“It’s a great match,” Brian Brooks said in a recent interview with SeeChicagoDance, anticipating Miami City Ballet’s premiere of his “One Line Drawn,” co-produced by Chicago’s Harris Theater for Music and Dance. “I’m such a foreign visitor to ballet. It’s amazing,” he reflected, “we take these journeys to get the rug pulled out from under, and then feel “home.”
March has diabolically conspired to taunt Chicago Dance audiences with a choice they simply cannot make! Two of our city’s most dazzling companies—Giordano Dance Chicago and Hubbard Street—perform at the same time on the same dates a mere grand jeté down Michigan Avenue from each other, March 23rd and 24th. What to do when faced with such a dilemma? Follow baseball’s wisdom, of course, and in the famous words of Yogi Berra, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it!” In other words, DON’T CHOOSE! Do whatever it takes and SEE THEM BOTH!
Make your 2018 New Year’s resolution to SEE MORE DANCE! Dance in Chicago is thriving, with exciting seasons on the horizon from our own major resident companies, including Hubbard Street, The Joffrey Ballet, Giordano Dance Chicago, Visceral Dance Chicago, and Deeply Rooted Dance Theater. The Dance Center of Columbia College, The Auditorium Theatre, The Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Harris Theater bring illustrious out-of-town guests, including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Alvin Ailey, American Ballet Theatre, Claire Cunningham and Jess Curtis, and Brian Brooks.
December is Nutcracker month the world over, with Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet leading the annual Nutcracker parade and no fewer than five local productions following, but December also brings a rich array of contemporary dance, tap, belly dance, and mixed media to enliven your holidays.
DECEMBER HIGHLIGHTS:
After a stunning world premiere last year, The Joffrey Ballet’s uniquely Chicago Nutcracker returns for a second season (December 1-30, Auditorium Theatre).
(The following essay continues seechicagodance's ongoing project, "WRITE ON DANCE: OUR READERS WRITE!")
OCTOBER HIGHLIGHTS:
Dance in Chicago revs up for a lively fall season with major companies, smaller ensembles, solo artists, and interdisciplinary projects.
SEPTEMBER HIGHLIGHTS:
AUGUST HIGHLIGHTS:
DANCE FOR LIFE CHICAGO (August 19, 7:30 PM, Auditorium Theatre) is arguably the Chicago dance community’s single most significant event of the year. Unique in its scope, it serves as a model for the arts community throughout the country, uniting the very highest levels of artistic achievement with the very noblest of humanitarian endeavors in its annual showcase of what makes Chicago dance, and Chicago’s dancers, so very special.
ONCE AND ALWAYS A DANCER
The pointe shoes nest on the shelf nearest where I draw my jewelry designs.
They are such a part of the landscape that I don’t notice them most days. Those pointe shoes have always been a part of my life history, just like my Nana’s “magic” perfume bottles.