Rhythm rocks, whether you’re tapping, stomping, clicking or clacking, strumming or drumming, singing or humming. The exciting interplay between body and instrumental rhythms figures strongly in a variety of dance intensives throughout Chicago this summer.
Knock your socks off with classes all day long or choose a single workshop from a sampler of master classes in Tap, Spanish, Flamenco, Afro-Latin@*, or Indian dance. Kick it up a notch with Hip-Hop en pointe, or find your passion in Body Drumming.
The Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s 24th annual Rhythm World Summer Tap Festival, the oldest and most comprehensive of its kind, kicks off with a brand new three-week intensive, in collaboration with Nicholas Young’s Institute for the Rhythmic Arts (IFTRA), July 7-25, open to pre- and emerging professionals ages 16-24. Young, most recently seen off-Broadway as the lead in Stomp, is a New York-based dancer, musician, and choreographer. CHRP Artistic Director Lane Alexander calls him “a rhythm genius” who has integrated the techniques of three of the world’s greatest tappers--Savion Glover, Luke Cresswell, and Sam Weber--into a unified theory. Young’s vision for the Institute is “a completely original educational structure based on cross training dancers and musicians.” The only program of its kind in the world, classes will run from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM and will include Foot, Hand, and Body Percussion, Choreography, Tap Technique, Tap Combinations, Percussion (instruments provided by CHRP and IFTRA), Music Theory, Music Appreciation, and Lecture/Demonstrations. Core classes will be taught by Young and master percussionists John Angeles and Doug Feig, with Lane Alexander and Jumaane Taylor teaching tap techniques, choreography and Grooves. An additional 2-hour daily residency with Broadway performer Derick Grant is optional July 21-25. Students will also have an opportunity to perform in one of Rhythm World’s JUBA concerts at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Additional Rhythm World intensive residencies will take place July 21-25, taught by Charles Renato from Brazil, and Dianne “Lady Di” Walker. The KIDS Program runs July 28-August 1 and offers intermediate tappers ages 9-12 a full curriculum of technique, improvisation, oral and video histories, and individual style development. The new ADULT Program runs July 28-31 and offers intermediate-level classes and a seminar daily, and after work adult classes July 29-31. The Youth Tap Ensemble Conference will offer junior (age 9-14) and senior (age 15-18) ensemble dancers an opportunity to learn new tap repertory to take home to their respective groups. The complete series of classes, workshops and master classes continue through August 3
An integral part of Ensemble Espanol’s 38th International American Spanish Dance and Music Festival, running June 11-22, are the 57 workshops and master classes to be held at Northeastern Illinois University. The Chicago festival is unique, says Irma Suarez Ruiz, First Dancer of Ensemble Espanol, in that it is the only American festival that offers all three forms of Spanish dance: Classical, Folkloric, and Flamenco. Guest artists and Ensemble Espanol members will teach classes from Friday, June 13th through Thursday, June 19th. Carmela Greco, daughter of famed Spanish dancer Jose Greco, returns, along with Manuel Reyes, Pol Vaquero, and Gala Vivancos from Spain. Live musical accompaniment with guitar, vocals and “cajon” percussion add special excitement to the one-of-a-kind experience, open to students of all ages and levels, from beginner to professional. Participants may opt to watch classes as well for a small fee. “You will leave here amazed and wanting to come back,” says Ruiz of the friendly atmosphere and wide-ranging styles covered in depth.
While ballet is not usually associated with percussive dance, Homer Bryant’s advanced-level pointe students have invented Hip-Hop en pointe. “Do you know that ballet puts you in touch with your mind?” he asks his students at the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center, 47 West Polk, where three summer intensives offer a curriculum of diverse dance forms. The Center boasts alums who have gone on to professional companies such as The Joffrey Ballet Chicago, and Alonso King LINES Ballet.
Body by Bryant Ballet Boot Camp, running from June 23-27, conditions pre-professional students heading into summer programs in Chicago and across the country. The one-week Boot Camp begins with Bryant’s signature 1 1/2-hour floor-barre, followed by a 1 1/2-hour ballet technique class daily.
The six-week Summer Intensive, running from June 30-August 8 and open to 75 students age 9 and up, offers intermediate and advanced-level classes in Ballet, Jazz, Modern, Afro, Hip-Hop, and Pilates from 9-5 daily, with an hour for lunch.
Ballet Summer Camp, for children ages 5-9 runs from June 23-August 15.
Bryant’s floor-barre, a strength- technique- and alignment-building regimen, addresses all aspects of technique lying on the floor, either on the back, stomach, or side. Bryant, former principle dancer of Dance Theater of Harlem, discovered remarkable benefits for dancers while developing these exercises to help his daughter, who had cerebral palsy. “The non-weight-bearing patterns and exercises really pick the body apart...so when you stand up, you’re totally in alignment.” An extra treat this summer will be a week of classes taught by Arthur Mitchell, former New York City Ballet principle and founding director of Dance Theatre of Harlem. In addition, master classes taught by Dance Theater of Harlem alums will run from August 11-15. All students participate in a culminating performance. “The fun is in the discipline,” Bryant says. “It’s what’s going to take you far, whether you go into dance or not.”
The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago's first ever Afro-Latin@* Summer Dance Intensive, running July 7-18, explores the ways Africanist and Latin@ aesthetics influence each other, *(the symbol @ denotes both masculine and feminine forms of the word). Program director and assistant professor Raquel Monroe hopes the intensive will formally usher these styles into the mainstream cannon of technical dance training and performance through classes, performances and theoretical discourse. Classes in Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian, capoeira (Brazilian) Bomba y Plena (Puerto Rican), Salsa (Cuban) and Samba (Brazilian) dance styles will be taught by Dance Center faculty and special guest artists.
Open to students age 17 and up, the first week, focusing on Urban Latin Dance, will be taught by Anna Maria Alvarez, Artistic Director of Contra Tiempo (LA). Trained in Afro-Cuban, Merengue, Cha-Cha-Cha, Hip-Hop, and Modern Dance, the course will explore Cuban-style Salsa and a synthesis of other forms. Other instructors include Victor Alexander, Tosha Alston, Blanca Aviles, Dill Costa, and Joshua Grainger. Classes are open to students for college credit and to the general community.
A free symposium, “Roots and Routes: Afro-Latinidad in Motion,” is open to the public and takes place Monday, July 14, 9 AM-5 PM at Sherwood the Community Music School at Columbia College Chicago, 1312 S. Michigan Ave. The Department of Performance Studies at Northwestern University, AfriCaribe, and Latin Rhythms are co-sponsors. All participants will perform in a culminating program at Latin Rhythms in the West Loop. The intensive also includes a series of performances. (See Calendar listings.)
Students learn much more than Indian dance technique at the Natya Dance Theatre Summer Dance Camp. Indian poetry, languages, culture, and philosophy are important components of instruction for students age six to adult. Technique classes in Bharata Natyam combine with additional instruction in percussion, rhythms of India, the Theory and History of the 3,000-year-old dance form, and story narratives derived from Indian mythology in an integrated curriculum. Also included are a Yoga hour and ballet in the 9 AM-3 PM daily classes. Hema Rajagopalan, Artistic Director of Natya Damce Theater and Associate Director Krithika Rajagopalan will teach classes, along with guest artists from India, including a flutist, percussionist and vocalist. Sherry Moray, Director of The Academy of Dance Arts, and Natya company member Emma Draves help students recognize the similarities and individual strengths that Indian and Western theatrical dance forms share, such as the plie, tendu, and jumps and leaps. Bharata Natyam approaches dance holistically, emphasizing detailed facial expressions and complex hand gestures that connect to the emotional core of the movement. All students participate in a culminating performance.
Lynn Colburn Shapiro, editor