Feature

“My first ever professional review was of River North Dance Chicago’s performance at the Auditorium Theatre in April 2013,” Lauren Warnecke said in a recent email. “I remember staying up all night, terrified about Sid [Smith]’s noon deadline. I don’t know if he really wanted me to continue on after Dance Month was over, but I kept pitching and he kept saying yes.”

Editor's note: Last March, See Chicago Dance kicked off Screendance Club, a bi-monthly dance film watch party and guided discussion. While I personally haven't been enthusiastic about digital dance, Screendance Club was a perpetual joy throughout the year. The curators each wrote beautiful responses about their experiences with the films they chose, all published here on See Chicago Dance. In addition, SCD writer-at-large Gregory King shares his reflections on the series as a whole in a two-part essay.

Editor's note: Last March, See Chicago Dance kicked off Screendance Club, a bi-monthly dance film watch party and guided discussion. While I personally haven't been enthusiastic about digital dance, Screendance Club was a perpetual joy throughout the year. The curators each wrote beautiful responses about their experiences with the films they chose, all published here on See Chicago Dance. In addition, SCD writer-at-large Gregory King shares his reflections on the series as a whole in a two-part essay. The first part is below. Enjoy!

After 20 years of performing with The Joffrey Ballet, dancer Joanna Wozniak traded in her pointe shoes for a corporate job. She also got married and is living an entirely new life. Her official last day as a ballerina was June 1, 2021, but she’s still adjusting to days filled with data and computers instead of plies and tendus. I spoke with her last month about the transition and what she’s doing now. 

Editor’s note: The 2021 Our Readers Write column is a curated collection of articles and creative writing by various members of the Chicago dance community. We hope to provide our readers with expanded perspectives on both dance writing and the artistic lenses of the contributing authors. Joshua X. Miller’s video “Catching Creativity” and accompanying essay provide a comforting camaraderie around the highs and lows of the artistic process—along with some simple motivations for those of us in that creative slump.  —Jordan Kunkel

I love you, choreographers. Through contemporary dance, you say what cannot be said in words alone. You have the power to bring ideas, feelings and beauty to life in ways that others cannot. Contemporary dance matters; thus, you matter. You are important and worthy of my love because of the potential creativity and cogency that you can manifest on your stages.

I had just started my junior year in college; my first (and only) semester as a resident assistant. I became an RA mostly because they get their own rooms, but I think, in hindsight, I also genuinely wanted to support people. 

When a plane struck the World Trade Center, I was in the computer lab at Barat College, a tiny liberal arts school in Lake Forest, IL. I was checking my email because the dial-up connection was too slow in my room. Another student burst into the lab and told us classes were cancelled because the White House was on fire.

In 1967, Phyllis Wills and fellow teacher Kerry Hubata had been teaching ballet at Gus Giordano’s Evanston studio for three and a half years. When it became clear that the ballet division of the school was not bringing in enough revenue to sustain itself, Gus reluctantly told them, “You’re free to open your own school.” They had no intention of buying the building on Central Street that became the Evanston School of Ballet. All they wanted to do was find a space to rent where they could continue teaching together. Today, some 53 years later, the school continues to thrive.

The new, virulent delta variant of the coronavirus raises many questions, not only about a return to wearing masks, but to larger issues in the dance community around the emotional, physical and social safety needed for excellence in artistic practice. Because of various health factors, some folks in the disability community have yet to take their masks off. On the eve of the return to pre-pandemic life, we are reminded to slow down—to remember those left behind by access barriers.