Photo: Jennifer Girard

River North Chicago Dance performs Valentine’s weekend at the Harris; it’s appropriate timing for a show entitled “Love Is…” highlighting passionate partnering work. Artistic Director Frank Chaves spoke with Newcity about two premieres on the program: one from him, one from Mauro Astolfi, Director of Rome-based Spellbound Dance Company.

Your new work, “The Good Goodbyes,” is a collaboration with Chicago Children’s Choir director Josephine Lee.
Josephine and I had worked together in 2006 on my biggest work to date, “Underground Movements.” Josephine is a phenom; we really clicked as creative soul mates. We talked about wanting to work together again. One of my favorite instruments of all time is the piano and that’s her instrument. Read the rest of this entry »

By Sharon Hoyer

A stirring dance show can make a body want to dance right out of the theater, swinging around railings and leaping down stairs. The Seldoms get to do just that as lobbies, stairwells, backstage, balconies, the primo seats and—why not?—the stage too, as every corner of the Harris Theater becomes performance space in “This Is Not A Dance Concert,” their highest-profile site-specific work to date. Dancers (and musicians, led by Tim Daisy) are stationed at different locations throughout the five-story theater. Read the rest of this entry »

Darren Criss (#4) with Team StarKid

With our criteria shifted back to artistic accomplishment in theater, dance, comedy and opera this year, our task got infinitely tougher. Because while the number of performing venues grows at a steady rate, the increase in the number of noteworthy artists seems to grow exponentially. For everyone we name on the list below, we had to leave off five, an embarrassment of riches for Chicago. We made a conscious effort to introduce a meaningful number of new faces to the list this year; the necessary absences should not be construed as a loss of worthiness as a consequence. We often find trends when we do the research these lists require; this year we’re starting to see a more meaningful effort to redefine performance itself in the internet age, from the runaway success of StarKids, to the more calculated endeavors of Silk Road. So what defines a “player”? Consider it some complex stew of career achievement, recent “heat” and, in some cases, rising stardom.

Written by Zach Freeman, Brian Hieggelke, Sharon Hoyer and Dennis Polkow

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Ensemble Espanol Spanish Dance Theatre/Photo: DeanPaul

RECOMMENDED

Bright colors and Latin rhythms come to the fore in this autumn’s Global Rhythms program, with performances by Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater and the Mexican Folkloric Dance Company of Chicago. The latter will be accompanied live by Sones de Mexico during the Sunday performance. Step Afrika! also returns with new pieces exploring the multifaceted world of stepping—the high-energy, rhythmic stomp-clap-and-shout form that came out of African-American fraternities and sororities in the early twentieth century. Read the rest of this entry »

Merce Cunningham

RECOMMENDED

Dance in the twentieth century was redefined by Merce Cunningham. During his immensely prolific, seventy-year career, Cunningham created hundreds of dances and “events” that approached choreography, collaboration and the relationship between movement and music in a way never before seen. He actively choreographed and mentored his company until his death in 2009 at the age of ninety. The Legacy Tour is the company’s farewell performance; the Cunningham Dance Foundation is preparing to close, handing over a massive body of work to a preservation trust established by Cunningham. Read the rest of this entry »

Jessica Wolfram

RECOMMENDED

The centerpiece of River North’s fall program is Daniel Ezralow’s taut, gritty, high-octane “SUPER STRAIGHT is coming down,” a fifteen-minute piece inspired by a series of terse photos by Robert Longo entitled “Men in Cities.” The social pressure cooker of urban existence is given shape by ramrod limbs, whirling partnering and an industrial score by Dutch composer Thom Willems.

Frank Chaves, River North’s Artistic Director, was in the original cast (the piece was first set on Hubbard Street in 1989) and with the help of Sandi Cooksey, another original cast member, set it on his company. Read the rest of this entry »

"Water Stains on the Wall"/ Photo: LIU Chen-hsiang

RECOMMENDED

A slanted stage clad in white is the blank page upon which choreographer Lin Hwai-min draws strokes of remarkable beauty. His brushes: the lithe, razor-thin, flawlessly controlled bodies of the Cloud Gate Theatre dancers. The title comes from a conversation between two Chinese calligraphy masters of the Tang Dynasty—one who takes inspiration from dramatic summer clouds, the other from water stains on the wall. Read the rest of this entry »

Devin Buchanan and Ashley Lauren Smith in “Alloy.” /Photo: Gorman Cook Photography

RECOMMENDED

When commissioned by Nan Giordano to create a new work for her company, Kiesha Lalama took inspiration from the dancers—including some new faces like Devin Buchanan, fresh off performing with Alvin Ailey in New York. Lalama likes to choreograph with the performers in mind, and this piece, entitled “Alegria” (“joy” in Spanish), capitalizes on the individual athletic talents of the ten company members in series of trios and duets. Read the rest of this entry »

Ana Lopez in "Arcangelo"/Photo: Todd Rosenberg

RECOMMENDED

With a world premiere by Twyla Tharp and the cover of the current issue of Dance Magazine, all eyes are on Hubbard Street. And well they should be. The company and its leadership have, season after season, demonstrated an unparalleled balance of versatility, virtuosity and imagination, all presented in an appealing package of audience-friendliness.

This imaginative thinking was at play when artistic director Glenn Edgerton invited Tharp to step away from musical theater and revisit her roots in contemporary choreography—a harkening back to the nineties when some of her most inventive work was first placed on Hubbard Street dancers. The resultant piece, set to keyboard sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, will have the attendant flash of not only the Tharp name, but of brightly patterned costumes from designer Norma Kamali’s fall 2011 collection as well. Read the rest of this entry »

Krithika Rajagopalan/Photo: Amitava Sarkar

RECOMMENDED

Normally Bharata Natyam, a classical Indian dance form, occurs as a solo performance marked by lively facial expressions, precise gestures and rhythmic footwork. Hema Rajagopalan, founder of Natya, puts the form in an epic context in this full-scale theatrical production for twenty dancers. Rajagopalan worked with a handful of collaborators to develop the concept, her first time doing so. “You have to let go of your ego,” Rajagopalan says of the collaborative experience. Read the rest of this entry »