Joseph Kudra, photo by Jonathan Mackoff

RECOMMENDED

Gustavo Ramirez Sansano said he was interested in how a machismo culture, like that of his native Spain, is obsessed with the image of the free woman when he chose to adapt “Carmen” for Luna Negra Dance Theater. Sansano uses Bizet’s famous, hummable score (sans vocals), placing it to contemporary dance in a way that should make opera aficionados hear the music with new ears. Other lush elements of opera are present, too, reduced to a level of suggestion that supports the abstractions in the choreography without interfering with them. Grayscale costumes by fashion designer David Delfin and ingenious all-white set pieces by Luis Crespo establish scene and character in the midst of Sansano’s, quick, athletic choreography that blends ballet, modern, gestural movements and hints of pasodoble and flamenco. The mise-en-scene is inspired by Picasso, who inserted Carmen into more than 140 of his paintings. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo: Todd Rosenberg

RECOMMENDED

Rare is the artist who can produce thoughtful, rigorously crafted work on a regular timetable. Alejandro Cerrudo has proven to be one of those gifted individuals in his tenure as Hubbard Street’s resident choreographer, turning out movement gems of stunning clarity and beauty year after year. “Little Mortal Jump,” a premiere on this program, is his tenth in three years. Granted, he’s been given a remarkable resource—the Hubbard Street dancers—and has epic plans for their considerable talent this fall…but more on that later. This program also includes reprises of two works that premiered last year: a lovely neoclassical piece by Alonzo King, artistic director of LINES Ballet; and hypercool “Too Beaucoup” by Sharon Eyal, house choreographer for Batsheva Dance Company (performing down the street the same weekend). Read the rest of this entry »

Photo: Gorman Cook Photography

The Giordano spring program includes six works spanning twenty years of repertory, including “Jolt,” a rhythmically playful premiere by Artistic Associate Autumn Eckman and Sherry Zunker’s 1990 “The Man That Got Away.” Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

The new epoch for Melissa Thodos’ company dawned in year nineteen, carried on a beam of critical and audience acclaim for her dance-theater production about the events surrounding the Columbian Exposition of 1893. Add to that a documentary about the piece (which aired last week on PBS) and it’s a gimme that Thodos Dance would reprise “The White City: Chicago’s Columbian Exposition of 1893” for its twentieth birthday bash. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »