vulnerability and discovering love only through the awakening of her own sensuality. Sylvia is filled with themes of ambition, obsession, unrequited love and lost opportunities. Neumeier was the first choreographer to modernize the work, incorporating neoclassical expressionist movement and an abstract narrative to reimagine this magnificent female-powered ballet for the 21st century.

HUBBARD STREET DANCE CHICAGO devotes its fall season to the choreography of William Forsythe, one today’s most prolific and provocative choreographers. Hubbard Street firsts in the October 15-18 Harris Theater season include Forsythe’s “N.N.N.N.” (2002), a quartet, and “One Flat Thing, reproduced” (2000), for an ensemble of fourteen dancers and 20 large tables. Both works are set to original scores by Dutch composer Thom Willems, a long-time Forsythe collaborator. Completing the program is Forsythe’s “Quintet” (1993), for five dancers, set to music by Gavin Bryars. Hubbard Street was the first U.S. company to perform “Quintet” in 2012, and is the first U.S. company to acquire “N.N.N.N.” after its premiere by Ballet Frankfurt and revivals by The Forsythe Company, now Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company.

Multiple repetitions of gesture propel much of “N.N.N.N.”  Punctuated by breath sounds and the momentum of swinging motion, the interactions of the dancers challenge the back and forth interplay between manipulation and passivity. Body mechanics shape partners’ alternating lifting and lowering, turning and twisting, hoisting each other in an intricate organic flow of constant intra-body navigation. The piece is performed on a stark, bare-bones stage in the simplest of practice clothes, and music incorporates live sound effects of the dancers’ breath and physical contact. Cyril Baldy, a native Frenchman who is part of the team of six international répétiteurs setting the works on HSDC, sees listening as the key element in “N.N.N.N.” “It is as if they are conducting each other, like an orchestra,” he said recently during a break in rehearsals at the Lou Conte Dance Studios.  “There is a tension between leading and following that drives the piece forward.”

The image of an orchestra hovers over much of Forsythe’s work. “One Flat Thing, reproduced” is inspired by the Robert Scott expedition to Antarctica. While “N.N.N.N.” has some kinship with contact improvisation, “One Flat Thing” relies more on the dancers’ ability to move and react in constant engagement with each other. “The piece is structured like a machine,” says répétiteur and former Hubbard Street dancer, Mario Zambrano, “where each dancer’s role depends on the other’s intention.” Each of the fourteen dancers has a different sequence of movements, hook-ups, and links, and an individual spatial pathway between the tables. The tables provide a somewhat dangerous landscape for the dancers to navigate on top of, between, and underneath, simulating Scott’s fated trek in search of the South Pole.

William Forsythe's "One Flat Thing" in rehearsal. Photo by Todd Rosenberg

Both Zambrano and Harper were dancers in Forsythe’s company and performed “One Flat Thing.” Working under Forsythe’s direction was “very welcoming,” according to Zambrano, and “an extension of your life” for Harper. “Bill was present, so very present every single day, every minute. There was a constant transformation of himself, always searching for new ways to approach movement.” He never shared with the dancers what the work was about because he thought when he shared it “people thought they knew it and he liked to keep people challenged to discover constantly.” Balanchine was a major influence, especially in terms of spatial geometrics. With Forsythe’s choreography, “the dancers have ownership; you have agency,” Zambrano said. “The choreography won’t work unless you are making strong decisions and using your mind.”

“N.N.N.N.” is about “trying to feel the weight in a functional way. The intention of “One Flat Thing” is it’s trying to become human; it’s about survival and failure and success.” In addition, there is live, in-performance editing of the electronic music, creating layers of sound and, for each performance, a unique spontaneity in the dancers’ timing and response to sound and movement cues. “We haven’t played the music for the dancers yet,” said répétiteur Ayman Harper, “because it heightens (the dancers’) excitement too much.” The level of excitement in the rehearsal studio was already at a fever pitch a month out from opening night. Expect the unexpected!

GIORDANO DANCE CHICAGO presents its fall engagement at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance Friday, Oct. 23 and Saturday, Oct. 24 at 7:30 p.m. premiering a new work by Israeli choreographer Roni Koresh.

The performances will feature the world premiere of a new full company work by Israeli-born Roni (Ronan) Koresh, choreographer of “EXit4” (2013).

Giordano Dance Chicago's "Sabroso"“I first became familiar with Roni and his internationally acclaimed company through their involvement in our Jazz Dance World Congress,” says GDC Artistic Director Nan Giordano. “I knew first-hand of Roni’s reputation for physically and emotionally demanding choreography but also knew he had the opportunity to push our dancers to a whole new level. As expected, his first work for the company, “EXit4,” was a highly successful and exhilarating experience for the dancers and our audiences. So now I’m especially thrilled to secure him to create yet another full-company work for GDC.”

Born and raised in Israel, Koresh began his dance education as a youth as he trained with his mother, a folk dancer in the Yemenite tradition, and with a local Tel Aviv folk dance group. At 17, he moved on to more comprehensive study with Nira Paz and Moshe Romano and then became a member of Martha Graham’s Batsheva 2 Dance Company. In 1983, following a three-year enlistment in the Israeli army, Koresh immigrated to the U.S. to pursue a career in dance beyond Israel. He trained at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City and, in 1984, began performing with Shimon Braun’s acclaimed Waves Jazz Dance Company in Philadelphia. Koresh was one of the original Evening Magazine Dancers and won a 1987 People’s Choice Award as Philadelphia’s Most Outstanding Jazz Dancer. He formed Koresh Dance Company in 1991 and since then has created a vast repertoire of more than 40 works for the company.

In addition to the new Koresh work, the program will include four popular selections from GDC’s acclaimed repertoire: Ron DeJesus’ stark and seductive “Prey” (2003); Christopher Huggins exciting and kinetic “Pyrokinesis” (2007); the steamy Latin Ballroom inspired “Sabroso” choreographed by Del Dominguez and Laura Flores (2011) and Autumn Eckman’s contemporary athletic work “commonthread” (2009), with original score by Dan Meyers and John Ovnik.

NATYA DANCE THEATRE celebrates its 40th anniversary with the world premiere of “Varna – Colors of White” at The Dance Center of Columbia College October 22-24.  Conceived by Founder and Artistic Director Hema Rajagopalan, “Varna - Colors of White” explores universal emotions that find expression through words, music, dance and drama and bring together the secular and the divine, the manifest and the hidden as part of an integrated whole. Eminent musicians from India accompany principal dancer Krithika Rajagopalan and Natya dancers as “Varna – Colors of White” brings to life feelings of love, desire, compassion, sorrow, greed, jealousy and humor.

SAME PLANET, DIFFERENT WORLD pairs with two innovative Israeli choreographers/dancers at the Museum of Contemporary Art October 22-25.  The program showcases three works that expose the politics of personal experience in an intimate setting where the audience surrounds the performers. SPDW’s Stripped explores how technology affects our lived experience. Through the ritualized
movements of six dancers, this 2015 work by SPDW artistic director
Joanna Rosenthal reveals what is at stake when objects replace human
connection. Choreographers Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor perform a playful and
gripping duet that reflects upon their relationship as partners in life
and dance. Both personal and political, Two Room Apartment is about boundaries in various contexts: physical borders between
territories, emblematic divides between life and performance, and the
limits people set for themselves. Their piece is a revision of a
milestone in modern Israeli choreography that the male-female duo of
Liat Dror and Nir Ben Gal created nearly three decades ago. A third work, newly created by Niv and Oren for SPDW, completes the program.
NOTE: This program includes male nudity. Mature audiences recommended. This performance is designed for a small audience: capacity is limited.

ADDITIONAL OCTOBER PERFORMANCE EVENTS:

CERQUA RIVERA DANCE THEATRE presents its 2015 Fall Concert Series October 1-3 at Links Hall where the company’s full Dance and Music Ensembles perform together, debuting new work and sharing repertoire favorites in their unique fusion style that combines contemporary dance, original live music, and visual art. This ensemble of dancers, musicians and visual designers blends genres, immersing audiences in timely issues ranging from family history to a changing role in the workplace to the conflicting emotions of wanting someone close while craving personal space. Also on October 10th at Mayne Stage.
Cerqua Rivera Fall Concert Series The 2015 Fall Concert Series will unveil world premieres crafted through the company’s collaborative process, featuring choreography by Connor Cornelius, Marc Macaranas, Rachel Pike, Wilfredo Rivera and Raphaelle Ziemba; new music by Joe Cerqua and James Sanders; and visual design from Ross Hoppe.

CORE PROJECT CHICAGO stages “Free Range Bonesbare” from 1:15-2 PM October 4th in Park #567, at Milwaukee and Leavitt (just off the brand spanking new 606). “Free Range Bonesbare” is a free, traveling performance. At designated locations the dancers will stop to perform site-specific works. The dancing will simultaneously echo and interact with the city around the dancers. Dancing will be at times pedestrian, at times abstract, and at times comical. The audience will be invited to stop, to follow, and to interact directly with the art. The dance will not be separated from the spectators but a completely accessible and interactive performance experience as pedestrians can be expected to be an active part of the performances. Other Chicago Artists Tiffany Lawson Dance and Mike Ford will contribute to the performance. CPC also performs “Bonesbare 9” on October 10 at Outerspace Studio and October 16 at Bridgeport Art Center.

Natya NATYA DANCE THEATRE presents Sheejth Krishna’s “Don Quixote” on October 4th at Oswego East High School.  This production is the first adaptation of Cervantes's novel in the Bharatanatyam idiom, breaking new ground in uniting classical forms with contemporary elements in this cross-cultural work. Showcasing the rich traditions and arts of India, “Don Quixote” tells the story of an idealistic dreamer who sets out to revive the lost tradition of chivalry. Accompanied by his faithful friend Sancho Panza, Don Quixote has a series of fantastic adventures in his quest to save the world. Miguel Cervantes’ seventeenth-century novel celebrates the extraordinariness of ordinary people coming together across differences and difficulties. Beauty and dignity emerge out of indignity and ugliness, as do conviction, passion, humor, and heart.

STRIDING LION PERFORMANCE GROUP presents “Peep Show: The Instant Choreography Series” on October 5th at Links Hall. “Peep Show” gives audiences a behind the scenes peek into the unique dance making processes of innovative Chicago choreographers as they develop world premiere dance works live and in the moment.
Each performance features two choreographers working simultaneously against the clock (45 min) in two different studios, to realize completely new pieces that incorporate suggestions from the audience, original music from an experimental composer (chosen by Constellation) and their choreography. The audience is invited to grab drinks and mingle between sittings in on each studio.

LABORATORY DANCERS holds its monthly 1st Wednesday Series On October 7th at the Fulton Street Collective. This isn’t your ordinary open mic night-this open mic night is for music, dance, theatre, stand up comedy, improv, magic, puppetry, spoken word, performance art…anything your heart wants to perform! This is a perfect opportunity to go out on a limb and show everyone what your guts are made of. There will some liquid courage. Everything is donation based. Bring a friend. Bring your mom. Bring extra artists to sign up too!

Visceral VISCERAL DANCE CHICAGO’S Fall Engagement takes place on October 10th at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance. The program will include a world premiere by Nick Pupillo and the company premiere of Fernando Melo’s “Bate.”  Returning to the program will be “Duet Mabul” by the world-renowned Ohad Naharin, as well as two acclaimed works from last season, “Hadal Zone” by Brian Enos and “Sum Noir” by Nick Pupillo.

AERIAL DANCE CHICAGO and ELEMENTS CONTEMPORARY BALLET combine to perform “Aya, An Aerial Ballet” October 10 and 17 at The Athenaeum Theatre. “AYA,” an evening-length aerial ballet in three acts, combines the soaring precision of aerial dance with captivating contemporary ballet. AYA expands on Surge, the first collaboration between Elements Contemporary Ballet and Aerial Dance Chicago. Merging two different dance mediums to create a thrilling theatrical experience, and featuring an original dance narrative performed by a cast of over 25 aerial and contemporary ballet dancers, AYA is a production unlike anything before it.

AYA Aerial Dance Chicago

BALLET 5:8 presents the premiere of “Mi Familia Pilsen” on October 11th at the National Museum of Mexican Art, in collaboration with The Chicago Park District and the Chicago Public Library, presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs (DCASE).

KELLY ANDERSON DANCE THEATRE presents “VAUDEVILLE!” October 16-18 at Links Hall. Take a seat and travel back to the golden age of entertainment! Kelly Anderson Dance Theatre’s newest production, VAUDEVILLE!, throws a contemporary spin on historical variety. A cheeky water ballet, kiddy act antics, a sister act gone awry, an ill-intended Drag Queen, a mechanical dream man and conjoined twin flappers are just a few of the many colorful characters and acts that make up this 14 piece variety show.

KHECARI presents “The Cronus Land” October 16-November 13 at Shoreland Ballroom. Expanding upon last year's sold out performance Oubliette, Khecari's new work The Cronus Land is an epic, site-specific dance work installed in the decayed splendor of the grand ballroom of Hyde Park's historic Shoreland Hotel. “The Cronus Land” is an exploration of the manipulation of space to social end. It is contextually abstracted, yet physically literalized, with the bodies of both performers and a 12 person audience journeying through a massive dance-riddled labyrinth before entering the micro-theater to witness the culminating performance in a 5x8 foot pit.

INASIDE CHICAGO DANCE presents its Fall Concert 2015 on October 16th at the Athenaeum Theatre in a one night only celebration of Chicago jazz dance, featuring Associate Artistic Director Robert McKee's full company piece "Pathways." In addition, the program includes Will Gill’s "The Inner Circle," Sinead Gildea’s “Capsule,” Sarah Ford’s "Between You and Me," and a special performance by the dancers of Inaside's Youth Training Program.

WINNIFRED HAUN AND DANCERS present “Promise” at Pleasant Home October 17-18 at Historic Pleasant Home. “Promise” is a full length dance choreographed by Winifred Haun. Inspired by John Steinbeck's East of Eden, it focuses on the women, images and psychological themes found in the epic novel.  At this event, you'll see Promise re-made especially for the rooms and spaces of Pleasant Home, a historic Prairie style mansion, designed by architect George Maher.  The audience will travel from space to space throughout the house, enjoying the dance performed within the architecture of Pleasant Home.

AILEY II performs on October 18 at McAninich Arts Center at the College of DuPage. The venerable Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater highlights the next generation of great American dance stars through its second company, Ailey II.

MANDALA SOUTH ASIAN PERFORMING ARTS presents“Kamayani: between the heart and the mind” on October 22 at Northeastern Illinois University. Kamayani is an epic tale based on ancient Hindu texts that detail the journey of Manu, the first man. As the sole survivor of the great flood, Manu is left without emotion, thought or action. In his journey of recovery and rediscovery, he experiences many physical and emotional challenges that ultimately help him find balance; thus restoring order to the world. This production of Kamayani combines the beauty and complexity of multiple classical Indian dance styles with a modern interpretation that frees the traditional form from structured rhythms and space.

PROJECT BOUND DANCE presents“Understand.understood” October 22-23 at Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater. Delving into the importance of social identity and communication, “understand.understood" is an evening length dance work which explores the kinesthetic understanding of human interaction.  This is Project Bound’s PREMIERE concert co-directed by Ashley Deran and Ericka Vaughn Lashley.

JOANNA FURNANS AND JOSHUA KENT present “SIGNIFIER & WATCHINGME/WATCHING YOU” October 23rd at Links Hall. In her first evening length work, Signifier, Joanna Furnans identifies, investigates, and (re)presents the female dancer on stage. In this performance for three women, Furnans explores what we have internalized about the often exploitative and chauvinistic representation of women in dance and the movement vocabularies ingrained in us that may belong to that ethos. Joshua Kent’s new performance, WATCHING ME / WATCHING YOU, explores the subtly of oppression within everyday gestures. Crafted in the shadow of accessible pornography and heavily mediated bodies, two men and one woman move within a sparse environment speaking words written by others and performing dances they acquired from television.

PHILADANCO! at 45 performs on Oct. 24 at Governor’s State University. Celebrating Joan Myers Brown and James Brown - Pioneers in Dance and Music. This performance will include two incredible experiences. PHILADANCO! will honor Joan Myers Brown's phenomenal contribution to contemporary African-American dance by performing the company's signature work "Enemy Behind the Gates," by the exquisite dance maker and former Ailey dancer Christopher Huggins.

VICTORIA BRADFORD presents the culmination of her micro-residency at Dfbrl8r Performance Art Gallery on October 24th. Participants of the workshop on October18th will make a week of daily dances which will then be mined to create Saturday evening’s performance.

JEWEL TONES: SPECTRUM, October 26th at Links Hall, explores the Buddha’s final instruction ~ “Make of yourself a light.” It investigates this final teaching through an improvisational performance arranged by a single color. It asks movers, musicians, spoken word and visual artists to evoke the energetic tones, textures and attitudes of a selected shade as entry into the unknown. It leaves open the possibility of revealing the unifying happenings of color while seeking to create a basic environment of non-discrimination for all participants. This series asks artists to risk exposing our unknown relationship to being colorful, connected and free. It will be sensational, meaning of the senses and colorful, meaning full of light. Jewel Tones runs the fourth Monday of each month from January to June and is organized by Jessie Marasa.

AGAINST BEING: ANTIBODY CORPORATION, October 30-November 1 at Links Hall, is a dance about nothing — an exploration of space — the space between language and dance. Directed by Adam Rose and performed by Eryka Dellenbach, Brooke Underwood, Adam Rose, and more to be announced. Antibody Corporation is a mission based organization specializing in mind-body integration. Founded in 2009, The Corporation collaborates with artists to create interdisciplinary works spanning dance, performance art, film, video, and music.

For details and tickets, go to seechicagodance.com and click on “Upcoming Events.”

NOVEMBER HIGHLIGHTS:

Twyla Tharp has come a long way from the steam box studio above an automotive garage near City Center where she and her band of rogue ballerinas took Richard Thomas’s daily ballet class in the late 1960’s. 

This month, Tharp and her company of twelve dancers launch  the company’s 50th Anniversary Tour at the Auditorium Theatre (November 5-8). 

Back in 1968, Thomas dubbed Tharp and her dancers “The Tharpettes,” little suspecting the trajectory her career would take, from choreographing for the Joffrey and Ballet Theatre, among other internationally acclaimed companies,  to Hollywood films, TV, and full-length Broadway hits. 

In between was a lovely romance with Chicago’s own Hubbard Street Dance Chicago from 1990-95.  With “The Tharp Project,” Hubbard Street became Tharp’s home away from home during a period of time when her company had disbanded, and she was freelancing as an independent choreographer. “The Tharp Project” enabled  Hubbard Street to acquire six existing works and to premiere a seventh piece, “I Remember Clifford,” which she developed exclusively for the company in 1995. She returned in 2012 to develop “Scarlatti,” another Hubbard Street exclusive.  Hubbard Street’s iterations of two of Tharp’s best known and loved works, “Nine Sinatra Songs” and “The Golden Section,” continue to stand as benchmarks for the most vibrant realizations of her work. 

Emerging mid-20th century as a ballet renegade, Tharp dared to cross rigid genre lines merging the classical ballet idiom with pop music and popular dance forms on the ballet stage.  Her unique voice has made a huge impact on the concert dance stage across all genres, as well as on musical theater, always pushing the envelope, and has been a major impetus for the cross-pollination of ballet, modern dance, jazz, and musical theatre.

Tharp’s anniversary tour features two world premieres. The vibrant introductory FANFARE is followed by PRELUDES AND FUGUES, set to J.S. Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier. YOWZIE, the second premiere, is a humorous work set to a wild, raucous, and jazzy score.

Dancers from the Twyla Tharp Company will offer two Master Classes Saturday, November 7th at 10:30 AM and 12:15 PM, in the Katten/Landau Studio at Roosevelt University as part of the Hubbard Street Studio Series. Advanced registration is required. 

Friday, November 6th, the sponsoring Auditorium Theatre offers Young Professionals Night, with a pre-show reception, drinks, and lite bites. A post-show Q & A with Twyla Tharp will take place immediately following the Sunday, November 8th matinee.

“Black Girl: Linguistic Play” is New York choreographer and dancer Camille A. Brown’s answer to the media stereotypes of black women.  “When we hear the phrase, ‘black girl,’ what images come to mind?” she asks.  Brown and her company of seven dancers, two musicians, and a moderator hope to open up the dialogue and change the conversation with “Black Girl,” coming to the Dance Center of Columbia College November 5-7.Camille A. Brown  

The piece, which premiered at New York’s Joyce Theater in September, is centered around sisterhood. “It’s about memory and duality,” says Brown, “culturally specific but universal in its themes.” Camaraderie and competition, conflict, exhaustion and resolution all figure into the storytelling.  Her goal is for people from all walks of life to find an entry point in the story and feel like part of the conversation. “Black Girl: Linguistic Play” has almost no spoken text, and yet it “speaks” through the linguistic code of the body--how do black girls communicate in posture, gesture. Through the games that carve the landscape of childhood, she lets her audiences see the world through the eyes of a black girl. “There’s a little girl that still lives inside me,” she says, and she wants to awaken that awareness of the continuity of self from childhood to maturity in her audiences. 

Brown wants to dispel the caricature of the black female perpetuated in today’s popular media and to present “our authentic selves.”  Alice In Wonderland was a springboard for her ideas about the piece. “What if the hole Alice falls into isn’t a bad hole?” With original music compositions, performed live by pianist Scott Patterson and bass guitarist Tracy Wormworth, Brown uses the rhythmic play of African-American dance vernacular, including social dancing, double dutch, steppin’, tap, Juba, ring shout and gesture, as the black woman’s domain to evoke childhood memories of self-discovery.

Each performance culminates in a seamless final act with a dialogue in which audiences engage with the artists on stage.

On Friday, November 6th, The Harris Theater for Music and Dance presents the world premiere of “Tesseracts of Time,” a brand new collaboration between renowned choreographer Jessica Lang and celebrated architect Steven Holl, performed by Jessica Lang Dance and commissioned by the Chicago Architecture Biennial.Jessica Lang Dance/Tesseracts of Time

“Tesseracts of Time” relates to the four types of architecture: Under, In, On, and Over. “Tesseracts of Time” demonstrates how the two worlds of architecture and dance merge with respect to time.

"The body moving through space in time is a central experience of both architecture and dance,” said Steven Holl. “To collaborate on a ‘Dance for Architecture’ with Jessica Lang is an inspiring chance to experiment with the merging of the two arts, focusing on time, form, light, and movement."

“Collaboration is an essential part of making great art,” said Jessica Lang. “Having the opportunity to work intensely with architect Steven Holl on “Tesseracts of Time” has been a valuable process that will inform my work well beyond the creation of this piece. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of dance and architecture and the result will awaken the human imagination.”

The architecture used in the dance was developed through a research project called ‘Explorations of IN.’ This project started June 2014 at Steven Holl Architects and explores questions of architectural language. It aims to re-value the Art of Architecture

In addition to “Tesseracts,” Jessica Lang Dance will perform “The Calling” (excerpt from Splendid Isolation II),  “Droplet” (excerpt from i.n.k.), and “Thousand Yard Stare” (preview).

The gypsy fairy tale that Chicago choreographer Gordon Pierce Schmidt made up for his full-length ballet, “Day of the Gypsy” (Harris Theater, November 21-22) was inspired by the real-life story of his grandfather, who left his childhood home and took refuge with the gypsies in his native Czechoslovakia. Gypsy music had always intrigued Schmidt, and the idea of a non-gypsy wandering into the Romany culture captivated his imagination. After hearing John Jorgenson’s quintet play the music of gypsy jazz pioneer Django Rheinhardt in 2009, the two collaborated on an abstract piece for Grand Rapids Ballet. “Day of The Gypsy” grew out of that experience. “It’s light hearted, steeped in classical ballet,” Schmidt says, “but it’s infused with gypsy folk elements.” Schmidt researched gypsy dance, watching old films documenting the gypsy folk dance forms that emphasized intricate footwork, clapping, and hand-slapping the foot and thigh. Franco-American swing characterizes the mood of the original music composed by Jorgenson and inspired by Rheinhardt’s gypsy jazz. Former Joffrey Ballet dancer Yumelia Garcia will dance the lead role in the collaborative work, which will be performed live by Jorgenson and his quintet.Day of The Gypsy

NOTEWORTHY EVENTS: 

Antibody Corporation presents “Against Being” November 1st at Links Hall. Antibody Corporation is a mission based organization specializing in mind-body integration. Founded in 2009, The Corporation collaborates with artists to create interdisciplinary works spanning dance, performance art, film, video, and music. 

Striding Lion brings its “Peep Show: The Instant Choreography Series” to Constellation at Links Hall November 2nd. Peep Show gives audiences a behind the scenes peek into the unique dance making processes of innovative Chicago choreographers as they develop world premiere dance works live and in the moment.

Each performance features two choreographers working simultaneously against the clock (45 min) in two different studios, to realize completely new pieces that incorporate suggestions from the audience, original music from an experimental composer (chosen by Constellation) and their choreography. The audience is invited to grab drinks and mingle between sittings in on each studio.

Lab Dancers 1st Wednesday Open Mic takes place November 4th at the Fulton Street Collective. This isn’t your ordinary open mic night-this open mic night is for music, dance, theatre, stand up comedy, improv, magic, puppetry, spoken word, performance art…anything your heart wants to perform! This is a perfect opportunity to go out on a limb and show everyone what your guts are made of. There will some liquid courage. Everything is donation based. Bring a friend. Bring your mom. Bring extra artists to sign up too! 

The Lynching of (Insert Name of White Killer on an Unidentifeid Black Man): An Avant Garde Jazz Hip hOpera (November 6-8, Links Hall) is the love story of two young activists in the Black Lives Matter Movement. It dramatizes the challenges that their relationship faces from differences of opinion on internal struggles within the movement and the consequences of drastic measures.  

Clinard Dance’s newly-formed Flamenco Repertory Quartet brings the world premiere of a new piece to the Instituto Cervantes Friday, November 6th. The quartet represents an exciting collaboration of nationally and internationally renowned flamenco artists, including Artistic Director/Principal Dancer Wendy Clinard, vocalist/guitarist Marija Temo, bassist Alex Wing and violinist Steve Gibons. The new work will feature an original flamenco score by Temo.

MOMENTA presents Looking Back/Looking Forward: Dances Past & Present November 7-8 and 14-15 at the Doris Humphrey Memorial Theatre of the Academy of Movement and Music in Oak Park. MOMENTA’s Fall Evening Concerts present gems from their historical dance repertory including sections of Paquita,the exotic PolovtsianDances, Doris Humphrey’s Water Study and Two Ecstatic Themes. Associate Executive Director,  Anita Fillmore Kenney, and MOMENTA Alumna, Sage Miller, premiere new work; and 3Arts Award recipient, Kris Lenzo will perform a new physically integrated duet. Doris Humphrey's "Water Study"

The Chicago Human Rhythm Project presents a tribute to Billy Strayhorn (November 11th, Jazz Showcse Club), one of the original members of Harlem's famous tap dance collective -- the Copasetics -- so it's only natural that some of Chicago's finest hoofers should gather to celebrate his life, his music and his commitment to American tap dance!

The night will feature Chicago tap dancers, live jazz trio and special guests! For more information, please visit www.ChicagoTap.org! The Billy Strayhorn Festival is presented by the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University celebrating the Strayhorn Centennial.Star Dixon

Hedwig Dances presents choreographer Victor Alexander's Line of Sighs November 12th at 6 and 7:30 at Defibrillator Performance Gallery. Line of Sighs is a dance that plays with illusion and perspective and combines poetic choreography with sculptural artifacts, vivid images and haunting original music.Line of Sighs

The Detroit Revival Project takes place on November 13th  at the Young Fenix Theatre, Detroit, MI. The Detroit REVIVAL Project will bring together local artists to collaborate in a shared performance space in order to build a stronger arts community in Detroit.

ARTLAB J is a collaboration with Marcus White / White Werx.

The Flow Show Chicago November 13, Links Hall) is one of three Flow Shows nationwide (along with San Francisco and New York) celebrating object manipulation in a theatrical setting. Audiences can expect a wide variety of dance and circus arts that incorporate spinning and juggling a variety of props such as hoops, poi, staff, fans, juggling balls, and possibly even a few new innovations!

Red Clay Dance Company brings their signature Afro-Contemporary Dance style to the South Suburbs of Chicago for the first time November 14th!

For their Fall engagement, the company presents two current repertory works, "Diamond in the RUF" and "Sistahs", along with the premiere of new works choreographed by Artistic Director Vershawn Ward, "She/Her" and guest choreographer Amansu Eason's "DevelopMino" which revals the story of the Amazon Warriors Women of Dahomey.

#SayHerName celebrates the multi-faceted lives of women. Women as warriors, both historically on the African continent and present day within the African Diaspora.

Danceworks Chicago presents Dance Flight (November 20-21, at The Ruth Page Center). Dance Flight is like a wine flight, a sampling of sorts. Join us as we offer an assortment of dances to fill your one-hour dance card!

Stay afterwards for an informal, post-performance meet the artist session hosted by the dancers.

“Poonie's Cabaret” (November 22, Links Hall)  is Links Hall's risk-taking tri-annual performance cabaret of "the edgiest performers in Chicago, both up-and-coming and veteran” -Think Pink Radio. 

Poonie's is named for Poonie Dodson, a much-loved Chicago dancer/choreographer who died of AIDS in the early 90's. Originally inspired by Patrick's Cabaret in Minneapolis, Poonie's Cabaret welcomes all forms of expression and anything which cannot be defined but can be thoroughly enjoyed. It features works in progress from artists working in many different creative realms - dance, music, contact improvisation, puppetry, performance art, theatre, voguing, freestyle rapping, drag, burlesque, cheerleading, stand-up comedy, etc.

At The Table: A Conversational Dance (November 23 at Links Hall) is an ongoing series of events in collaboration with performance artists, musicians, dancers, philosophers and activists. These events bring together individuals to experience and explore performance, participation and food as a celebration of our basic needs: sustenance, shelter and connection to others. These events are an invitation to be present with each other, creatively exploring new ways of communication and exchange while fully embracing the possibility of failure. This project questions the sustainability of a social structure based on debt and individualistic “survival of the fittest.” With an awareness that individual and community health are inseparable, we undertake an experiment in social technology inspired by mycelial communication of needs and resources. 

The Salt Creek Ballet presents its annual Nutcracker November 28-29

at the Hinsdale Auditorium. Audiences call Salt Creek Ballet’s “The Nutcracker,” “Enchanting,” “Magical,” and “Outstanding!” A tradition for young and old alike, meet young Clara and her hero, the Nutcracker, as you are transported on a magical journey, encountering waltzing flowers, giant mice and the Sugar Plum Fairy along the way. Performance features a live, 48-piece orchestra.Salt Creek Ballet's "Nutcracker"

For Details and Tickets for all these events, go to seechicagodance.com and click on “Upcoming Events.”

Snowflakes with a 90% chance of Sugarplums! Severe ColdWatch, in effect beginning December 4, likely to trigger an infestation of dancing Mice! 

Nutcrackers across Chicagoland are flexing their jaws and sharpening their swords in preparation for the annual battle to be played out on stages large and small, North South, East, and West, beginning in downtown Chicago with Joffrey Ballet’s iconic “Nutcracker,” (Auditorium Theatre, December 4-27) choreographed by Robert Joffrey in 1987 and poised for its final voyage with the company for its 28th consecutive season. Nutcracker groupies, do not despair! The Joffrey has commissioned Christopher Wheeldon to choreograph a brand new “Nutcracker” to premiere next year. Meanwhile, the Joffrey Ballet’s roster of stellar Sugarplum Fairies and Cavaliers, along with brilliant soloists in a dessert buffet of character roles from across the globe, will once again delight audiences young and old with its founding director’s 19th-Century American setting of the beloved holiday classic. The production features the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra, performing the Tchaikovsky score live under the direction of Joffrey Music Director Scott Speck. Young singers from five different local children’s choirs and 118 young dancers in children’s roles from the Party Scene through The Land of the Sweets compliment the professional cast. 

Salt Creek Ballet continues its run of “The Nutcracker” on December 5th at south suburban Governor’s State University Center for Performing Arts, followed by north suburban performances at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie December 12th and 13th.  Salt Creek’s grand Russian-style production, directed and choreographed by Sergey Kozadayev and Zhanna Dubrovskaya, who trained at St. Petersburg’s famed Vaganova Ballet Academy. The production features a professional cast and guests soloists Maria Mosina and Alexei Tukov, both Russian trained,  from the Colorado Ballet. Salt Creek Ballet's "The Nutcracker"

The Ruth Page Civic Ballet stages its annual “Nutcracker” at Northeastern Illinois University December 5-6, and at Ravinia’s Bennet Gordon Hall in North suburban Highland Park December 12-13.  

Ballet Legere’s 31st annual “Nutcracker” takes place December 10-14 in west suburban River Forest at Dominican University’s Performing Arts Center.

Southside’s Hyde Park School of Dance presents August Tye’s community-inclusive “Nutcracker” December 11-13 in Mandel Hall on the University of Chicago campus.

On the north side, Ballet Chicago lights up the Athenaeum Theatre’s stage (December 12-13 and 19-20) with former New York City Ballet dancer Daniel Duel’s extrapolation of Balanchine’s “Nutcracker,”   featuring both professional soloists and accomplished students from the Ballet Chicago School and Studio Company. 

A posse of Nutcracker Soldiers on wooden stick ponies charges into south suburban Palos Hills with Ballet 5:8 School of the Arts’ “Beyond The Nutcracker” (Staag High School Performing Arts Center, December 19-20). “Beyond the Nutcracker” begins in the 1940’s, just as the Cooper family is preparing their annual Christmas party. Emma and Peter wait eagerly for the arrival of their Uncle Abrahms, who has promised to be home from the war in time for Christmas. As the evening drags on, it seems that Uncle Abrahms may not be keeping his promise after all - but wait! There is a knock at the door, and sure enough, it is the much-anticipated guest... Emma and Peter seem to think that Uncle Abrahms' telling of the story of the first Christmas is just a fairytale. What do you think?

The UN-”Nutcracker,” of the month is Chicago Tap Theatre’s “Tidings of Tap,” ( UIC Theatre, December 11-13). Featuring rhythm and whimsy-filled interpretations of your favorite Christmas, Chanukah and Winter songs, this is a fun yet sophisticated, family-friendly evening. While this is a great family show, many people have commented on the fact that it is truly enjoyable for all ages. Children and parents will love the end-of-the show number, where all the children are invited on-stage to dance! Parents are even allowed to take photos of their kids on stage. Audience favorites will return, including our humorous take on the Twelve Days of Christmas, the men of CTT dancing in Chanukah Oh Chanukah and the battle between Frosty and Rudolf in Bohemian Tapsody. Tidings of Tap! will feature three new premieres, including the debut piece by Rehearsal Director Kirsten Uttich.

ADDITIONAL DECEMBER EVENTS:

Laboratory Dancers holds its monthly “1st Wednesday Series” Open Mic December 2nd at the Fulton Street Collective. Not your ordinary open mic night, this is for music, dance, theatre, stand up comedy, improv, magic, puppetry, spoken word, performance art…anything your heart wants to perform! This is a perfect opportunity to go out on a limb and show everyone what your guts are made of. There will be some liquid courage. Everything is donation based. Bring a friend. Bring your mom. Bring extra artists to sign up too! 

Jump Rhythm Jazz Project stages “Getting Down, Going Forward”  (Old Town School of Folk Music, December 2nd), a lecture-demonstration and performance from JRJP’s repertory.

Joel Hall Dancers showcases its Joel Hall II company, along with Joel Hall Dancers Youth Company, Ensemble Espanol Youth Company, DMA Allegro Performance Company, Senn Arts Dancers, The Jazzettes and RIZE Youth Company in a Winter Showcase Collaboration.Joel Hall II

Broadway’s Susan Stroman is director/choreographer of Lyric Opera’s “The Merry Widow,” playing at the Civic Opera House December 3-13.

Dance Crash presents “New Alaska” (DCA Storefront Theatre, December 4-20). Both guest and in-house choreos have each been asked to create a premier dance work based on nothing more than the following three stipulations:

1) Alaska.

2) 100 years in the future.

3) Immediately following a worldwide catastrophe.

Aside from Crash’s conventional array of flips, turns, and superhuman athleticism, the creative reality of “New Alaska” begs for anything from neo-wildlife and mutations to bright whites, month-long evenings, and aurora borealis.

The performance includes new works from rhythmic hip hop artist Stephanie Paul, Luna Negra Dance Theater alum Kirsten Shelton, Pursuit Productions founder Ahmad Simmons, as well as CDC’s own Kaitlin Webster & Artistic Director Jessica Deahr."New Alaska"

Danceworks Chicago presents Dance Chance (Lou Conte Studio, December 4th), a one-hour event designed to offer opportunities for choreographers to show their work informally, create a forum for dialogue among artists, and build audience for dance. Inspired by the concept of open-mic night. Dance Chance is held once a month and features 3 choreographers chosen by chance, each of whom has a 15-minute time slot to share their work. To round out the hour, the final 15-minute segment is a moderated meet-the-artist session providing an opportunity for choreographers to discuss their work and process as well as time for the audience to ask questions. At the end of each Dance Chance, the next trio of participants is chosen from names submitted by choreographers in attendance.

“Loyola Dance Informance” (December 4th). Dance students from all classes showcase their semester’s work in an informal dance performance. Featuring a wide variety of styles at all levels, the performance offers students the opportunity to showcase the progress they have made in their respective courses. 

The Chicago Dance History Project holds its first-ever “Transcriptathon”  (1-6 PM December 5th at the Old Town School of Folk Music) The CDHP has collected over 50 hours of video footage featuring Chicago dance history interviews and events, and now wants to share them with you! Please join them to transcribe part of your favorite interview, enjoy free food and drinks, & gather with friends from the Chicago dance and arts education communities. ***PLEASE bring a laptop and headphones.***

Striding Lion Performance Group holds its “Peep Show: The Instant Choreography Series” December 7th at Links Hall. Peep Show gives audiences a behind the scenes peek into the unique dance making processes of innovative Chicago choreographers as they develop world premiere dance works live and in the moment. Each performance features two choreographers working simultaneously against the clock (45 min) in two different studios, to realize completely new pieces that incorporate suggestions from the audience, original music from an experimental composer (chosen by Constellation) and their choreography. The audience is invited to grab drinks and mingle between sittings in on each studio.

“The Catch,” presented by Dancing On The Spot” (December 10-11, Hamlin Park Field House), weaves together improvisational dance, a one act play, texts written by the ensemble, and original music by Robert Hornbostel. The first part of the performance is a transformation of Michael Brayndick's one act play Fragments from the Permanent Collection into an experimental overlap of theater and dance. The second half of the show is an exploration of the many different meanings of the word "catch". We talk about falling in love, but not very often about how or when we get caught. A catch can also be something seized, grasped, intercepted, engaged, attracted, or ignited among many other, sometimes contradictory meanings. This multi-dimensional word is a catalyst for group-generated text tied to movement structures which allow us to express our many versions of "the catch". 

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (Harris Theater, December 10-13) presents four inventive artists with evocative works exploring themes of acceptance, self-reckoning, and the complexities of desire. Crystal Pite brings the U.S. company premiere of Solo Echo to Hubbard Street, alongside a world premiere by Penny Saunders, and A Glimpse Inside a Shared Story: new work for Hubbard Street 2 by 2015 International Commissioning Project choreographer Yin Yue. Waxing Moon by Robyn Mineko Williams, called “breathtaking” by the Chicago Tribune, completes this compelling program.

The 15th Detroit Dance Race (December 12, Young Fenix Theatre, Detroit, MI) is presented by ARTLAB J. The Detroit Dance Race provides opportunities for choreographers to present their work at a unique venue in Detroit.

The Old Town School of Folk Music Adult Dance Student Showcase (December 15th, Old Town School of Folk Music) presents a night celebrating dance as its adult students present pieces they have been rehearsing in class. This mulit-disciplinary show includes both culturally specific and world dances along with social dances. 

Khecari and San Francisco guest artists from Blind Tiger Society present “Ring SOUR” (December 18-19, Links Hall). This combined evening of contemporary dance is presented in conjunction with Links Hall's Midwest Nexus Touring Initiative. Khecari's Julia Antonick and Jonathan Meyer will show a next iteration of their ongoing duet improvisation "Orders from the Horse," and Blind Tiger Society will show "Dressage," a duet for director Bianca Cabrera and company member Rebecca Morris. 

“Reduction” by Tsukasa Taiko (December 19, Museum of Contemporary Art) is an eclectic slate of contemporary and classical music and dance

artists from Tokyo, San Francisco, and Chicago who reunite at MCA Stage for

two distinct and inventive programs, rooted in the unmistakable sound of

taiko. Once heard only at traditional ceremonies and temples in Japan,

today taiko allows artists to explore exuberant expression and the

fullest possibilities of drumming."Reduction" by TsukasaTaiko

Father Time will have to do the Quick Step to catch up with Chicago dance in 2016. Major venues promise calendars full of exciting dance to inspire, entertain, and stimulate. An overview of what’s coming in the next few months will help you plan ahead, but first take a look at what’s waiting right on the doorstep of the new year.

Thodos Dance Chicago presents “Sono’s Journey,” January 9 at the Auditorium Theater, a world premiere piece celebrating the life of legendary Japanese-American dancer Sono Osato.  Sono’s Journey  will trace Osato’s path from her audition on the Auditorium Theatre stage that launched her dance career at age 14, to her position today, at the age of 96, as one of the most inspirational, barrier-breaking artists in American dance. The event is part of the Auditorium’s “Made in Chicago” Dance Series. The company will also appear at the Login Center for the Arts in “History In Motion: Sono’s Journey” on January 6, in conjunction with the Chicago Dance History Project.

Moscow festival Ballet’s “Cinderella” comes to the Mcaninch Arts Center at the College of DuPage January 10. The company was founded by legendary Bolshoi Ballet principal dancer Sergei Radchenko, Moscow Festival Ballet is steeped in classical Russian technique and grandeur. 

Links Hall at Constellation presents “Peep Show” January 4. Peep Show gives audiences a behind the scenes peek into the unique dance making processes of innovative Chicago choreographers as they develop world premiere dance works live, in the moment, based on suggestions from audience members. Each performance features two choreographers working simultaneously against the clock (45 min) in two different studios, to realize completely new pieces that incorporate suggestions from the audience, original music from an experimental composer (chosen by Constellation) and their choreography. The audience is invited to grab drinks and mingle between sittings in on each studio. 

Also at Links in January: “Still Inspired” January 14-16, and “A Mid Festival” with Zephyr Dance and others running January 20-31.

DanceWorks Chicago continues its monthly Dance Chance at the Lou Conte Studios January 29. The one-hour event is designed to offer opportunities for choreographers to show their work informally, create a forum for dialogue among artists, and build audience for dance.

“Sophie Shellbags, OR The Curiosity of the Female Rake” integrates a variety of dance genres January 31 at OuterSpace Studios.

There’s lots to choose from among the major Chicago dance venues for 2016, so get out your calendars and pencil in some of these:

Harris Theater leads the pack, beginning with The State Ballet of Russia January 23-24. The Hamburg Ballet, under the direction of John Neumeier, rolls into town February 23-27 with two full-length programs: Othello, the 23rd-24th, and Mahler Third Symphony the 26th-27th. Local companies Include Lucky Plush March 3, Thodos Dance Chicago March 5, and Hubbard Street’s spring season March 17-20, with a summer season June 9-12 . Giordano Dance Chicago’s Spring Series kicks off April 1-2. Miami City Ballet brings two programs April 29-30, and Ballet Chicago stages its annual concert May 14.

In addition to Thodos, The Auditorium Theater presents the Joffrey Ballet’s “Bold Moves,” February 10-21, featuring cutting edge contemporary ballet choreography by Jiří Kylián, Ashley Page, and Yuri Possokhov. Alvin Ailey graces the stage March 8-13, and the Joffrey returns with Frederick  Ashton’s “Cinderella” April 20-May 1.

Giordano Dance Chicago returns to the Columbia College Dance Center for the first time in 37 years February 4-6. The program features audience favorites, “Exit4” by Roni Koresh and “Shirt Off My Back” by Ray Mercer. The Dance Center brings back Urban Bush Women February 18-20, followed by Joe Goode March 10-12, and Rennie Harris March 31 through April 2. 

The Ruth Page Center presents the Chicago Academy for the Arts January 22-23. Winifred Haun returns February 26-27, followed by Chicago Repertory Ballet’s “Macbeth” March 4-12. DanceWorks Chicago performs March 18-19.

The Museum of Contemporary Art presents “Cosmic Body” with Ingri Fiksdal, Ingvild Langgard, and Signe Becker February 4-7. Faye Driscoll will perform her “Thank You For Coming” February 11-14. The Joffrey Academy brings winners of its annual “Winning Works,” set on the studio company by ascending choreographers of color. Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion stages “When The Wolves Come In” April 28-May 1.

The Dance Chicago series continues through February 14 at The Athenaeum Theatre. 

There’s more to come! Check seechicagodance.com and click on “Upcoming Events” for details and tickets. To be sure, 2016 is a year to See Chicago Dance! A Happy and Healthy New Year to all!

Lynn Colburn Shapiro, editor

February may be the shortest month of the year, but it’s jam-packed with holidays, like Ground Hog Day, Valentines Day, and Mardi Gras, Presidents’ Day, the Chinese New Year, and Superbowl Sunday. And what better way to celebrate than by seeing a dance concert! Chicago dance is kicking up its heels in every way imaginable this month, from jazz to ballet, tap, Mexican, Spanish, Indian, and African American traditions, modern, contemporary and avant-garde. 

HIGHLIGHTS begin with Giordano Dance Chicago returning to The Dance Center of Columbia College (February 4-6) for the first time in 37 years, celebrating its 53rd season. America’s first jazz dance company performs the intimate “Closer Than Ever” program on The Dance Center stage, including the aggressive “Exit4” choreographed by internationally renowned Roni Koresh (born and raised in Israel, now based in Philadelphia), and the whirlwind “Shirt Off My Back” from Broadway performer Ray Mercer. The company also offers a FamilyDance Matinee, featuring a free workshop with the artists for parents and children followed by a family-oriented performance.Giordano Dance Chicago, photo by Gorman Cook

The Joffrey Ballet launches “Bold Moves,” (February 10-21) with a world premiere choreographed by Ashley Page. A winner of many prestigious dance awards, Page is known for his daring collaborations with visual artists and contemporary composers. For The Joffrey Ballet, he is creating a work for 12 dancers which responds directly to the elemental and organic forces he finds in British composer Thomas Adès' violin concerto Concentric Paths. The music contains constantly shifting tensions, evocative atmospheres and a seam of wayward sensuality. Also on the program are Jiri Kylian’s “Forgotten Land, set to music by Benjamin Britten and inspired by a painting of women on a beach by Edvard Much, and Yuri Possokhov’s “RAkU.” Possokhov uses the burning of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto, Japan, as the point of departure for a story of love, treachery, separation and tragedy. Set in Japan's past, a warrior and his beloved princess are pulled apart by the schemes of a jealousy-crazed monk.Christine Rocas and Miguel Angel Blanco in "RAkU"

The Chicago Moving Company sponsors “Spontaneous Combustion” at the Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater (Feb. 18-19). Two lovely, winter nights of dance work based in improvisation and anchored by celebrated masters of the form: Chris Aiken and Angie Hauser, celebrated nationally and internationally for their solo and duet practice and performance making their sole Chicago performance appearance this year. Joining them are stand-out Chicago dance artists, Sarah Gottlieb and JulieAnn Graham, who will each present new, inventive improvised works of their own (developed during a 6- month mentorship with Angie). Project mentor and performer, Angie Hauser is a dance-artist and teacher . Her work and research is grounded by the questions of improvisation, performance and collaboration. Since 2000, Angie has been a member of the Bebe Miller Company (USA). In 2006 Angie was awarded a BESSIE (N.Y. Dance and Performance Award) for Creation and Choreography for her work with Bebe Miller Company.  She is currently an Assistant Professor at Smith College in the Department of Dance where she teaches choreography, creative process, improvisation and dance technique. Chris Aiken is a leading international teacher and performer of dance improvisation and contact improvisation. His work has been significantly influenced through the somatic practice of the Alexander Technique, ideokinesis, yoga and the work of Ida Rolf. Chris has performed and collaborated with many renowned dance artists including Steve Paxton, Kirstie Simson, Nancy Stark Smith, Peter Bingham, Andrew Harwood, Patrick Scully and Angie Hauser.  He is currently an Assistant Professor at Smith College in the Department of Dance.Spontaneous Combustion

Striding Lion Performance Corps transforms the historic Athenaeum Theatre with “The Great and Terrible Dr. Faustus,” (February 19-28). The hour draws nigh for the Great and Terrible Doctor Faustus to attempt his most mind-bending magic act yet: The Vanishing Cabinet. In this immersive dance-theatre soiree, you will follow Faustus and the seven deadly sins through the darkest corners of the Athenaeum Theatre, a century-old landmark full of ghosts from the past. Pursue revenge and fortune in a theatrical purgatory run by the Devil himself. Meet glamorous characters from yesteryear with scores to settle and secrets to tell. See backstage like you never have before. 

Note: This performance requires constant audience movement, including up and down stairs, but there is an accessible route for those who require it. Additionally, you will be split up from your group unless you notify the box office that you need to stick together.

The Hamburg Ballet returns to the Harris Theater with two full-length ballets created by company Artistic Director and Chief Choreographer John Neumeier. “Othello,” (February 23-24), is the company’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s seminal tragedy, performed with live accompaniment from the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra with music by Arvo Pärt, Alfred Schnittke, and Naná Vasconcelos. “Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler” (February 26-27) has become one of Neumeier’s most important and defining works. Inspired by his great love of Mahler’s music, he created a timeless ballet to express all the emotions and feelings that the Third Symphony’s score evokes in its listeners.   “I have translated the feelings experienced and images suggested while hearing his Third Symphony into movement, into pure dance situations, and into human relationships,” said Neumeier, who also designed the costumes and lighting concept for the ballet.Hamburg Ballet's "Othello"  

NAJWA Dance Corps honors Black History Month with “Goin’ North: A Story from ‘The Great Migration’ at DuSable Museum of African American History (February 27). Through dance, NDC will take you on an epic journey from the cotton fields of the south to the theaters and nightclubs of Chicago. This event will showcase exhilarating African American dance styles (via Africa) of the 20's, 30's and 40's -Charleston, Jitterbug, and traditional jazz (Swing), etc., that will educate, entertain and enlighten you about the “Great Migration.” A Story from "The Great Migration"

ADDITIONAL EXCITING EVENTS:

Peep Show: The Instant Choreography Series (Feb. 1, Links Hall) Collaboratively produced by Striding Lion Performance Group and Links Hall and Constellation, created by Annie Arnault and curated by Amanda Lower. Peep Show gives audiences a behind the scenes peek into the unique dance making processes of innovative Chicago choreographers as they develop world premiere dance works live, in the moment, based on suggestions from audience members.

Buffer Overrun (Feb. 4-7, Storefront Theater) is a multi-media dance performance by Ginger Krebs, with Sabrina Baranda, Elise Cowin, Joanna Furnans, Joseph Kramer and Christine Shallenberg. The choreography and sound incorporate phase shifting, slow motion, structures based on code, and spiral patterns derived from optical illusions. Sponsored by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.

Cosmic Body (Feb. 4-7, Museum of Contemporary Art) Simple yet powerfully affecting, Ingri Fiksdal opens up a new performance plane with Cosmic Body, an interactive event that resists classification and channels writer-artist William Burroughs’s Dreamachine.

Fiksdal is naturally inquisitive, constructing Cosmic Body as something joyously hypnotic and mischievously spacious. Cosmic Bodyis Fiksdal’s updated pillowy expanse of choreographed lights, illusions, sounds, and bodies. She invites audience members to be seated or stand close to the performers—to experience a transformative visual and cultural complexity.This performance is designed for a small audience: capacity is limited.

Ballet 5:8 presents “Mirrors of the Mind”  highlights three works that bring the mysterious inner workings of the mind to life. (Feb. 5-6, Madison Street Theater, Oak Park) In addition, the company’s Spring Season Chicago presents “Out of the Dust” (Feb. 27, Beverly Arts Center), a compilation of Ballet 5:8's contemporary works, including Preston Miller's And Mercy; Artistic Director Julianna Slager's Interplay ; and Eden.  Slager’s full-length ballet, “Belteshazzar: A Perilous Tale,” plays Februay 28th.8

Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater presents A Night of Spanish Dance featuring "Bolero" and  Ron de Jesus’s "Mil Clavos." Go on an epic journey through Spain with Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater's celebration of Flamenco, classical, folkloric, and contemporary dance, set to traditional Spanish rhythms. Ensemble Español

Faye Driscoll brings her “Thank You For Coming: Attendance” to the Museum of Contemporary Art (Feb. 11-14). As the dance begins, five performers gradually become tangled together into one ever-morphing body—building new formations and revealing fleeting feelings and states of being. Staged in the round, the audience is gradually invited into an expansive song, an urban folk dance, and a beautiful chaos that crescendos in joyful transformation. This performance is designed for a small audience: capacity is limited.

Joel Hall Dancers and Center presents “Flavors 2016 Youth Festival” (Feb. 12, Senn Auditorium), a diverse evening of dance by some of the most established youth companies in Chicago.

Shen Yun Performing Arts comes to the Rosemont Theater (Feb. 13-14) with heavenly maidens, brave warriors, mischievous monks, and, yes, even a flying pig! China's 5,000 years of uninterrupted history has yielded an endless treasure trove of legends, myths, and literary classics.

Urban Bush Women returns to the Dance Center of Columbia College (Feb. 18-20)  Under the direction of Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Urban Bush Women brings the untold and under-told histories and stories of disenfranchised people to light through dance from a woman-centered perspective and as members of the African Diaspora. The company returns following its spring 2015 30th season performances at The Dance Center with Walking with ’Trane, a suite of works, co-commissioned by The Dance Center, based on the life and artistic imprint of jazz pioneer John Coltrane. Urban Bush Women in "Trane7" photo by Julieta Cervantes

Natya Dance Theatre’s “The King Elephant and the Mice” (Feb. 20, Chicago Symphony Center) is a story, handed down from a collection of Indian fables passed down through centuries, teaching us that we will find friends—and courage—in unexpected places. 

Thodos Dance Chicago presents “Chicago Revealed” (Feb. 20, North Shore enter for the Performing Arts) The first half reprises it’s new, “Sono’s Journey,” a full company dance story, created and choreographed by TDC Founder and Artistic Director, Melissa Thodos, that artistically reflects the life and incredible journey of acclaimed dancer, Sono Osato.  The second act will feature three world premieres: RedLines/BlueHorizon by guest choreographer Kevin Iega Jeff, Artistic Director of Chicago's Deeply Rooted Dance Theater; Robyn Mineko Williams’, At The Apex; and TDC Company Founder and Artistic Director, Melissa Thodos’ Thio Kosmos, or "Two Worlds" in Greek, shedding light on the Greek-American perspective of life in our city and will include text based on interviews with members of Chicago's Greek community.Sono's Journey

The Adventures of Tapman (Feb. 21, Stage 773). Follow Chicago's premiere tap dancing superhero as he battles his arch nemesis, The MADD Tapper. Along the way, Tapman joins forces with The Modern Marvel, a crime-fighting modern dancer, in his quest to defeat The MADD Tapper. The Adventures of Tapman features light-hearted, 60s-era comic book humor, elaborate projected special effects, and phenomenal tap dancing including the unique tap dance fighting style, Tap-Fu! 

Ballet Folklorico Mexicano and Los Lobos bring “Fiesta Mexico-Americana” to the McAninch Arts Center, College of DuPage (Feb. 21) for a spectacular display of song, dance, music and film celebrating the notable achievements of successful Mexican-Americans throughout time. 

DanceWorks Chicago’s monthly “Dance Chance” (Feb. 26, Lou Conte Studio), a one-hour event designed to offer opportunities for choreographers to show their work informally, create a forum for dialogue among artists, and build audience for dance. Inspired by the concept of open-mic night, Dance Chance is held once a month and features 3 choreographers chosen by chance, each of whom has a 15-minute time slot to share their work. 

First Draft: New Dances By Chicago Artists (Feb. 26-27, Ruth Page Center for the Arts). For its inaugural season, First Draft will present the following artists and companies:

Michael Estanich of RE|Dance will premiere new sections of "The Lonely Visitors;" James Gregg of Elements Contemporary Ballet will premiere a trio, "The Misfortunate Beauty of Joe Danek;"  Winifred Haun of Winifred Haun & Dancers will premiere an abstract group work, "Your nearest exit may be behind you;" Vershawn Ward of Red Clay Dance will premiere a new version of her acclaimed solo, #SAYHERNAME; Alyssa Gregory and Sarah Gonsiorowski of the Leopold Group will premiere a duet, currently untitled, choreographed and danced by the artists themselves. 

For details and Tickets, go to seechicagodance.com/events

One might presume a panel discussion entitled “Women in the Director’s Chair” would be framed by gender issues, but the most recent Audience Architect’s Moving Dialog event was distinguished not by the sex, but by the age of the participants. The four distinguished dance educators and choreographers on the panel were part of aMID Festival at Links Hall, a two-week series of performances by mid-to-late career dancers and hosted by Zephyr Dance director Michelle Kranike. Kranike, along with Cynthia Oliver, Bob Eisen and Deborah Hay, sat down to discuss dance making from the perspective of dancers performing on stage in their 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s, respectively. And yet the conversation quickly transcended the topic of working at this or that age to the eternal questions artists strive to unravel over a lifetime.

Moderator Elise Archias opened the discussion by noting her interest in the project not only for the way it challenges our cultural obsession with youthful physiques, but with adolescent desires as well—the encouragement from mainstream advertising and entertainment to peruse our most basic impulses in the name of consumption over more mature desires to “construct a world in which more of us can thrive.” Her first question to the panel was what had changed in their creative process over the years. Hay responded first, hushing the room with her resonant, velvety alto: simplicity. As time passed she increasingly seeks simplicity in her work, trying to let go of more and more. In a similar vein, Bob Eisen talked about feeling more open to process…to, as Merce Cunningham observed, the ease of saying yes as opposed to judging if something is right or wrong. Cynthia Oliver’s response elicited the most knowing laugh from the crowd: how long it takes to warm up—about an extra half hour for every decade of life. In all seriousness Oliver noted, as did all the panelists, how much for her has stayed the same. She still feels fear every time she steps into the studio; she is still interested in language, she still feels risk in the creative process. Hay said that she still requires a space for play on a daily basis.

The next two questions, about the relationships in the four works presented and the audience each choreographer imagined addressing, drew out the striking differences in process and perspective between the four panelists. Eisen’s work, a duet with a younger male dancer, was highly structured and incredibly taut, with repetition of movement phrases and ideas that piled on to a near breaking point. Eisen sees his audience as the postmodern world “for better or worse.” Contrast that to Kranike’s 25-minute excerpt from her durational trio that has no dramatic arc, no trajectory, just three women performing a series of intertwining poses on a low platform against a bare wall. Kranike first stated that she didn’t care about keeping the audience’s interest, but that may not be entirely accurate. Her imagined audience, she said, goes on a journey of internal reactions, frustrations, emotions and, if all goes well, acceptance and openness to a slower, more present way of seeing. Hay stated that she is her audience and is always trying to pull the rug out from under herself. Her performance was an attentively observed solo that weaved between audience members seated on chairs and the floor, scattered throughout the performance space, and facing all directions. Oliver’s duet for herself and a younger woman provided another striking contrast, with spoken text, dialogue, humor, reference and straight-ahead contemporary dance-y moments. Oliver acknowledged multiple populations as her audiences: contemporary dance attendees, those who would identify references from her Afro-Caribbean roots and Black experience, and broader performance audiences who don’t necessarily see dance regularly. Between these four choreographers, the self, the other, dance audiences, non-dance audiences and no one specifically was addressed.

The greatest energy of the discussion gathered around a question from the audience about emotionality in the creation of work. Eisen—a postmodernist to the core—warned against the manipulation of emotions in art. “If you want emotion, go to a movie, watch a soap opera. There’s something higher we can strive for.” Oliver immediately took the mic to say how interested she is in emotion—how emotion defines the quality of movement on a very fundamental, textural level. Hay, always disarming, prefaced her answer by saying she has the emotional intelligence of a four year old, then talked about her effort to detach from her emotions as she observes them arising, pursuing non-linear creation in her dances. Oliver quickly countered to say that emotion is abstract, non-linear, and full of eruptions, not a path to follow but a mine of surprises to uncover. Hay then observed that they might well be talking about the same thing.

Were you to gather four artists whose work was respectively rooted in postmodernism, minimalist experimentation, and theatrical contemporary dance from any generation their views would be no less dissimilar. But the grace, humor, easy self-confidence and mutual respect characterizing the conversation between these artists are products of a wisdom that only comes with maturity. Early in the discussion, Bob Eisen stated that as he ages, he puts less weight on making dances than when he was young: “What’s happening in Syria right now, a young man being shot on the South Side of Chicago, these are big deals. What we do is a luxury.” Eisen is still grounded in the same postmodern aesthetics that have been the foundation of his career, but his perspective on those ideas has evolved.

The final question of the night came from an audience member who asked if there are creative questions that have expired. Hay responded that questions don’t so much expire as get re-articulated. “It doesn’t end. You as the artist just get a finer and finer relationship with the question.”

Sharon Hoyer, Dance Editor for Newcity Magazine

Dance lovers visiting Chicago are in store for a hot time on just about any given night. Dance in Chicago is booming! With over 200 professional companies performing on stages downtown and throughout Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods--from grand theaters to tiny storefronts, in public parks, museums, and universities, from world-class ballet, modern dance, jazz, tap, and culturally-specific traditional dance forms--Chicago Dance has something for everyone. 

If classical ballet is your thing, Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet is your ticket, or you may like to see what Chicago Repertory Ballet, the Hyde Park School of Dance, Ballet 5:8, Ballet Chicago, The Salt Creek Ballet, or the Ruth Page Civic Ballet are up to. 

Do you love cutting edge? The Dance Center of Columbia College, Links Hall, and the Museum of Contemporary Art present year-long seasons of local and touring companies that will challenge you with the unexpected. 

Chicago’s best and brightest modern, contemporary, and jazz companies perform regular seasons at the Harris Theater For Music and Dance, including Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Giordano Dance Chicago, River North, Visceral Dance Chicago, Lucky Plush, and Thodos Dance Chicago. Catch exciting out of town companies there as well, right in the heart of Millennium Park.

The Ruth Page Center for the Arts on the Gold Coast, and The Athenaeum Theatre on the North Side host mid-size companies all year-long, including Cerqua Rivera Dance Theater, Concert Dance Inc., Hedwig Dances, Winifred Haun and Dancers, The Cambrians, and Ron De Jesus Dance.

April is Chicago Dance Month, with dozens of dance events of all kinds in both conventional and unconventional performance spaces. Check the SeeChicagoDance calendar for listings.

Louis Sullivan’s historic Auditorium Theatre has been a leading presenter of major Chicago and world-renowned touring dance companies for 125 years and is the performing home of The Joffrey Ballet.  

The Auditorium Theatre also hosts Chicago’s annual “Dance For Life” each summer, bringing together the best of Chicago’s vibrant dance community in a concert to benefit The Dancers’ Fund and HIV/AIDS research through Chicago Dancers United, providing financial support for dancers experiencing critical health issues. This year’s concert will take place on August 20, 2016.

The open-air Pritzker Pavillion in Millennium Park is host to The Chicago Dancing Festival, a highlight of Chicago’s summer dance events for the past nine years. The four-day festival of major Chicago, national, and international dance is free to the public, but reserved seating goes quickly. Additional venues have included the Harris Theatre, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Auditorium Theatre. 

Chicago has long been a center for innovation and excellence in tap and percussive dance and boasts an impressive roster of individual virtuoso artists and tap dance companies, including BAM!, Chicago Tap Theatre, jorsTAPchicago, MADD Rhythms, Audible Odyssey, and Jump Rhythm Jazz Project.
 
The Chicago Human Rhythm Project hosts “Rhythm World,” an annual summer festival of tap and percussive dance at its home base, the American Rhythm Center in the Fine Arts Building. The Festival culminates in JUBA! a week of performances at the Museum of Contemporary Art featuring local, national, and international tap dance companies and solo artists. 

“Dance In The Parks” offers free dance concerts all summer long throughout Chicago’s neighborhoods, featuring professional dancers and contemporary choreographers. 

You don’t have to go to Ireland, Spain, or India to see great Irish, Spanish, or Indian dancing, or Latin American, Egyptian, Polish, or African for that matter. Chicago has them all!  The World-famous Trinity Irish Dancers performs at the Auditorium Theatre this June. Ensemble Español hosts its annual American Spanish Dance and Music Festival at Northeastern Illinois University and other venues June 8-25, 2016. 

Tempting? We hope so! Check out http://seechicagodance.com/events for details, discount offers, and tickets.  

Tune into June!  This month, the official herald of summer breathes its balmy spirit of fun and frolic into the heart of Chicago Dance. 

HIGHLIGHTS:

The Chicago Human Rhythm Project (CHRP) returns to the Auditorium Theatre June 4th with some of Chicago’s best percussive dance companies in “The Chicago Rhythm Fest,” the finale performance of the citywide celebration, STOMPING GROUNDS. CHRP’s resident ensemble BAM!, alongside the Trinity Irish Dance Company, Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago, Mexican Folkloric Dance Company of Chicago, and Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater perform original choreography that showcases each company’s unique cultural traditions.  This exceptional collaboration is part of the Auditorium Theatre’s “Made in Chicago” Dance Series. Chicago Rhythm Fest 

Treat yourself to something new and different. If you didn’t catch Hubbard Street and The Second City’s grand experiment in dance and sketch comedy last year, don’t miss the reprise of their hilarious “The Art Of Falling,” at the Harris Theater June 9-19.The Art of Falling

Giordano Dance Chicago returns to the Auditorium Theatre June 11th for the final performance of the season's "Made in Chicago" Dance Series. Led by Artistic Director Nan Giordano, the company will perform five works from the company's 157-piece repertory, including Crossing/Lines, Feelin' Good Sweet, Can't Take This Away, Sneaky Pete, and Sing, Sing, Sing.   

Check out Pivot Arts Festival, an annual celebration of innovative performance throughout Chicago’s Uptown & Edgewater neighborhoods. Over the course of two weeks, audiences have the opportunity to see and hear unique music, theater, dance, puppetry, all ages shows, comedy and more. Featured dance events include Peter Carpenter at 7:30 PM June 3rd at Loyola University’s Mundelein Center as part of the “Festival Tapas Night,” and at 10 PM, “Hip Hop Celebration” curated by Drunken Monkee. Kristina Isabelle Dance Company will Perform “And The Spirit Moved Me” June 4-5. “Revival” Performance Art Dance Party takes place June 11th at Preston Bradley Center.Pivot Arts Festival

Chicago Tap Theatre presents "We Will Tap You," a night of rock and tap June 25th at the Athenaeum Theatre, exclusively featuring the music of the legendary Queen. Freddie Mercury, lead vocalist and songwriter, and Queen entertained fans for more than four decades with their powerful vocals and musical fusion of hard rock and glam rock. This one night only event will be a bright, heartfelt and over the top celebration of this iconic band, as interpreted by Music Director Schweitz and Chicago Tap Theatre. Playing during Pride Week in Chicago, this is the perfect time to recognize and honor Queen’s contribution to the music world. In addition guest artists Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus, Lakeside Pride Freedom Marching Band and Chicago Spirit Brigade join CTT on stage and the performance marks the debut of an unprecedented concert aerial tap piece, in collaboration with C5, in this large-scale extravaganza.Chicago Tap Theatre

ADDITIONAL JUNE EVENTS:

Concert Dance Inc (CDI) performances June 2-3 at Ravinia will highlight a preview of Artistic Director Venetia Stifler’s critically-acclaimed full-length work, originally created in 1985 but reimagined for the 21st Century,  “The Chicago Project: Future Present.” In addition, featured guest company, the Ruth Page Civic Ballet, will perform “Movements,”  created as part of its cultural exchange program with Cuba’s Escuela Nacional de Ballet in 2015. Also on the program are audience favorites "When All Is Said and Done/German Songs," and last year's premiere "Fly Me To The Moon."  

Matter Dance Company presents “Page Turner: Choose Your Own Adventure” June 2-4 at Stage 773. The audience decides what story is told every night. In this groundbreaking performance, Matter Dance Company combines unique and awe-inspiring dances with a classic choose your own adventure storyline. 

“Openwork” June 3-5 at Links Hall is Synapse Arts’ new performance piece that challenges the distinction between craft and art by magnifying the activity of knitting into a dance. An elaborate landscape is formed by dancers who use their limbs as knitting needles to create floor-to-ceiling textiles. 

Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre continues its Inside/Out series of collaborative music, dance and visual art with Wilfredo Rivera and “American Catracho” June 3rd at the Box Theater.

Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater presents a Music and Dance Concert June 8th at Old Town School of Folk Music. “Flamenco Passion,” June 17-19 at North Shore Center For The Performing Arts, will commemorate the Ensemble’s 40th anniversary. Ensemble Español is Chicago's world class Spanish dance company under the dynamic leadership of Founder and Artistic Director, Dame Libby Komaiko and Associate Artistic Director, Irma Suarez Ruiz. 

Perceptual Motion, Inc. presents “River/Sky/Lake/Clouds June 11th at the Ruth Page Center. Join three women at the sea in the early morning in Lin Shook's "Where the Sky Meets the Sea".  Experience the intersections of energy, Tai Chi, calligraphy, and modern dance in "Ener-Chi".  Roll in the aisles with laughter as 4 feisty women confront stereotypes associated with aging in "Babes in Babushkas". Learn - in just five minutes! - how the universe was created in "Unbiting the Apple". Remember a past love  in "Across Time and Space".  Hear how a jock fell in love with dance in "Dance 101."

SET FREE, June 20th at Links Hall, aspires to increase influence and overlapping appreciation among emerging and experienced artists working within the structures of SET composition and FREE improvisation. The four artists participating in this new series are Peter Carpenter, Lisa Gonzales, Jessica Marasa and Ysaye McKeever.

For details and tickets, go to seechicagodance.com and click on “Upcoming Events.”