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 Productions
Tapman 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.
Ballet Folklorico de Mexico de Amalia Hernandez returns to Chicago September 26-27 at the Auditorium Theatre. For the past 60 years it has served as a cultural ambassador of Mexico and become an imaginative repository of the country’s multi-layered history and rich anthropology.” Experience the colorful sights and enchanting sounds.
For details and tickets, go to seechicagodance.com and click on “Upcoming Events.”