Sometimes titles say everything, or, at least, a great deal, and such is the case with "¡Mujeres!", or "Women!", the umbrella title for the works on view Saturday when Luna Negra Dance Theater plays the Harris Theater.
The company is focusing its season pretty much on women, and "Mujeres!" in particular boasts works about a trio of very different Latina icons. Two of the pieces are choreographed by women. Michelle Manzanales' "Paloma Querida (Beloved Dove)" is inspired by the great Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Asun Noales, artistic director of Otra Danza in Spain, will premiere "Juana," about the 15th- and 16th-Century queen nicknamed "Juana the Mad."
And artistic director Gustavo Ramirez Sansano is unveiling "Not Everything," inspired by a single print of a work by contemporary Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide.
"We're dedicating our whole season to women," Sansano explained it succinctly.
Queen Juana is a figure more familiar, perhaps, to those educated in Spain, but she's certainly an important historical personage, the first queen regnant to reign over Castile and Aragon, the linkage that formed that country as we know it today. Hers was anything but a princess-ly, fairy-tale existence, however.
"She was married to this beautiful man, Philip, who cheated on her and essentially drove her crazy," Veronica Guadalupe, the Luna Negra veteran who's dancing the role. "When he died, she locked him in a casket, draped the key around her neck and followed his body in a procession all over the country for several weeks.
"She was consumed with him and her memories of him," Guadalupe added. "The people decided they couldn't trust her to run the country, so they locked her in a tower. She was imprisoned by the people she was supposed to rule."
Guadalupe describes Noales' new work as full-throttle. "It's incredibly dramatic, very draining, really, I don't leave the stage for 21 minutes," she noted. "Juana goes mad, and there's a lot of emoting. But there's beautiful dancing, too. In the beginning, for instance, the dancers are rolling on the floor, carrying the dead Philip so that it looks as if his body is floating around the stage" to tell the story of his funeral cortege.
Manzanales' "Paloma," the lone revival on the bill, tells of one of the more fascinating women artists of our time, a woman who not only struggled with pain and infirmity but endured a stormy love life with another great, Diego Rivera, while managing to make an unforgettable mark on painting herself. Like Juana, Frida suffered the indignities of a philandering husband.
"But she's very strong, the opposite of Juana in some ways," said Guadalupe, one of four dancers who play the painter at various stages of her life. "Juana was obviously broken, whereas Frida, even though physically broken by her accident and after suffering polio as a child, never let anybody see the pain she was in, always put on a strong face, which she called her mask."
Sansano, meanwhile, focuses on a tribute to a living woman and her singular use of photography to reveal so much about life today.
"I saw her work in Barcelona, at an exhibit, and it really captures your attention," Sansano said. "From a distance, it's beautiful, but, the closer you get, the more your realize it's dealing with things that are very heavy."
For instance, he notes, what appears a blur of beautiful colors from afar turns out to be women who wear lizards atop their heads--a grotesque image that evokes the Medusa of ancient myth. "But it turns out these women in Mexico sell these lizards as something to eat, they're just making a living," he added. "She is showing you how people really live."
Sansano's work focuses on one painting, an image of a woman caught in mid-leap, as if about to run, carrying a chicken in her hands. "It's less defined in some ways than her other photographs, and I wondered when I first saw it, 'What makes her leap, what makes her run?' So this piece is all about what happens in the few seconds before she decides to go."
Three women, skirting multiple centuries, with profound effects on our lives, reflected in dance: "¡Mujeres!" promises to be thought-provoking and instructive, to say the lease.
Luna Negra performs this concert as part of its gala benefit beginning at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Harris, 205 E. Randolph St. For tickets: 312-334-7777 or harristheaterchicago.org.

August opens with tap and ends with of festival featuring just about everything else, a onetime dead month now vibrant with visitors, local talents, classical stars and avant-garde experimentalists.

The Chicago Human Rhythm Project continues its Rhythm World festivities and its JUBA! award season, began in late July, with performances Aug. 1-6 at various locations, starting Aug. 1 at the Jazz Showcase, followed by a student and faculty informal outing Aug. 2 at the Harold Washington Library and continuing with various tap dancers (some from Canada this year) Aug. 3, 4 and 6 at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Another holdover from July, the revival of "West Side Story" at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, features classic Jerome Robbins choreography staged by Joey McKneely--a rare chance to see the musical with much of Robbins' spectacular vision intact. It plays through Aug. 14.

Also that first week, Chicagoans Emily Lukasewski, MaryAnn McGovern and Amanda Timm join Madison's Kate Corby and New York artist Emily Miller to offer "Fresh Dances," a program of new works, Aug. 5-7 at Links Hall. The following weekend, also at Links, Stephanie Miller presents "Hidden/dig-Push/reveal," Aug. 12-14, in which the audience "will connect with the dancers as they watch them push themselves through physical experiences," physical and mental exhaustion, Marilyn Monroe and nursery rhymes all coming into play.

The classical Indian dance form bharatanatyam is part of an original collaboration between dance artist Anjal Chande and the Aakash Mittal Quartet, presented by the Soham Dance Space Aug. 19-21 at 1012 N. Noble St.

That same weekend, on Aug. 20, one of the season's most jubilant events occurs when Dance for Life, the annual AIDS benefit that brings the Chicago dance community together, celebrates its 20th anniversary at a splendid new home: the Auditorium Theatre. Companies scheduled this year include Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, the Joffrey Ballet, River North Dance Chicago and newcomers Ron De Jesus Dance.

That Monday, the Chicago Dancing Festival returns for its fifth and biggest year so far. On Aug. 22, the fest's gala--and the only one in the otherwise free roster to carry a fee--features Hubbard Street, the Joffrey, the Martha Graham Dance Company and various avant-garde artists at the MCA. "The Moderns" presents Hubbard, River North, the Doug Varone & Dancers troupe, the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and soloist Adam Barruch Aug. 23 at the Harris Theater. A matinee version of the "Moderns" plays at noon Aug. 24 at the Harris, while the evening programs at the MCA includes the Graham troupe, Lucky Plush Productions, various experimental performers and Richard Move as Graham. Eiko & Koma perform outside the museum before the concert. On Aug. 25, Hubbard and the Graham troupe head the line-up at the Auditorium.

An all-day movie fest Aug. 26 at the Chicago Cultural Center includes the great Gene Kelly experiment, "Invitation to the Dance," and, of course, the iconic "The Red Shoes." That night, there's a panel discussion at the MCA.

The grand finale outdoors Aug. 27 includes Paul Taylor's troupe in his classic "Esplanade," a New York City Ballet duo in "Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux," River North, Martha Graham, the Joffrey and Ballet West.

But all that is not the only dance programming that week. The Leopold Group presents a bill of new works called "Dancing" Aug. 26-28 at 1535 N. Dayton St., while Enid Smith offers a dance inspired by a series of Andrew Rauhauser paintings in "iced.coffee" Aug. 26-28 at Links Hall.

Day one, Thursday, at the Dance USA conference (my only day there): I’m redlining on information overload. I attended the opening plenary, featuring Pico Iyer, and the town hall discussion of his talk afterward; a management session for companies with budgets below $750,000 a year; and a seminar on innovations in engaging audiences, presented in a speed-dating format. Then, on to the three-hour showcase of Chicago dance at the MCA. I’ll try to give some sense of what I saw and heard. Readers looking for more links should jump down.

Novelist, travel writer, and essayist Pico Iyer proved an entertaining, self-deprecating storyteller. He explained that he’d been invited to last year’s conference, “Dance Beyond Borders,” but hadn’t been able to make it. His talk was filled with tales of travel and with poetic ideas derived from a lifetime of crossing national, racial, and cultural boundaries (of Indian descent, he was born and raised in England and now has homes in Santa Barbara and Japan). The theme of this conference was “Design It. Dance It. Be the Architect of Your Future,” and Iyer ranged far and wide over the landscape of current trends and ideas in the contemporary world, and to some extent over the role that dance might play. As he said: What do artists have to offer “in an age of 10 million reality shows starring the Kardashians?”

His answer, for dance, was a place of stillness, a sanctuary. He realized during a monastery visit, he told us, that “silence is not the absence of noise but the presence of another energy.” That point and three others were identified by a four-member panel, whose thoughts were encapsulated in four subjects: cultural fusion, the meaning of home, the role of stillness and attention, and what was called “the ‘Sixth Sense’ effect,” meaning that world-wide cultural phenomena (movies, McDonald’s) inevitably take on the ideas and customs of the cultures in which they’re embedded. So no worries about homogenization.

There was a lot more too. We divvied up into some seven or eight groups of 10-20 people apiece and tried to wrestle these ideas into submission. Actually, we were supposed to focus on one --- but as the groups’ comments made clear at the end, most people ranged as far and wide as Iyer. Among the interesting things said: that distances between cultures grow larger when you imagine they don’t exist. Most groups spoke about the idea of stillness, a state that’s at odds, someone remarked, with the necessity of citing effectiveness and expected results to get funding. Others talked about the importance of “keeping aliveness inside stillness” or said that stillness and stimulation needed to work together. My thought was that the idea of sanctuary doesn’t allow for dance that challenges the audience in aesthetic or cultural terms. And it’s just as applicable to other time-based arts, like theater and film, that require silencing your phone and sitting quietly in the dark.

My visit to the council session for companies with budgets of $749,000 or less, moderated by Amelia Rudolph of Project Bandaloop, was probably more eye-opening for me than for other attendees. I spoke with three afterward, whose responses were: it’s good to be reminded of managerial goals, the meeting provided a sense of solidarity (you are not alone), and it was an opportunity to mentor. Subjects discussed in depth were how to handle touring/booking agents; how to manage the relationship between artistic director and company, board, and staff, particularly during transitions; and board development. One subject of interest, not discussed in detail, was the budget-conscious option of sharing staff or using part-timers, though everyone seemed troubled by the consequent lack of employee benefits (with options discussed to some extent). Heather Southwick of Dance USA described its Dancer Health Task Force initiative, which provides free tools on the care and feeding (literally) of your dancers.

The break-out session on engaging audiences (one of four on various subjects) was all too short, hence the speed-dating approach: the nine companies or organizations participating in Dance USA’s Engaging Dance Audiences initiative, each planted at a different table, had 15 minutes to give their spiels to interested parties, who moved from spot to spot. No one had time for more than three, so I’ll talk about the ones I caught. (Don’t ask which I plan to date.) Most but not all of these funded projects were tech-savvy and aimed to build community and audiences --- and several explored the role played by memory in appreciating dance. 

Oberlin Dance Collective’s “I Speak Dance” project, in which ODC partnered with four universities to present dance in the context of courses in philosophy, creative writing, and painting, had three components: a six-minute introductory film; an Immediate Dance experience for the whole campus, in which ODC performers used student movement to create a dance, later posted on YouTube; an Unplugged lec/dem that closed with a meal with students; and a performance at ODC with an option for students to bring a friend for free. Among the interesting findings: despite (or because of?) a 40 percent confusion level, 92 percent of students reported feeling engaged by the dance they saw. As Brenda Way put it: demystifying dance might actually be counterproductive. Other conclusions: the social aspect was key, as was building students’ memories for dance.

The American Dance Festival focused on memory: dancer-scientist and Duke professor Ruth Day created an Audience Memory program, a training tool for people to use pre-performance that also provided useful data on dance perception. You can still see the quiz on the ADF website and get more info; Day says the quiz is customizable for dance companies and that, after viewing just one video excerpt, program users showed improved perception of a second video. 

STREB created SLAM REMOTE, which involved an initial residency (first in Harlem, later in New Jersey), then conjoining a SLAM performance in Brooklyn with a live video feed to and from the remote location, which had its own performers and audience. What STREB learned: it’s important to partner with a presenter that has at least some performing-arts capabilities and experience (like New Jersey’s Crossroads Theatre). The high-tech process and performance are also pricey, with no revenue stream unless remote audiences are charged admission. But 88 percent of remote audiences did report that even the video felt like a live performance.

Long-winded, and I hope useful. All I’ll say about Thursday night’s MCA showcase --- which included site-specific work by Margi Cole and Heather Hartley and, in the theater, pieces by Luna Negra, Julia Rae Antonick and Jonathan Meyer, Molly Shanahan, River North, Lucky Plush, DanceWorks Chicago, the Chicago Moving Company, Hubbard Street, and Muntu --- is that it made me proud of my city’s dancers and choreographers. Great stuff

"Hot, hot, hot," to quote a now all-but-forgotten '80s pop lyric. So it will undoubtedly be in July, time of our steamiest weather, and, in some surprising ways, in the dance world as well.

True, the performance calendar is numerically on the lean side, a testament to hazy, lazy days lolling on lawns like those near the Lincoln Park lagoon. But one of the biggest dance events of the year arrives when Dance/USA's annual conference takes place July 13-16 and brings together dance leaders and professionals from near and far. The theme is "Design It. Dance It. Be the Architect of Your Future," and gifted writer and thinker Pico Iyer delivers a keynote address on the theme of change and the coming decade July 14 at 9:45 a.m. at the conference headquarters, the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, 2233 S. Martin Luther King Dr.

Lectures, symposia and schmoozing are all part of the mix, along with an awards event at the Cultural Center and an opening reception at the Harris Theater. Smartly, two showcases offering a sampling of Chicago's fine talents have been planned, available, alas, only to conference attendees: one July 14 at the Museum of Contemporary Art and a follow-up July 15 at the Dance Center of Columbia College. Cheap it ain't: Registration fees vary for Dance/USA members and non-members, towering as high as $400 and $500 for the whole conference, but student and/or dancer members and non-members can get in for $200 or $250. Day rates from $150-$300 for non-members and $100-$200 for members. For more information, visit danceusa.org.

Meanwhile, back to the regular local calendar. There's an early month lull as we ease away from the Fourth, but that next weekend re-heats, beginning with the pairing of the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center and Cirque du Soleil for an evening of performances July 7 at 1901 W. Madison St. Aerial Dance resumes its new program boasting an "ecologically responsible production from start to finish" July 8 and continues through July 23 at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. Then comes a new and planned-to-be annual fest: the Eye on India Festival offering music, theater, dance and literary events July 8-17 at various locales, including Millennium Park, the Harris, the Art Institute and the Chicago Cultural Center. Dance enthusiasts in particular should take note of Natya Dance Theatre and the Chicago Children's Choir July 8 at the Harris and the Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust outing July 15, also at the Harris. (For tickets and more info: eyeonindia.com.)

Muntu Dance Theatre is offering one of its most varied and promising programs in quite a while, a broad and compelling line-up of work by Reggie Wilson, Ronald K. Brown and Theo Jamison, the latter inspired by Katherine Dunham's "Shango." The program plays July 16 at the Harris.

The month winds up with an annual nod to new work. Melissa Thodos and her Thodos Dance Chicago offer New Dances 2011, July 29-31 at Ruth Page, with dance by guest choreographer Rebecca Lemme and various members of the troupe.

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> ]]> /newsletter/june_newsletter/ /newsletter/june_newsletter/ By Sid Smith

As things quiet down in the downtown arenas, dance activity heats up in the smaller theaters and the neighborhoods, with one brand new innovative festival looming as part of the fun.
The month begins with the return of Molly Shanahan's acclaimed "Sharks Before Drowning" June 2-5 at Northwestern University's Ballroom Studio Theatre of Marjorie Ward Marshall Dance Center, Evanston, one of the choreographer and her Mad Shak troupe's most ambitious accomplishments. On June 6, DanceWorks Chicago presents another "Dance Chance" at the Ruth Page Center for the Performing Arts. Margi Cole and her Dance COLEctive perform works by various company members in a program called "COLEctive Notions" June 3-5 at Links Hall.
And then, for a summer month, things get pretty busy. Zephyr Dance brings "UNMAKING" June 9-11 to the Holstein Park Auditorium, exploring the "unmaking" of movement and space, while Matter Dance presents "The Fabulous Adventures of...," including the classical and the comic, June 9-11 at Stage 773.
That same weekend, a new enterprise arrives in the form of Chicago's first Dance Improvisation Festival, a joint venture involving the Dance Center of Columbia College and Links Hall, on view in various locations June 12-19. Bebe Miller and dance improvisation pioneer Nancy Stark Smith are among the guests; workshops are included as well as performances, which finish up with "They're Mending the Great Forest Highway," directed by Lin Hixson, June 19 at Holstein Park. Other highlights include Miller and others in "Duet with a Piece of String" June 16 at Links and Chris Aiken and Angie Hauser, with multi-media collaborators, in "Utopia Parkway" June 18 at the Dance Center. (For a complete schedule of this promising and exciting event, check out the Links Hall web site: linkshall.org.)
The Moving Architects present their new work "Pluck," along with a film depicting their recent tour through central Asia, in an engagement June 17-19 at the Drucker Center of the Menomonee Club, 1535 N. Dayton St. Ensemble Espagnol Spanish Dance Theater offers a concert of "Flamenco Passion" June 24-26 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie. The ever-enterprising Chicago Tap Theatre unveils the appropriately named "Tap! (ish)"--teaming up the troupe with various non-tap artists, including jazz and contemporary performers--one night only June 25 at the Athenaeum Theatre.
And the one-of-a-kind Jump Rhythm Jazz Project features four premieres in concerts June 25 and 26 at the Josephine Louis Theater of Northwestern University.
Other Links Hall offerings in June, meanwhile, include some omnibus programming: Poonie's Cabaret June 6, "Entropy. Redress" June 10-12, the Encyclopedia Show June 20 and the Chicago Dancemakers Forum Greenhouse Project of works-in-progress June 24-26.

As if in concert with the expected arrival of better weather (at long last), May promises to be both busy and varied, with Chicago's two biggest companies winding down their seasons and some special visitors from out of town heating up the indoor climate.

May arrives mid-weekend, with some ongoing April efforts still on the books: The dance-tinged Cirque Eloise continues its run at the Cadillac Palace, while "The Trials of Busta Keaton," from the Chicago Dance Crash, takes its final bows at the cozy third-floor theater of the Center on Halsted May 1.

DanceWorks Chicago offers a Dance Chance May 2, another exploration of choreographers and their work, this one focusing on Sarah Strackany, Lizzie Leopold (who just joined SeeChicagoDance.com as Program Manager) and Dayton Castleman and held as usual at the Ruth Pager Center for the Arts. Later that week, the Joffrey Ballet launches its "Rising Stars" engagement May 4-15, featuring original works by Edwaard Liang (who gave the troupe "The Age of Innocence" a few years back) and Yuri Possokhov (former Bolshoi Ballet dancer long associated with the San Francisco Ballet) and the company premiere of Julia Adam's "Night," inspired by the work of Marc Chagall.

The Luna Troop, specializing in a wide range of styles, including ballet, jazz, contemporary, hip hop and even bellydancing, performs May 5 and 6 at the Hamlin Park Fieldhouse, 3035 N. Hoyne St. For an eclectic and inviting score, you'd be hard pressed to beat this mix featuring Led Zeppelin, Tom Waits, Patsy Cline, the Kronos Quartet and others used as part of the repertory program of the Innervation Dance Cooperative's "Remastered" May 5-8 at the Thurgood Marshall Middle School, 3900 N. Lawndale Av. Kate Corby & Dancers perform three premieres in "Catch" May 6-8 at Links Hall.

Ballet Chicago's annual spring engagement this year at the Athenaeum Theatre  May 13-15 features a "Balanchine Celebration" and a line-up of (the rarely seen here) "Rubies" from "Jewels" along with "Serenade" and "Who Cares?" NoMi LaMad Dance Inc. tackles some serious topics, from economic woes to sickness and human resilience, in "Defying the Odds," its season closer May 13 and 14 at Ruth Page. That same weekend, the Esoteric Dance Project presents "origins/revealed" May 13-15 at Links Hall.Meanwhile, at noon, May 13, the Harris offers another lunchtime Eat to the Beat, this one boasting the public debut of the Chicago Academy of the Arts' Repertory Dance Company.

And Sunday, May 15, is National Tap Day, and Chicago is hoofing it up in celebration: the Chicago Human Rhythm Project is a presenting a wide array of troupes and performers in "Windy City Rhythms," hosted by Diane "Lady Di" Walker and set for 5 p.m. at the DuSable Museum, 740 E. 56th Pl. And "Once Upon a Tap" features New York's Derick Grant, returning to the Harris Theater and performing with his 11-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son in a family "bed time" story told through dance.

Then, one of the bigger events of this season, or any other, occurs when the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre arrives May 18-22 at the Auditorium Theatre. This last visit while the troupe's under the artistic direction of Judith Jamison includes six Chicago premieres and two works by artistic director designate Robert Battle. That same week, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago finishes its season May 19-22 at the Harris Theater, launching an important new collaboration. The line-up includes the company premiere of "Following the Subtle Current Upstream," a work by Alonzo King, and it begins an ongoing cross-company partnership with King's San Francisco-based LINES Ballet.

Talk about bang vs. a whimper--that should send the month out on a busy note. But that's not all. The marvelous Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, who so wowed us in an earlier visit, returns May 24 to the Harris. Earlier that same day, around noontime, DanceWorks offers another Dance Bytes entry inviting the audience to probe choreographic work via questions and answers, this one exploring Gina Patterson's "My Witness," to Sons of the Never Wrong, its excerpt sharing the performance with Natya Dance Theatre at the Harold Washington Library.
Happy Memorial Day!

Befitting its transition role as a bridge to sunnier temperatures, April promises to be a month exploring work from veterans and newcomers, a bridge spanning a remarkable period in dance.
Trisha Brown and Shirley Mordine will be featured, along with such relative arrivistes as the Chicago Dance Crash and Elements Contemporary Ballet.
But first a bit of news: Two Chicagoans will be among those honored this summer when Dance/USA holds its annual conference here. Choreographer Lar Lubovitch, founder of his own long-standing troupe and co-head of the annual Chicago Dancing Festival, will receive the Dance/USA honor, while activist Pamela Crutchfield will get the Dance/USA Champion Award for her many contributions to the art here in our city. Also, Verdery Roosevelt’s achievements as long-time executive director of Ballet Hispanico,
will recognized with the "Ernie."
But, before all that, the first weekend of April gets under way with the continuation of an offering that opened at the end of March. The Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group continues its presentation of "The Good Dance--dakar/brooklyn" through April 2 at the Dance Center of Columbia College. Also completing its run, Megan Adams' "Held" continues April 1 at Hamlin Park, 3035 N. Hoyne St.
Meanwhile, CORE PROJECT CHICAGO presents "Going Dutch" April 1 and 2 at the Ruth Page Theatre. That same weekend, Venetia Stifler and CDI/Concert Dance, Inc. mark their 30th anniversary with performances April 2 and 3 at the Northeastern University Auditorium on the city's northwest side.
Nana Shineflug and various artists, including Bob Eisen in a return visit and Atalee Judy, now head of BONEdanse Excavation, the new name for her Breakbone Dance Co., ("We needed change, dammit"), team up for "Dance Shelter" April 7 and 8 at Hamlin Park.
The busy month of activities of various stripes at Links Hall includes "then again," featuring works by Dustyn Martinich and Kathryn Burrows, April 8-10. Elements Contemporary Ballet offers a program of works April 9 at the Athenaeum Theatre.
And then, in mid-month, a virtual bonanza. Trisha Brown, the Dance Crash, a very special offering from River North Dance Chicago and a performance by Kalapriya all arrive in the same weekend.
The legendary postmodern innovator Brown and her eponymous troupe play April 15-17 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, offering a selection of works culled from her many years of experimentation and artistry, including performances in the galleries on Saturday afternoon. Serious dance fans won't want to miss this precious treat.
The ever-enterprising Dance Crash offers another original outing, "The Trials of Busta Keaton," blending their contemporary styles with classic movie comedy, April 15-May 1 at the Hoover-Leppen Theatre of the Center on Halsted at Halsted Street and Waveland Avenue. GI Alliance, a jazz company, performs "Along the Way," works set to a variety of scores ranging from Metallica to Adam Lambert, April 15 and 16 at the Ruth Page center.
As part of River North's debut April 16 at the Auditorium Theatre, Frank Chaves premieres "Simply Miles, Simply Us," his tribute to Miles Davis that culminates the Auditorium's festival saluting the Illinois-born jazz legend. Kalapriya presents "The Liquid Network," mixing classical and contemporary Indian dance as part of a whimsical narrative, April 17 and 21 at 320 E. Ohio St.
The inimitable Eifman Ballet, who approach the classic art like no other, returns with its version of "Don Quixote" April 21 and 23 at the Auditorium.
The NU Group, a program featuring works by various Northwestern University alumni, performs April 22 and 23 at 1044 W. Kinzie St. Julia Rhoads, Peter Carpenter, Adam Gauza and Jeff Hancock are on the list.
Last but never least, the month ends with an engagement by one of the backbone's of Chicago's modern dance movement. Mordine & Co. Dance Theater April 29-30 at Ruth Page. Shirley Mordine will premiere "LifeSpeak," created in collaboration with her ensemble, which now includes Atalee Judy, Mindy Meyers, Adriana Durant and Emma Draves, and there will be others works from various artists, including some emerging ones. With that in mind, the program is smartly titled "NEXT 2011."

"In ballroom, with each dance, you're taught to play a certain role," Del Dominguez explains. "In swing, the role is festive, that of a partygoer. That's very different from the rumba, which is a dance of love."
And what about the mambo, which was the lure that drew Dominguez to ballroom nearly a decade ago? "Mambo means conversation with the gods. It's as if, when you dance it, you looked possessed."
Various styles--or roles, as Dominguez regards it--will be on view in "Sabroso," a new work he and his professional partner, Laura Flores, are creating for Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, which will premiere the piece as part of its line-up Friday and Saturday at the Harris Theater. Ballroom, the hit passion on TV for some years now, is whirling its way into the concert dance arena this season in Chicago, and the Giordano premiere looms as the most thorough and ambitious so far.
The company's long affinity with popular forms makes it a natural for the hybridization, though Dominguez notes that the transition isn't simple or instantaneous. "In ballroom, typically, the whole world of the dance usually contains only two people," he notes. "The concert realm adds a whole new and different theatrical element," including, of course, stretches of larger ensemble work.
Dominguez credits Nan Giordano, the troupe's artistic director, with helping to put the two styles together. "In ballroom, with larger groups, we do something called formation dancing, which involves several couples essentially doing the same thing, just with some minor changes," he said. "We showed up with this mindset, but Nan kept explaining how that wasn't exactly appropriate. She kept pushing us to do more."
Dominguez, now 35, born and bred in Chicago, studied and worked in graphic arts originally, discovering ballroom relatively late, at age 26. Drawn to the past time during the social dance club renaissance of the late 1990s, he spent time in New York honing his mambo skills. Now, he competes, and he also teaches at his Mixed Motion Arts studio in Logan Square, where Nan Giordano came to check out his talents after one of the dancers told of her his skills.
The 11-minute "Sabroso" will sample a key handful of ballroom styles: the rumba, mambo, Latin swing, cha-cha and bolero. There are five pieces of music, two instrumental and three with vocals. The translation of the title, by the way, provides a clue to the performance goal: "delicious."
There have been even bigger changes afoot with the Giordano troupe than this novel excursion into ballroom. Following the retirement of Ben Hodge, the group appointed a new executive director, Michael McStraw, who arrived in September.
The eager, cheerful McStraw has straddled two worlds throughout his professional life. After early years as a dancer and a spell as general manager of Mordine & Co., McStraw took various jobs in the pharmaceutical industry to provide the security to raise a family.
Now 54, his child-rearing days behind him, he's returning to his true love, which he pursued while in the business world by dancing and serving on various boards.
"I got an email last year that told me the position was open, and, I thought, I'd be a fool not to apply," he says. As any smart new executive director would, he emphasizes the continuity of the artistic product in a time when he hopes to position the company for an even better future.
"Nan has really secured things from an aesthetic viewpoint, especially with the emphasis on ongoing new work," McStraw said. "We have five premieres on the schedule this season alone, and in a time of tough budgets, that's really impressive. But we want to think further out and build on what we have in the community. We've always had both performance and education as part of the mission. How do we leverage our present community relationships into the future? Our goal remains expanding jazz dance."
With long-range planning an emphasis, the world jazz dance congress has been postponed from its usual schedule and will next take place in 2012, at a location still to be finalized. But tour stops for the troupe--now in its 48th season--these days include locales ranging from Highland Park to Florida and Guatemala, and McStraw's personal exuberance bodes well for the troupe.
"I'm optimistic about the future but realistic about how much work and energy will be required to make it happen," he said. "Every dollar brought in is well earned in this economy."
Performances at the Harris also include "Sanza," a new work from talented Autumn Eckman, and a return of Nan Giordano's "Taal," with live accompaniment by classical Indian vocalist Sheetal Bhagat, fourth runner-up on the Fox network's "MasterChef" last fall. The outing includes an Eat-to-the-Beat noontime performance Friday. Receive 50% off tickets through SeeChicagoDance.com!

February was simply fantastic for Chicago dancegoers, with lots to see, some terrific new works and a wealth of memorable performances. March may well prove much of the same, looming as another spell of plentiful bookings, talented visitors and hard-working local artists promising a bevy of early springtime treats.
A brand new group, TheMASSIVE, run by former Chicago Dance Crasher Kyle Vincent Terry, continues the run of its inaugural show, whose title hints at its content, "But What About Asian Dudes? A Black Man's Quest for Answers." It plays through March 6 at Stage 773, a venue increasingly home for dance, and a nice one. Receive $20 Tickets with code JIVE through SeeChicagoDance&Save! Also at the top of the month, the RE/Group presents "The Lonely Visitors," a dance-theater work on "the musings, trials and desires of the heart," March 3 and 4 at 3035 N. Hoyne St. And the inimitable Jonathan Meyer and Khecari unveil "Y" March 3-5 at Overdier Hall, 1545 W. Morse Av. "Y" is a solo with live music by Christopher Preissing, Part 2 of a three-part series, this one a "deconstruction of an established artist in the mid-stages of his career."
The Northwestern University faculty continue to show off members' works as part of "Danceworks 2011," which began last month and continues March 4-6 on the Evanston campus. Joffrey Ballet academy trainees Francisco Avina and Amy E. Hall present new works during two performances of the Creative Force Spring Showcase March 6 at the Harris Theater.
The bright and innovative folks of Same Planet Different World perform three works March 10-12 at the Dance Center of Columbia College: Joanna Rosenthal's "Grey Noise," inspired by images from film noir; Minnesotan Carl Fink's "HIT," promising lots of body collision; and the troupe's splendid revival of Shapiro & Smith Dances' splendid "To Have and To Hold."
Chicago Tap Theatre, the enterprising ensemble who've tapped at the holidays and in their own graphic novel, will offer "Changes," a sci-fi tap opera, with music by David Bowie, March 11-20 at Stage 773.
Then, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago fulfills a longtime dream with a visit by the great Ohad Naharin to work with the dancers on a new piece. The March 17-20 spring engagement at the Harris also includes a new work created here by Naharin's associates, Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar--the line-up amounts to a mini-Israeli dance festival. Receive 25% off through SeeChicagoDance&Save!
Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago performs its spring line-up, "LiveLife.Dance," March 25 and 26 at the Harris. Rounding out the month, Reggie Wilson and his Brooklyn-based Fist & Heel Performance Group perform "The Good Dance--dakar/brooklyn" (the result of a multi-year exchange involving Congolese choreographer Andreya Ouamba) March 31-April 2 at the Dance Center.

It's about romance, of course, about dance as date-night main event, and a shrewd gimmick to showcase the art in conjunction with a popular holiday.
But for Mark Hackman, artistic director of the Chicago Dance Crash, "Duets for My Valentine"--set for this Saturday at the Park West--is about other, important things, too.
"Since [the Dance Crash] bought the show back in late 2009, I've been extremely happy with it's re-branding and the direction it's going this year," he wrote in an email some time ago. "Last year's performance was such a beautiful example of the kind of 'dance for the people' events that I know a lot of us publicly or secretly strive for."
In an interview this week, he expounded on his "dance for the people" label. "It's a cliche, I know, but one I do like, and we mean it," he said. "This is a concert meant to captivate the average American, the arts loving and the non-arts loving patron. That's why we put it in a venue that serves alcohol and why it's hosted by a comedian [Ralphie Roberts]. We try to include as many different styles of dance as possible to make sure everyone has a good time."
The program was always eclectic and versatile, but Hackman said he and the Crash have worked to make it even more so, bringing in more variety in ways that echo their own omnibus presentations, an approach he readily admits he borrowed from John Schmitz and Dance Chicago.
"When we took over, 'Duets' consisted of mostly modern dance, with a little ballroom and sometimes tap, but that's usually as far as it went," Hackman said. "Because of the way we work and all the friends we've made working in so many styles, we've been able to add urban dance, hip hop and a Capoeira. It's sort of a higher stakes version of what we've done before with our KTF productions."
In some ways, Hackman served less as a curator and more as an ad hoc organizer. He invited some groups he's very familiar with and some he isn't, which is to say he will be as surprised as everyone by some selections. The program's long history also buoyed Hackman to be bold.
"I'd never met Harrison McEldowney, but I tracked him down and asked him to participate, and he said sure," Hackman reported. "One of the nice things about 'Duets' is that dance artists bigger and more famous than myself have heard of it. I don't know if he 's aware of the Dance Crash, but he knows about 'Duets' and he's a fan."
Most of the pieces will be duets, keeping to the Valentine theme, though the Chicago Tap Theatre will provide a quartet that Hackman says is built on two duets. And McEldowney, ever-mischievous, will premiere "Menage a trois," a trio whose title says it all, unseen by Hackman. "He told me it's slightly comical and definitely theatrical," Hackman noted.
Culture Shock Chicago, co-presenting the event, will be on hand with a work yet to be determined, but expect Chris Courtney, who also works with the Crash, and company to deliver fireworks. Other offerings include the a Capoeira team of Biriba and Fraje in "Malandragem." The Crash will perform Lindsay Brenner's "ex-pired," which Hackman says features a ballet woman and acrobatic man, "so right up our alley." Hubbard Street 2 will offer Andrea Miller's "I Can See Myself in Your Pupil," Chicago Tap Theatre's entry is "Angels," Brian Enos will be represented by "One," and the most intriguingly titled troupe, FootworKINGz, who specialize in the brand of hip hop known as footworking, will dance "Classical." "Cascade" from Thodos Dance Chicago is also on the bill, and Elements Ballet will serve up "Curiosity."
The Latin Street Dance Company will offer the salsa piece "Jazz Panther."
Though tickets are still available, there's a good chance the show will sell out at the door, and Hackman says it tends to "break a little better than even.
"But we do it to make new friends, I didn't know Harrison, I didn't know the FootworKINGz folks before, and this is a rare chance for a person to see the whole scope of our dance community in one night," he continued.
And something else. This isn't dance that one member of a couple has to drag his or her partner to--Hackman loves that "Duets for My Valentine" cultivates enthusiasm. He remarked, "Like with 'The Nutcracker,' this is one of those times each year the public really wants to go see dance."

December's early offerings--beginning a month always busy with holiday fare--start off with a film, and not one with any Yuletide theme: Frederick Wiseman's long, ponderous but ultimately revelatory documentary "La Danse: the Paris Opera Ballet," continuing its run through Dec. 2 at the Gene Siskel Film Center. Receive $7 Tickets with code SCD through SeeChicagoDance&Save! This offer is valid in person only.                                                          Live dance heats up quite quickly, however, when Muntu Dance Theatre presents "Dancing in the Spirit," the troupe's fall concert and benefit including new work from Ron K. Brown, on view Dec. 2-5 at the Gary Comer Youth Center, 7200 S. Ingleside Av. Receive 27% off through SeeChicagoDance&Save! That same period also boasts Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak's "Sharks Before Drowning," featuring new ensemble work that's part of the ensemble's "Stamina of Curiosity" series, on view Dec. 2-5 at the Marjorie Ward Marshall Dance Center of Northwestern University in Evanston.                                                                                                                                Be the Groove, those devotees of rhythmic dance and drumming, offer their winter showcase Dec. 3 and 5 at the Drucker Center of the Menomonee Club for Boys & Girls, 1535 N. Dayton St.                                                     And then the month's seasonal star first arrives via the Salt Creek Ballet's version of "The Nutcracker," with two performances Dec. 4 at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora, two more on Dec. 11 at Governors State University in south suburban University Park and again on Dec. 18 and 19 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie.                                                                                                                                                     Of course, that's just a taste of all the decking of dance hall holly. The Joffrey Ballet returns with its "The Nutcracker" Dec. 10-26 at the Auditorium Theatre. For those who like to hear the patter of tapping feet in their holiday, the Chicago Tap Theatre brings back its now annual "Tidings of Tap" Dec. 10-12 at the UIC Theatre, 1044 W. Harrison St. Receive $5 off through SeeChicagoDance&Save!                                                                     But visions of sugar plums keep coming: The Civic Ballet of Chicago performs Ruth Page's "The Nutcracker" Dec. 11 and 12 at the Elgin Community Performing Arts Center, with former Joffrey Ballet great Calvin Kitten returning as the Cavalier, and the Hyde Park School of Dance performs "The Nutcracker" Dec. 11 and 12 at 1131 E. 57th St.
And while we're saying, "Merry Christmas," we can toss in "Feliz Navidad," too. The Ensemble Espanol Spanish Dance Theater performs a holiday outing Dec. 16 at 2701 W. Bryn Mawr Av. Ballet Chicago, meanwhile, offers its "The Nutcracker" Dec. 17-19 at the Athenaeum Theatre, staged by artistic director Daniel Duell and associate artistic director Patricia Blair. And the Moscow Ballet's "Great Russian Nutcracker" plays Dec. 18 at the Rosemont Theatre.
But, all month, for the not so nutty minded, as it were, Links Hall is serving up a tantalizing smorgasbord of non-holiday treats: Tif Bullard, Michael Alaniz Macias and Marissa McKown present an original program of performance, a "mash-up of found complaints, fails, hauls and hype," Dec. 3-5; "Calisthenics for Shrapnel," on hot social topics, arrives Dec. 9-11; Corpo Dance offers a prequel to "Coppelia" called "Coppelius" Dec. 17 and 18; and the annual winter solstice concerts get under way Dec. 22-24.

Call it an October fest, or, at the very least, an autumnal feast. The dance season moves into high gear this month, with important engagements, significant newcomers and topnotch visitors arriving on our scene.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's impressive fall line-up, which actually begins on the last day of September, continues through the first weekend of October at the Harris Theater. The roster through Oct. 3 includes a premiere from L.A.-born and now Canada-based Victor Quijada, injecting hip hop into the Hubbard dancers' vocabularies, along with a pair of new works from resident choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo. Plus, the engagement shows off the company premiere of "Arcangelo," by Nacho Duato, who spent a month here, part of a break from Spain before moving this winter to Russia.

The Other Dance Festival also finishes up Oct. 1 at the Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theatre.
Meanwhile, pushing the fall theme in its very title, Harvest Chicago, a contemporary dance festival, gets under way Oct. 1-3, showing off nearly two dozen troupes and individual choreographers at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. Companies include Same Planet Different World, Treeline Dance Works, Dorcas Roman Dance Theater, ology dance and Elements Contemporary Ballet. Roberta Wong, Becca Lemme and Autumn Eckman are among the individual dance makers on the list.

At Links Hall, to launch the month, they're singing the body electric, and the bodies won't wear fig leaves. Jeremy Bloom mounts selections from Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" sung by an all-nude chorus, with choreography from Nikki Zaleski--Whitman, the great sensualist poet, free-form innovator and groundbreaking 19th-Century American artist, would no doubt be pleased.

Then, in an eagerly anticipated visit, Emily Johnson and her Catalyst Dance troupe arrive Oct. 7-10 at the Dance Center of Columbia College. An extra day has already been added to accommodate ticket demand for Johnson, who began her company in Alaska and now works out of Minneapolis. Some of the fever stems from limited seating: All patrons sit on stage, restricting the audience to only 40 folks at each performance.

Inaside Chicago Dance presents its annual For the Cause benefit Oct. 8-10 at the Nicholas Senn Auditorium, 5900 N. Glenwood Av., sharing proceeds this year with the Center on Halsted. PURE Chicago offers "Midwest Tribal Mafia: The Heist," an assortment of various Midwestern belly dancers, Oct. 9 at 3656 N. Halsted St. That same weekend, Jacques Heim's choreographic and gymnastic melange, Diavolo, returns to our area Oct. 9 at the McAninch Arts Center of the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn.

Mid-month brings the Joffrey Ballet's repertory program celebrating three renowned choreographers affiliated with the New York City Ballet. The program includes George Balanchine's "Stravinsky Violin Concerto" and his intoxicating "Tarantella," Jerome Robbins' "The Concept (or, the Perils of Everybody)" and Christopher Wheeldon's "After the Rain." The troupe's fall engagement plays Oct. 13-24 at the Joffrey home, the Auditorium Theatre.
Whew! We're only halfway through the month.

The Striding Lion Performance Group celebrates its 10th anniversary with "In Pieces," new dance theater works by Annie Beserra and Adriana Durant, to the music of Fluid Minds, Oct. 15-17 at Links Hall. In a critical outing, Luna Negra Dance Theater introduces us to new artistic director Gustavo Ramirez Sansano by way of his world premiere, "Toda una Vida," one of three works on view Oct. 16 at the Harris.

Brought by the combined efforts of the Dance Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Harris, where the concert will occur, the world renowned Japanese butoh troupe Sankai Juku performs its acclaimed full-length work, "Hibiki: Resonance from Far Away," Oct. 20. In a kind of thematic echo, Links Hall hosts Blushing Poppy Productions' "Butoh 50 Years: A New Vision?", exploring the evolution of the art in programs Oct. 23 and 24.

The ever-busy DanceWorks Chicago presents another Dance Bytes installment Oct. 21 at the Harold Washington Library. (They also have another Dance Chance effort slated for earlier in the month, on Oct. 4 at Ruth Page.)
Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago performs its fall outing Oct. 22 and 23 at the Harris, with new works from Karen Mareck Grundy, artistic head of the Missouri Contemporary Ballet, and Autumn Eckman, newly named Giordano artistic associate. Her "Yes...and," by the way, boasts all main company members and Giordano II dancers as well--potentially quite the spectacle.

River North Chicago Dance Company performs Oct. 23 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, previewing its new work by Sidra Bell, choreographed to music by her father, jazz great Dennis Bell. The troupe also performs its family show, "Street Beat: Dance Through the Decades," at the center at 10: a.m. Oct. 22.

Natya Dance Theatre hosts "An Evening with Natya and Friends" Oct. 23 and 24 at the Washington Library.
The month ends with anything but a whimper. The Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba makes its Chicago debut Oct. 28 and 29 at the Auditorium Theatre, while the Dance Center hosts New York choreographer Yasuko Yokoshi in a work turning on cultural identity, "Tyler Tyler," inspired by the Japanese epic "Tale of Heike," Oct. 28-30.
When it comes to dance activity here this month, only the fig leaves, it turns out, are fading.

There is multiple symbolism and meaning in the title of Kalapriya Dance Company's work planned for this Saturday at the Harold Washington Library.

"Tri Dhara," or "Three Streams," definitely evokes the tributaries of a river, winding separately and coming together, at times, as a defining image. But the title also refers to the three distinct styles of Indian dance brought together for this concert: Kathak, Bharata Natyam and Oddissi. And it equally represents the three women, with their very different backgrounds and experiences, who are charged with representing the three styles in the performance.

"I'm an immigrant, and I've here now for 25 years," explains Pranita Jain, Kalapriya's artistic director who'll perform and oversee her company's enactment of Bharata Natyam. "Bhavani Lee, who will perform Kathak, has a background of Hungarian Roma and Jewish, and she was raised on a Hindu ashram in New York. Sonali Mishra is a second generation woman of Indian descent born here in the U.S., but she studied dance in India and performs Oddissi.

"In some sequences, we'll perform together, while at other times, we'll dance separately," Jain continues. "I literally took the image of a river flowing, together at first from the same source, breaking into individual streams, coming together again, then dividing at the delta and finally reuniting at the ocean, which is a return to the source."

The very structure of three styles of dance, performed by three distinct stylists, but somehow forming a mystical unity, signals the richness to be found in this art, one not as familiar to dance enthusiasts as some of our more Western forms, but increasingly on view in Chicago, where Kalapriya is one of a number of troupes that also include Natya Dance Theatre.

When asked to describe the differences between the three styles, Jain noted they also share common elements. "But my dance, Bharata Natyam, has not only narrative elements, but architecture and structure. Oddissi is lyrical and fluid, while Kathak has improvisation. Also, Oddissi has the separation of the body, diving it into parts using the torso separately from the hip and the chest. In my dance, one is not supposed to move the hips or chest, only the torso, whereas Kathak involves a lot of rhythmic footwork and pirouettes. Not ballet pirouettes, but comparable to movements of the whirling Dervishes or Spanish flamenco."
Those references touch on a key aspect of Indian dance history, by the way. "Kathak was infused with Islamic cultural influences coming into the company from areas west of India," Jain notes.

For Westerners, even those schooled in the challenges of a Martha Graham or Merce Cunningham, Indian dance can be puzzling, bedeviling and difficult to understand. I asked Jain to offer some tips for patrons eager to experience it but unsure what exactly to look for.

"Look for the narrative, for there is one, of a river flowing," she said. "And in Indian dance, we are not defined by the space we perform in. It can be 8 feet by 8 feet, but we'd use the same rhythms if dancing instead in a space 20 feet by 20 feet. So it is not looking for large movements through space, but the small intricacies of the art, whether there's a subtle movement of the eye or neck or a simple turning of the fingers or the wrist."
There's also a synergistic quality to all Indian art, linking the various forms together in a kind of unity more typical in the West of art from the Renaissance.

"Indian dance is a complete theater form, mixing dance, drama and rhythm as well as other forms," Jain said. "It's difficult for me to separate dance from theater or music, or even literature or art. It's interdisciplinary. We dance the sculptures from our temples, we tell the stories from our mythologies."

Each of the three women contribute to the choreography. "I conceptualized the program," Jain said, "but we have a meeting ground where we can reflect on each other's discipline, which is exciting."

Any viewers, veterans in the art or not, are welcome. "This isn't by any means just for the experienced in Indian dance," Jain said. "All three of us deeply believe any art aesthetically presented, anything beautiful, goes beyond boundaries and touches the heart, touches everybody."

Upcoming Performance: Kalapriya Dance "Tri Dhara Three Streams"

In some ways, September is almost more a warm-up than the full-blown opening of the 2010-2011 season, leisurely rather than hectic, though certainly flush with some promising and even untypical offerings.

The somewhat small and out-of-the-way leads off when Synapse Art presents new works by Rachel Damon and Lauren Warnecke Sept. 9 and 10 at Hamlin Park. That same weekend, on Sept. 11, Kalapriya Dance performs "Tri Dhara," or "Three Streams," at the Harold Washington Library.

September offers some of our city's more temperate weather, most likely offering a perfect setting for the Dance COLEctive's site-specific outdoor performances at noon Sept. 10 and 11 on the Riverwalk just outside the Bridgehouse Museum, which is located inside the southwest tower of the Michigan Avenue Bridge. In partnership with Friends of the Chicago River (Friends) and the Chicago Park District, the COLEctive will offer a piece that uses the site's history and aspects of the physical location itself.
One of the season's more enterprising annual explorations of the innovative arrives with the Chicago Moving Company's Other Dance Festival Sept. 16-Oct. 1 at Hamlin. Molly Shanahan is one of the participants.

The Lar Lubovitch Dance Company returns Sept. 22 and 23 to the Harris Theater, with two separate programs of old and new works, including some of Lubovitch's signature collaborations with Philip Glass and Steve Reich. Then, one of the more unusual events of the fall arrives Sept. 25 with "1306--Ten Years Later," the Dance Center of Columbia College's all-day anniversary celebration of its decade at its South Loop home at 1306 S. Michigan Av. Festivities begin at 10:30 a.m. when the Midwest Ballet Theatre performs the new work, "Petite Suite," and continues all day, including the Chicago Human Rhythm Project performing at 3 p.m., a variety of artists associated past and present with the Chicago Dancemakers Forum from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. and always wild and wacky Poonie's Cabaret at 10 p.m. The ticket price is one of the great lures: It's free! Happy birthday to a beloved dance venue.

Links Hall's LinkUp fall showcase Sept. 24-26 includes Emma Draves' "Duel With an Orchid" and Lily Emerson's "a/part (like before we ever were, but with no after).

The month ends, spilling over into October, with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's fall engagement at the Harris, including a premiere by acclamed choreographer Victory Quijada, the company premiere of Nacho Duato's "Arcangelo" and Alejandro Cerrudo's "Deep Down Dos" (delayed from earlier this year), joined by his new companion piece, "Blanco."

Young, up-and-coming choreographers are the life blood of dance, and Chicago's increasingly sturdy dance movement suffers no shortage.

Even some of the more important names in recent years--Alejandro Cerrudo, resident choreographer at Hubbard Street Chicago, and Thodos Dance Chicago arrivistes Jessica Miller Tomlinson and Jackie Stewart, both winners of the annual "The A.W.A.R.D. Show"--could still be said to be in the early years of their careers.

Another novice, who graduated from Northwestern University in 2008, is Michigan-bred Jaema Joy Berry, just 24. Her work impressed me greatly with its style and promise when on view a while back at Links Hall, and she's back this weekend with what she says is her most ambitious undertaking so far. "The Way We Danced 'Til Three" plays Aug. 13-15 in the Fasseas White Box Theatre of the Menomonee Club for Boys and Girls at 1535 N. Dayton St.

The title is a lyric from "They Can't Take That Away From Me," a song classic by George and Ira Gershwin, whose music scores the 75-minute piece.

"I've always been a fan of the Gershwin brothers," Berry says. "Even as a kid, those songs were among my favorites. As I got older, what drew me to them is that not only are they standards, but they lend themselves to so many different interpretations. Their writing opens itself up to that."

She's referring both to the many styles of vocals and instrumentals the Gershwins accommodate, but also to the layered meaning embedded in the songs. "They can be sunny, happy and cheery, but they can have a dark tinge, depending on who's performing them," she notes. "There are a lot of emotional connections that don't strictly come from the music itself."

That relates perfectly to the choreographer's task in exploring emotions and themes with ambiguity and complexity. "If you're dealing in dance with modern love and romantic relationships, there are so many ups and downs, so many perspectives to grapple with," Berry says. "The music helps me out choreographically that way."

That pursuit of variability, of subtle differences and distinctions, may be why Berry's piece--somewhat ambitious in using 13 dancers, herself included--features mostly excerpts from Gershwin songs and from a wide variety of interpreters at that. Only two songs are used in their entirety--the familiar classic "Someone to Watch Over Me" and the more obscure "Beginner's Luck," written for the great film classic "Shall We Dance?"--and some of the selections are purely instrumental.

Berry describes her work overall as modern choreography, "with some classical things added." But, given the Gershwins' pop appeal, "The Way We Danced" boasts what could be described as hints of tap. "I did a lot of tap dancing growing up," in Traverse City, she says, where she also trained in ballet and jazz beginning at ages 5 and 8 respectively, adding modern by age 13. "Even at Northwestern, I was elected to run the 'TONIK Tap' student tap company. There's not actual tapping in this piece. It's not allowed at the venue. But it affects how I choreograph different steps rhythmically. There's a little bit of Broadway and jazz sprinkled in, more a flavor in contrast to my modern movements."

Berry may well be a case study in emerging choreographers of our day in that she combines a bit of practicality with her artistic pursuit. She obtained an engineering degree from Northwestern in addition to her dance training and actually worked here as an engineer for Accenture, the global consulting firm, before taking a leave of absence in May. Her field of expertise is a mouthful: "a supply chain analyst for manufacturing and retail companies," is how she puts it. Accenture's willingness to let her take a break to devote time to dance may be something of a signpost of how to pursue the arts in these troubled times. Meanwhile, her engineering background may actually give her a somewhat special vision.

"As a way of thinking and solving problems, and in honing spatial awareness, I do think engineering study is useful to me in my work," she says. "Even musicality is all about numbers.

"I tend to be pretty abstract," she adds of her work overall. "I love storytelling, but it isn't what I tend to do. I always try to have dancers move abstractly, but with a human touch. I want every dancer to let their personality come out. The last thing I'd want is for the work to be robotic."

With the Gershwin brothers at your back, that's probably not a worry.

If you're looking for an SCD review of this Joyce-sponsored contest at the Dance Center, please check back Saturday. My review of the three opening nights, Wednesday through Friday, will be posted the morning of July 31. That night the top vote getters, one from each of the previous evenings, will compete for the $10,000 prize, to be used for the creation of new work.

For more info, including morning-after posts about the winners, go to colum.edu/dancecenter and click on The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010-2011.

Come into the cool.

If the sultry weather's getting to you, an indoor dance concert, where the heat's on the stage, is an enticing respite, and August has plenty to offer.

True, maybe the biggest event of the month, the Chicago Dancing Festival near August's end, winds up with its final performance outdoors at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park.

But, by then, cooler temps should prevail, and there's lots of inside dance to pick from in the meantime.
The month begins when the Chicago Human Rhythm Project's Global Rhythms program turns 20, culminating with concerts Aug. 4, 5 and 7 at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The varying line-ups of tap and other percussive dance include JUBA! award winners Sam Weber and Dianne "Lady Di" Walker, Lane Alexander and BAM!, Jason Samuels Smith, the Jump Rhythm Jazz Project, Chicago Tap Theatre and a host of others.

Next, billed as the Chicago Dance Crash's "first live-action movie," "Qwan Sauce!" plays Aug. 6-15 at the Theatre Building, a story about a kid from the wrong side of the tracks and an aspiring ballerina, its title referring to Dance Crash performer Daniel "Qwan" Gibson, who stars with Becky Hutt.

On Aug. 7, Viva la Danse Orientale hosts Mohamed El Hosseny, one of Egypt's most popular dancers, with other performers in a concert at St. Patrick Performing Arts Center, 5900 W. Belmont Av.

Choreographer Jaema Joy Berry and dancers present "The Way We Danced 'Til Three," set to George and Ira Gershwin, exploring the ups and downs of modern relationships, Aug. 13-15 at the Drucker Center of the Menomonee Club for Boys and Girls, 1535 N. Dayton St.

"Dance for Life," the annual AIDS fundraiser and one of the more eagerly awaited events of the calendar each year, returns Aug. 21 to the Harris Theater. Ensemble Espanol Spanish Dance Theater joins frequent participants Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, the Joffrey Ballet, River North Chicago Dance Company and Thodos Dance Chicago. In a departure from tradition, Harrison McEldowney will craft the original finale in lieu of Randy Duncan.

A new group called Under Construction Dance Project presents a group of works exploring sex and gender in society Aug. 20-22 at Links Hall. Also at Links, the West Indian Folk Dance Company presents several new works Aug. 27-29.

Rounding out the month is one of the newer but increasingly cornerstone events of the year: the free Chicago Dancing Festival Aug. 26-28 at various locations. The multi-star line-up includes the Joffrey Ballet, the Juilliard Ballet, the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, the Mark Morris Dance Group and the New York City Ballet's Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall in Christopher Wheeldon's "Liturgy" indoors Aug. 26 at the Harris. A panel discussion and lecture-demonstration will be held Aug. 27 at the Museum of Contemporary Art. And the grand finale Aug. 28 outdoors at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park includes the Royal Ballet's Leanne Benjamin and Ed Watson in the pas de deux from "Manon," Whelan and Hall in George Balanchine's "Agon," joining dancers from the Joffrey, the Morris troupe, Ailey II, Ballet West and Battleworks' Kanji Segawa performing a piece by Robert Battle, who was recently named to replace Judith Jamison as head of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre.

Summer is the time of year for ease and relaxation, for simpler pleasures like picnics in the park and reading matter no deeper than your typical whodunit.

Against that grain, two decidedly serious dancers are teaming up for what promises to be gutsy, challenging, complex and thought-provoking. The press release describing Julia Rae Antonick and Khecari Dance Theatre artistic director Jonathan Meyer's joint project "Tacit" more than hints at this depth: "a series of parallel and overlapping vignettes which expose unspoken agreements through the exploration of duet dance forms and cultural conventions."

"It's definitely contemporary dance in terms of the movement vocabulary, not jazzy or balletic," Meyer says. "Much of it springs from contact improvisation. My background includes Capoeira, and Julia's includes Indonesian dance."

"For the last couple of years, in working together, we've been interested in following movement generation," Antonick puts it. "We really believe in a lot of dance, a lot of movement, a lot of kinetics. So we've been playing with a lot of raw movement, without a specific theme or topic or concept, which can seem fake." Earlier ventures at collaboration didn't even have names, labeled "Project No. 1," "Project No. 2," etc., instead.

But "Tacit" represents an evolution for the pair, and not just in boasting a genuine title. Even the mechanics of it illuminate the complexity of their approach. The duet is a fundamental construct, but this is not simply a program of duets performed by Meyer and Antonick. In fact, the ensemble here is a quartet. Meyer and Antonick are joined in the performances by Cara Sabin and Marc Macaranas.

"We present mostly different pairings of duets," Meyer says, "though there are some trios and unisons of all four of us. But we're interested in how the duet approach can lend itself to trios and duets. A lot of partnering elsewhere is more image based, more about line or form. Ours is high energy and tends to move upside down and three dimensionally. We're about following lines of momentum."

Unlike their earlier pieces, there are theatrical trappings here. Katrin Schnabl provides costumes that Meyer says "have a morphing quality, they change and shift." Joseph St. Charles is a kind of fifth member of the ensemble as composer-musician, performing at a table whose instruments include drums, kitchen pots, electronic toys, spoons, a nearby radiator and something Meyer describes as "a broken down harpsichord."

The project's title, "Tacit," reveals much about the content. "We found we were working with a lot of unspoken agreements that came out of partner dancing," Antonick explains. "There are all these things you just know as a partner, even with different kinds of partnering, whether contact or tango. There are certain things you do within your role that make the partnership function. We were interested in different situations and social arrangements that also have this unspoken agreement of what we'll do, of how we'll each behave. Of course, it gets into gender stuff, but we're interested in extending it to the theater audience, too. You bring unspoken agreements into the theater with you when you attend, what you agree to see and what you don't. Say there's an exit sign on a wall, and someone puts a blue gel over it. Then everyone's agreeing that it's not there. Here, we agree to be quiet. Here, we clap."

This involves a sly illusion that "Tacit" explores, a specific aspect of our willingness to suspend disbelief. "We're seeking to populate the space with ourselves and give the feel there are more people on stage than there actually are," Antonick says. "We keep appearing in different places to multiply ourselves, in a way, and we bring in the musician and even the stage hands as part of that."

Meyer, who studied gymnastics, draws on that background and capoeira, the Afro-Brazilian movement art, to inject "Tacit" with images well beyond those of traditional modern dance. "In this piece, there are a lot more inversions, a lot more upside-downs than you typically see, a lot more floor work," he says.

But this is not Cirque du Soleil or even a romp of gymnastic fluff.

"Our goal is very much not to be about entertainment dance," he adds. "Hopefully, it will be entertaining as an art experience. But we're very much approaching this as contemporary dance artists."

"Tacit" will be performed at 8:30 p.m. Thursday July 8, Friday July 9 and Saturday July 10 at Overdier Hall in the United Church of Rogers Park, 1545 W. Morse Av. For advance tickets: ww.brownpapertickets.com/event/113173. For more info: khecari.org.

Not all the fireworks are outdoors this month--plenty of sparks of the dance variety continue indoors in mid-summer, with some tantalizing offerings and gutsy choreographers choosing to show off their work in this vacation time of year.

But that doesn't mean to suggest they'll be leisurely, laid back or relaxed. Take Ameba, the acrobatic and aerial troupe, for starters, presenting its gravity-defying "Time Flies: 10 Years of Imagination Taking Flight," July 8-24 at the Ruth Page Center for the Performing Arts. It boasts 16 original works and the talents of 10 choreographers, celebrating, as the title suggests, the troupe's 10 anniversary. Last year, Jonathan Meyer impressed a lot of us with "The Waking Room," a driving, merciless piece that was anything but leisurely or relaxed, and now the Khecari dance troupe's artistic director is back, teaming with independent dance artist Julia Rae Antonick for "Tacit," a series of parallel and overlapping vignettes, July 8-10 at Overdier Hall, 1545 W. Morse Av.

"New Dances 2010," the 10th anniversary of the Thodos' dance company's yearly offering of original choreography, plays July 16-18 at the Dance Center of Columbia College, with works by company dancers and one from guest artists Francisco Avina and Stephanie Martinez Bennitt. That same weekend, Muntu Dance Theatre performs "Cultural Bridges...The Pearl Primus Project" July 17 at the Harris Theater. The varied bill includes the company premieres of two works by the renowned Primus.

A second installment of the appealing competition "The A.W.A.R.D. Show," wherein a different set of choreographers vie each night, with winners chosen partly by audience vote, leading to a final contest involving the three nightly winners, returns July 28-31 to the Dance Center.

Continuing its ongoing series involving collaborations with various artists, Mordine and Company Dance Theater will join with Natya Dance Theatre for a trilogy of works co-created by Shirley Mordine and Natya's Hema Rajagopalan, combining two decidedly distinct dance traditions, July 29-31 at the Storefront Theater, 66 E. Randolph St.

Bustin' out all over? Well, maybe not, but June will be sunny enough for dance fans, with a couple of major premieres from Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and new works from Jessica Tomlinson and, venturing into the tap arena, Eddy Ocampo.

Hubbard starts things off June 3-6 at the Harris Theater, its final engagement of the season unveiling Aszure Barton's (tentatively titled) "Untouched" and Alejandro Cerrudo's "Deep Down Dos," the latter previewed earlier at Hubbard's Symphony Center gig. Receive 25% off through SeeChicagoDance&Save!

Cindy Brandle, in collaboration with the dancers, presents "The Relationship Project," and celebrates her troupe's fifth anniversary, June 3-11 at 3035 N. Hoyne Av. Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre celebrates one of its co-founders with "The Matt Lamb Project" June 4-6 at 1012 N. Noble St. $20 Tickets through SeeChicagoDance&Save!

Rising choreographers Jessica Miller Tomlinson (winner of last year's "The A.W.A.R.D. Show") and Jackie Stewart present works June 4 and 5 at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. A new presentation called "The Jyldo & Mattrick Swayze Variety Hour...and Bathhouse," described as "an evening of dance, burlesque, story-telling and television theme songs," shows up June 4-6 at Links Hall.

And all that is just the very first weekend of the month! Then, that Monday, June 7, DanceWorks Chicago presents another "Dance Chance" choreographers' showcase at the Ruth Page center.

"RESET," contemporary work conceived by Karim Tonsy, performed by the Egyptian Physical Dance Theatre, plays June 10-13 at the Theatre Building. Dmitri Peskov premieres his "Of Fleeting Things," a two-character study he'll perform with Paul Christiano, June 11-13 at Links Hall. $15 tickets through SeeChicagoDance&Save! Also at Links, on June 14, another "collision_theory" outing features musicians Frank Rosaly and Charles Rumback and movement artists Adriana Durant and Zachary Whittenburg, onetime critic for seechicagodance.com.

Ensemble Espanol Spanish Dance Theater presents "The American Spanish Dance Festival: Duende Flamenco Music Concert," featuring guest singers and musicians from Spain, June 17 at the Steinberg Fine Arts Recital Hall of Northeastern Illinois University, 2701 W. Bryn Mawr Av. That same weekend, the Matter Dance Company performs "Step Into the Ring," a sideshow spectacle of "magical, make-believe masquerade," June 17-19 at the Vittum Theatre, 1012 N. Noble St. 25% off through SeeChicagoDance&Save!

Chicago Tap Theatre follows with one of the most ambitious outings of its history, overtaking the Athenaeum Theatre's main stage with "Tap Out Loud" June 19, boasting hand-to-hand combat from Kyle Vincent Terry, the music of Queen played by the Lakeside Pride Freedom Marching Band and the Chicago Red Line Choir and a tap-jazz-modern hybrid work by Ocampo. Receive $5 off through SeeChicagoDance&Save! Two nights later, a different assortment of variety arrives when Poonie's Cabaret features dance, music, contact improvisation, performance art, voguing, drag, burlesque, cheerleading, puppetry and "that which cannot comfortably be defined but can be thoroughly enjoyed" June 21 at Links Hall.
DanceWorks offers another Dance Bytes, blending performance with behind-the-scenes insight, June 22 at the Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State St.

The month winds up with a busy four days. Deeply Rooted Dance Theater kicks off its 15th-anniversary celebration with "I AM DEEPLY ROOTED," a collage of new and classic work, June 24 at the Merle Reskin Theatre, 60 E. Balbo St. Zephyr Dance performs works by Michelle Kranicke and Emily Stein June 24-26 at the Epiphany Episcopal Church, 201 S. Ashland Av.

The American Spanish Dance Festival resumes with "Flamenco Passion," including a variety of premieres, June 25-27 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie. Ensemble Espanol leader Dame Libby Komaiko's "Ecos de Espana," to Rimsky-Korsakov, partly inspired by the paintings of Francisco de Goya, is one work on the bill. And Tim Miller offers an evening of works-in-progress June 25-27, inspired by his residency at Links Hall, where the performances will be held.

May looms as a lighter month in dance, the downtown showcases mostly dark to the art. But then that pleasantly makes room for the more adventurous fare in the neighborhoods.

First, holding over from engagements began in late April, the Joffrey Ballet winds up its program of works, "Eclectica," May 2 at the Auditorium Theatre, Danceworks 2010 concludes that same day at Northwestern University and Kalapriya's "Flights" finishes May 1 at the Harold Washington Library.

As for offerings launching in May, Shirley Mordine and her Mordine & Company Dance Theater continue their collaborative streak with "Next," featuring the premiere of "I Haven't Gone There," involving associate artistic director Bryan Saner, musician Mark Messing and the members of Mucca Pazza, May 7-9 at the Epiphany Episcopal Church, the increasingly important dance space at 201 S. Ashland Av. There will also be new works by Ayako Kato and Archana Kumar.

That same weekend, the Civic Ballet of Chicago and artistic director Delores Long launch a two-week engagement and tribute to the late Larry Long, scheduled May 7-16 at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St. The program features classical works by the Longs, James Holmes' "Swing, Swing, Swing" and Peter Kozak and Teanna Zarro in a pas de deux.

On May 8, "Hip Tease" combines Irish and Scottish folk, heavy metal and Middle Eastern music with "fusion bellydancing" in a show at the Dank Haus German American Cultural Center, 4740 N. Western Av.

One Monday in May is unusually busy: DanceWorks Chicago presents another choreographic exploration via its Dance Chance May 10 at Ruth Page. That same evening, Links Hall hosts another collision_theory enterprise, this time featuring Asimina Chremos, Rachel Damon, Sam Goodman, JulieAnn Grahm and the composer-improvisers TV Pow.

Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak revives her 2007 "My Name is a Blackbird" (Andrew Byrd was one of three collaborative composers) May 13-16 at Epiphany. The Mad Shak engagement continues there May 20-23 with "Stamina of Curiosity: Our Strange Elevations." At Links Hall, Kish Jackson and Baron L. Clay, Jr. are the featured choreographers of "Transitions" May 14-16.

The next weekend is the busiest of the month. Ballet Chicago presents its annual spring outing May 21-23 at the Athenaeum Theatre, with works including George Balanchine's Gershwin tribute, "Who Cares?" and his "Divertimento #15," along with Daniel Duell's "Mono No Aware" and a new work from Ted Seymour. RTG Dance presents "A Wild Patience Has Taken Me This Far," including three new pieces by artistic director Rachel Thorne Germond, inspired by the poetry of Adrienne Rich, May 21-23 at the Drucker Center, 1535 N. Dayton St.
New work is the focus of a program by the Dance COLEctive May 21-23 at Links. Dubbed "COLEctive Notions," it showcases new work by company members Maggie Koller, Jessica Post and Donnette Cannonie.
NoMi LaMad Dance performs "Origin Outcome," with works by Paul Christiano and Nick Pupillo, May 21 and 22 at Ruth Page.

And Duncan Dance Chicago, a new group inspired by the work of Isadora Duncan, performs May 22 at a location to be announced later.

Ballet is the buzz word for April, and a lot more than just a word. Classical dance arrives with a vengeance, with all-star visits, important local outings and smaller, innovative companies happily on point.

But, first, the month starts out with more modern concerns: Hedwig Dances celebrates its 25th anniversary with a new work by Jan Bartoszek and Chicago premieres of works from Susan Marshall and Andrea Miller April 1-3 at the Dance Center of Columbia College. Wow, a quarter of a century--hearty congratulations to all!

That same weekend, the Joel Hall Dancers perform "Here's to Life!" April 2-4 at the Athenaeum Theatre. The engagement boasts works by Hall and a host of choreographers, including Vanessa Truvillion, William Gill, Joel Valentin-Martinez, James Morrow and Paul Sanasardo.

And then, ballet.

Elements Contemporary Ballet, devoted to combining classical technique and contemporary style, present "In This Place" April April 9-17 at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, including new works from artistic director Mike Gosney and the company premiere of a piece by James Gregg of BJM Danse Montreal. That same weekend, the Salt Creek Ballet, an educational and performance force in the suburbs for a quarter of a century, celebrates its 25th anniversary with performances April 10 and 11 at McAninch Arts Center at the College of DuPage. The potpourri of offerings include guest artists Maria Mosina and Igor Vassine from Colorado Ballet in Act II of "Swan Lake," and, a rare treat, a pas de deux from Yuri Grigorovich's "The Golden Age."

Another installment of DanceWorks Chicago's Dance Chance offerings arrives April 12 at the Ruth Page center, this time featuring work by Lori Crosthwait, Autumn Eckman and Jason Anthony. Among the offerings at Links Hall this month are another "collision_theory" outing April 12 and Against the Grain Project's "Three" April 16-18.

One of the bigger dance events of the season arrives with American Ballet Theatre's April 14-18 engagement at the Civic Opera House, with an opening night boast three great works from Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp and Paul Taylor, followed by a gaggle of "Swan Lake" outings offering Chicagoans a look at such veterans as Gillian Murphy, Julie Kent, Ethan Stiefel and Jose Manuel Carreno along with such rising hot shots as Cory Stearns.

The last 10 days of April are busy ones. Northwestern University's School of Communication hosts "Danceworks 2010," with works by faculty members and guest artists, April 23-May 2 in Evanston. Inaside Chicago Dance takes some big leaps, pun intended, when it takes over the mainstage of the Athenaeum Theatre April 24. It's a night for a trip to the near suburbs: Samara and the Baladina Dance Company perform the Middle Eastern-influenced "Bint el Balad" April 24 at the Village Players Theater in Oak Park.

In that very same exurb, one day later, Winifred Haun & Dancers will fete the start of International Dance Week with free activities from 1 to 4 p.m. including two dance workshops and a mini-performance, all at Oak Park's Cheney Mansion, frequent showplace for the company.

Last but hardly least, the month ends and rolls into May with the Joffrey Ballet's spring outing April 28-May 9 at the Auditorium Theatre in "Eclectica," featuring premieres by James Kudelka and Jessica Lang and a revival of Gerald Arpino's "Reflections."

March looms as a busy month, teeming with dance punch and variety, promising a wide sweep of styles and a healthy mix of noteworthy visitors and enterprising local projects.

First off, the New York-based Troika Ranch visits March 4-6, bringing "loopdiver," just finished after a two-year development, using motion capture and co-founder Mark Coniglio's Isadora software for a work combining movement and multimedia. The latter includes interwoven loops of pre-recorded movement, text and digital effects. It's part of the Dance Center's mini-series this season exploring dance, science and technology.

The following weekend is a busy one, a cornucopia of dance styles all by itself. Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago presents a retrospective March 12 and 13 at the Harris Theater, reviving some of its best works, including Ron DeJesus' "Prey," Davis Robertson's "Entropy" and Christopher Huggins' "Pyrokinesis." The Seldoms embark on perhaps the most important local outing for the troupe so far, a collaboration by artistic director Carrie Hanson and visual artist Fraser Taylor called "Marchland," showcased March 12-14 at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
The Core Project and Jayson Tisa Dance Company perform "TR[I]BES," a program uniting a diverse group of contemporary dance and movement artists, March 12 and 13 at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. Meanwhile, one of the more long-reigning and popular ethnic folk ensembles, Ballet Folklorico de Mexico de Amalia Hernandez, returns March 13 and 14 to the Auditorium Theatre.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago offers its spring line-up March 18-21 at the Harris, featuring the company premiere of Jiri Kylian's "27 ' 52"," newly named artistic associate Terence Marling's premiere entitled "At'em (Atem) Adam," resident choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo's "First Light" (for Hubbard Street 2) and a revival of Susan Marshall's ever-popular "Kiss."

The Tchaikovsky Ballet Theatre visits the Paramount Theatre in Aurora March 18 with a varied program including selections from "Swan Lake," "The Nutcracker" and "The Sleeping Beauty." Two days later, the troupe plays downtown March 20 and 21 at the Auditorium, presenting its version of the stellar full-length "The Sleeping Beauty," a rare chance to see one of the art's most challenging works.

Britain's Wayne McGregor and Random Dance visit the Dance Center March 18-20 with "Entity," a full-evening work based on months of research with various experts on psychology, cognitive science, linguistics, neurosciences and robotics. Thodos Dance Chicago performs a program including its "Fosse Trilogy" March 19 at the McAninch Arts Center of the College of Dupage in Glen Ellyn.
And no excuses to miss this one: The Chicago Dance Crash presents "The Prodigy Series" for a nice long run March 19-27 at the Ruth Page center. The series is aptly named, teaming up the Dance Crash with a different up-and-coming Chicago troupe each night.
The Chicago Tap Theatre returns with a novel program, "LoveTaps," its first tap-story show in which the audience helps determine the outcome, selecting which characters will wind up in pairs, leading to a different show each night. The production runs March 19-28 at the Theatre Building.

Links Hall plans a full month of activities, including a "collision_theory" entry called "Spooky Action" March 8, three weekends of performances on "Dirt: Land/Use" March 5-21 and a "Vernal Equinox Celebration" with Shu Shubat, Ollie Seay and others March 19-21.
One of the most eagerly anticipated visits of the annual dance calendar occurs March 24-28 when the Alvin Ailey Amercan Dance Theater visits the Auditorium, marking Judith Jamison's 20th year as artistic director. The varied programs, each featuring Ailey's classic "Revelations," also includes on Saturday a retrospective entitled "Best of 20 Years."

And Luna Negra Dance Theater marks the year of Mexico March 27 at the Harris with a program celebrating that country's cultural richness, with works including Eduardo Vilaro's "Quinceanera," Edgar Zendejas' "Plight," and the world premiere of Michelle Manzanales' "Frida!"

Talk about valentines. The weather may stay frightful, but February offers more than 15 dance attractions, and that's just a warm-up before the spring onslaught arrives in March and April.

The shortest month will prove to be a tall order for anyone trying to see it all, including bigtime classics (the Joffrey Ballet's "Cinderella"), important returns (the Akram Khan Company at the Museum of Contemporary Art), alluring experiments (Koosil-ja/danceKUMIKO at the Dance Center of Columbia College) and the highly original (DanceWorks Chicago's "Dance Bytes.")

The Dance Center hosts Koosil-ja Feb. 4-6, launching a brief series on science, technology and dance--about as timely as a series can get, when you consider all the rapid techno changes of our time. Koosil-ja, despite its exotic name, is actually New York City-based, brainchild of dancer-choreographer Koosil-ja Hwang, whose "Blocks of Continuality/Body, Image, and Algorithm"--a high-tech mouthful in its title alone--uses dance and live camera work to tell three stories "simulating the coexistence of the digital and flesh worlds."

Links Hall, the dance venue that never sleeps, offers its first engagement of the month, "Triptych Tongues," with work by Lisa Biggs, Misty DeBerry and Ni'Ja Whitson Feb. 5-7, with "Rates of Reaction," a collision_theory improvisation, led by Lisa Gonzales, Feb. 8.

Less than a week later, River North Chicago Dance Company returns Feb. 12 and 13 to the Harris Theater for its annual Valentine's Day-timed visit, unveiling new works by two terrific American choreographers. Robert Battle, who gave the troupe its runaway hit, "Train," is creating "Three," a trio, while Lauri Stallings, former Hubbard Street Dance Chicago dancer and now fulltime choreographer and creator of River North's "ahimsa," will provide a new work entitled "Suppose." 50% off through SeeChicagoDance&Save!

A lot of guys out there would be wise to surprise their partners with dance tickets, and River North's not the only weekend treat. Touting the promise of "less culture, more romance," the feisty Chicago Dance Crash takes over "Duets for My Valentine" Feb. 13 at the Park West. $22 Tickets with code MYLOVE through SeeChicagoDance&Save!

And for the more participatory inclined, Ballroom Dance Chicago is offering lessons in Latin and other romantic ballroom dances, along with food and drink, Feb. 13 at 4043 N. Ravenswood Av., Suite 105.

That takes us midway through the month, but through less than a third of the offerings. The second half of February sizzles. Spectacularly, the Joffrey revives "Cinderella," its masterful mounting of Frederick Ashton's scrumptious, loving and utterly delightful classic, replete with fine ballet and two stepsisters hilariously en travesti. The work plays Feb. 17-28 at the Auditorium Theatre and is not to be missed.

DanceWorks Chicago plans two outings this month. Its "Dance Bytes," designed to provide behind-the-scenes insights and reveal aspects of the artistic journey, arrives Feb. 17 at the Harold Washington Library, a free event, while the "Eat to the Beat" venture returns Feb. 23 to the Harris, a program that has invited a variety of sound artists and musicians to work up an accompaniment for Alex Ketley's "If Ever (an Ocean) Relinquished," available for viewing on line beforehand, for a score to be unveiled at the lunchtime performance.

The sparkling and one-of-a-kind ensemble, Jump Rhythm Jazz Project, performers unique for their scat-like onstage accompaniment and jazzy sound effects, is celebrating its 20th-anniversary season and playing a gig Feb. 18-20 at the Dance Center. Founder/artistic head Billy Siegenfeld will provide two premieres, "You Do Not Have to Be Good" and "Why Gershwin?" The latter inimitably includes not just words and music from the great Gershwin brothers, but James Brown strains as well. Why not Gershwin and Brown?

The Dance Crash is back Feb. 19 with its Keeper of the Floor Championship improvisational showdown, entering its fourth year and on view at the Lakeshore Theatre. This "KTF XVIII" installment is slugged "Bootleg Battle Royale."

The acclaimed Kalapriya Dance troupe of classical Indian work presents "Rasa: Heart and Soul" Feb. 19 and 26 at the Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theatre at 3035 N. Hoyne St. In what's shaping up to be a busy and fruitful weekend, Winifred Haun revives her well-received full-length, "Promise," inspired by John Steinbeck's "East of Eden," Feb. 20 and 21 at the Cheney Mansion in Oak Park, performed by her Winifred Haun & Dancers.

The Najwa Dance Corps, devoted to the many eras and styles of African-American dance, presents a concert including "Dance-A-Licious" and the popular "Fire Dance Ritual" Feb. 20 at the Bruce K. Hayden Center for the Performing Arts of Malcolm X College, 1900 W. Van Buren St.

Meanwhile, the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, which wowed so many of us awhile back at the Harris, returns to our area for a concert Feb. 21 at the McAninch Arts Center of the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. 25% off through SeeChicagoDance&Save!

That same night, Ailey II, the second company of the renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, makes a stop at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora. 25% off with code CHIDANCE through SeeChicagoDance&Save!

February fades with one of the most anticipated events of the year, the return of the phenomenal Akram Khan and company Feb. 26-28 to the MCA. This time, the troupe presents "bahok," named for the Bengali word for carrier, a piece about the way "the body carries national identity and a sense of belonging." If they have any of the fire of their last visit, this one's required viewing.

Also, celebrating its 70th anniversary, the South Side Community Art Center presents the Columbia City Ballet in William Starrett's "Off the Wall & Onto the Stage: Dancing the Art of Jonathan Green," a work that translates 22 paintings by Green to the concert world of dance, music and fine art, all the while telling a story of the Gullah culture of African-Americans hailing from the low country of South Carolina, Georgia and the Sea Islands. The production plays Feb. 27 at the Harris.

"Dancers are my people," Terence Marling says, bluntly and persuasively. "They're who I've been surrounded by since I was a kid. They're who I feel most comfortable with. I hope that I'm open and honest and that that's what it takes. I do see amazing work going on around me right now, and my intention at least is to get the best dance on stage here in Chicago that we possibly can."

Since joining Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in 2006, Marling has very much been a factor in the best dance in the city. His smooth, suave style and noteworthy athletic ability made for fiery solo moments, while he was also a sensitive, supporting partner, whether more typically matched with a woman, a la Penny Saunders in Lar Lubovitch's "Cryptoglyph," or with Kevin Shannon, for whom he provided a combative foil in Doug Varone's "The Constant Shift of Pulse." Blessed with matinee-idol looks and a build more typical of a halfback, Marling has been one of the more charismatic talents of the last four years.

But Marling gave what may well be a farewell performance in December, and this month he assumed new duties as Hubbard artistic associate and rehearsal director. Though a tad young to retire--he turns 34 this week--Marling, who has been studying dance or dancing for the past 28 years, is ready for new frontiers.

"I didn't want to show any decline on stage, I didn't want to feel bad or that my work was suffering," he says. "And that's inevitable. There's a constant wearing out as you age. And I'd done an incredible amount of performing. There comes a point where you realize you've got a lot of information to share. I want to give back."

Marling will be heading straight into the choreographic headwinds right away. A veteran of Hubbard's "Inside/Out" and other choreographic programs, he'll unveil "At'em (Atem) Adam" in a preview this Saturday when Hubbard performs at Governors State University in south suburban University Park. The piece will get its official premiere at Hubbard's next Harris Theater engagement in March.

"The music is all over the place," he says of the score that includes Billie Holiday, Edgar Meyer, Luciano Berio, Ella Fitzgerald and Moon Dog. "Up and at'em is a common phrase, but, until I was 32, I always heard the phrase as 'Up and Adam," he adds by way of explaining the work's triple homonym title. Atem is a German term for "breath," in part reflecting several years he spent dancing in that country.

"You take a breath when you say it, and I guess part of what I want the piece to feel like is that pleasure of an exhale, of a relief. I'm trying to give the dancers a lot of freedom, to keep it an enjoyable experience. So much dance has become hard, heavy and dark. This piece has a dark edge, but it's not particularly heavy."

Marling grew up in the Chicago area, his time split between the city and Wilmette. His mother, an avid dancer herself, urged his older brother to take class, but it was Marling, at age 6, who took to the art and never left. He credits the late Larry Long as one of a number of crucial Chicago teachers. At 18, he joined the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, where he danced roles in "Don Quixote" and Glen Tetley's "Le Sacre du Printemps," but he's unusually frank on the limitations he felt made him a better fit with modern dance.

"Classical dance is increasingly about extremes, extremes of line and turnout and arch," he says. "Some bodies just can't do it all, and I have limited rotation and limited arches. I'd look in the mirror and think, 'I just can't do that to perfection.'" While with Pittsburgh, Marling met his wife, Lauren Schultz, a dancer who has since retired and now works for the Art Institute of Chicago.

In 2003, Marling went to Germany to work with Kevin O'Day and Dominique Dumais and the Nationaltheater Mannheim.
"But one place I always considered I'd end up is here at Hubbard," he says. "Because of the repertoire and the amount of creativity that goes into it."

He's joining the administration at a tricky time. Jim Vincent, who hired him, is gone, taking such lights as Jamy Meek and Shannon Alvis with him, while Glenn Edgerton is just beginning his stint as new artistic director. Budget issues have reduced the troupe's size this season to only 16, down from a high of more than 20. Marling, not surprisingly, sees challenges fraught with possibility, opportunity and excitement.

"Everyone is pulling their weight, everyone is picking up more work, like you have to do in a tough economy," he says. "We're working on something like 10 pieces in February. Sure, I'd love to have more dancers, but we're all pushing as hard as we can to move forward, and, while our numbers are low at the moment, hopefully, we'll fix that."

Dance slows a bit in January, but by no means goes into complete hibernation. In a way, the month is the inverse of December, off to a slow, holiday-hangover start, and then picking up steam as we near a busier winter onslaught.

The first entry is a big one: the Moscow Festival Ballet performing the great classic "The Sleeping Beauty" Jan. 10 at the McAninch Arts Center of the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. Though this production is unseen, the work itself is maybe the most demanding and artistically comlex of the grand full-lengths, worth the schlep, if you're a city dweller, and convenient fun for the DuPage County set weary of traveling downtown for world-class ballet.

The next event isn't technically dance, but it's pretty intriguing and likely to be loads of fun. The relatively new danceOUT cultural discussion programs at the Center on Halsted continue Jan. 14 with a session on the Joffrey Ballet's upcoming "Cinderella" and the tradition of male performers portraying the wicked stepsisters--en travesti in the lingo of the art, in drag in the popular vernacular. Zachary Whittenburg, critic and former seechicagodance.com contributor, moderates.

Never to be deterred by a spell of arctic weather, Links Hall resumes programming mid-month with "Portraits Triptych," works from RE | Dance, a group spearheaded by Lucy Riner and Michael Estanich. The three works on this bill -- intriguingly titled "a portrait, unpacked," "Abbot & Viv" and "The Mysterious Disappearance of the Second Youngest Sister" -- all deal with relationships and employ theatrical imagery and costumes. The program plays Jan. 15-17. Later, Links Hall hosts "red noses, you and I...and all the others," Paola Coletto's exploration of clowning and physical theater, playing Jan. 29-31.

It's an understatement to say that the Cloud Gate Theatre of Taiwan impressed viewers during its last visit, so anticipation is high regarding the troupe's return Jan. 22 and 23 to the Harris Theater. The program consists of "Moon Water," blending Eastern and Western disciplines and music, full of unusual imagery, judging from advance reports.

That same weekend, you can get a preview of dancer-turned-artistic associate Terence Marling's new piece for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, when the troupe plays Jan. 23 at the Center for Performing Arts at Governors State University in south suburban University Park. The engaging program also features Jiri Kylian's "27' 52"" and Johan Inger's impishly puzzling "Walking Mad."

The silly but agile satirists of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo's -- talk about en travesti -- return Jan. 27 to the Harris Theater, the funniest troupe in the world and one of the best disciplined. The invented, malaprop-tinged Russian names and bios in the program are worth the price of admission all by themselves. Typical Trock works send up the looks and styles of such greats as George Balanchine, but it’s the overall strength, precision and speed of these guys on point that’s the true achievement.

The first month of this new decade comes to a close with a Chicago original, the Dance COLEctive and its Jan. 28-30 engagement at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. The line-up includes two world premieres from Margi Cole and a reconstruction of Shirley Mordine’s "Three Women."

CHICAGO –  Executive Produced by Melissa Sage Fadim and Produced and Directed by Emmy Award-winning producer Terry Spencer Hesser, "Raising the Barre: The Homer Bryant Story" is a 30-minute documentary film that follows Chicago ballet master Homer Hans Bryant's career with a special focus on the school he built and has operated since 1990, the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center (CMDC).  The film will be publicly premiered on WTTW-TV Channel 11 in Chicago Thursday, December 17 at 10 p.m.

Homer Hans Bryant is a former principal dancer with the renowned Dance Theatre of Harlem where he also served as director of the Workshop Ensemble. His professional performing credits include "Timbuktu" with Eartha Kitt and "The Wiz" with Michael Jackson and Diana Ross. He has been a guest teacher and trainer for United States ice dance medalists and Olympic contenders Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov, Canada's mesmerizing Cirque Du Soleil, and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. He is the recipient of the Chicago Cultural Alliance's 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award, was recognized nationally in the Who's Who in Dance Heritage Registry and was most recently honored at the 2009 Illinois Arts Alliance Award. Mr. Bryant is the founder and artistic director of the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center, located in Chicago's South Loop in historic Dearborn Station.  He also currently serves as assistant artistic director for Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago and a ballet master for the Giordano Junior Youth Performing Groups.  Known as a strict disciplinarian, his slogan "The Fun is in the Discipline, The Discipline is in the Fun" has established Mr. Bryant as one of the most respected teachers in the country.

Terry Spencer Hesser is a published novelist and biographer, produced playwright, award-winning screenwriter, multiple-Emmy award-winning scriptwriter, and has worked with people as diverse as Audrey Hepburn, Oprah Winfrey, and R. Kelly. Her screenplay "Till Death Do Us Part" won first place in the Christopher Columbus writing competition and was developed by New Line Cinema. Her first novel, “Kissing Doorknobs,” was an American Library Association top ten pick and has been translated into four languages. Her work on "Protect Yourself," a national one hour special teaching inner city fifth graders about AIDS, won the PBS Gold-Award.  Ms. Hesser is currently producing a series with Melissa Sage Fadim on "Islands Without Cars," which features places out of time and portals into the past brimming with stories about life that have little to do with the modern world.

Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center (CMDC) has been serving Chicago's African-American and broader communities with ballet performance and dance instruction since 1990 under the leadership of its Founder and Artistic Director Homer Hans Bryant.  Mr. Bryant has sought to reach out to underserved children in Chicago so that young people of all races and socio-economic backgrounds would have a "chance to dance."  Mr. Bryant’s rigorous and disciplined training style has launched professional careers that have broken new ground for African-Americans in ballet. In addition to careers in dance, CMDC alums have attended prestigious universities such as Northwestern, Wellesley, Syracuse, New York University, and the University of Chicago, and have pursued careers as diverse as medicine, law and broadcast communications.  CMDC strives to make its year-round training programs available to dancers from all of Chicago's neighborhoods, particularly those from underserved communities.  CMDC is located in historic Dearborn Station, 47 W. Polk St. For more information visit www.cmdcschool.com.

Just like people, ballet productions age and tatter with time, sets and costumes acquiring a dated feel, aesthetic taste evolving, however slightly. So how do you keep a 22-year-old production of "The Nutcracker" fresh?

Ashley Wheater, artistic director of the Joffrey Ballet, in charge of the celebrated 1987 mounting by the late Robert Joffrey, has a fairly straightforward answer: You go back as much as possible to the work's original intent and execution.

The Joffrey's exquisite, exhilarating and beautiful version plays Dec. 11-27 at the Auditorium Theatre.

"What happens to any production over 22 years is that things just change," he says of the tiny alterations that creep into any production over that long a period. "It's not even a matter of right or wrong." More a case of time passing, personnel shifting, revisions here and there slipping in almost unnoticed. "Robert Joffrey spent so much time making sure the right child got the right toy in the family scene," Wheater says by way of an example of Joffrey's meticulous care with "Nutcracker," his last production. "He agonized over every nuance and about the logical flow of the story overall. As much as possible, we've tried to get back to his original intentions."

Wheater is in a great position to know: He was still dancing with the troupe when it unveiled "Nutcracker" in Iowa. Additionally, the company retains an unusual collection of videotape recordings in this particular instance--Joffrey was already suffering from the illness that would soon take his life, and he supervised some of the work from home.

"We filmed everything, and when he couldn't make rehearsal, tapes of the work in progress were sent home to him to look over," Wheater recalls. "He'd look over how things were and then make changes, so that gives us an unusual record of the process, more so than you typically find with ballet productions."

One important aspect that slipped over the years is Joffrey's motif of multiple casting. The handful of roles that most of the lead dancers play isn't just by chance. Joffrey saw a continuum in such roles as Fritz, the Snow Prince and Tea from China, for example. A long ago as last year, Wheater worked to restore that conceit, one reminiscent of the way some actors in the movie "The Wizard of Oz" play both real people and telling characters in the fantasy land. Joffrey saw the fairyland elements of the story as components in some ways of Clara's dream life.

"Just about everyone at her family's party return in some transformed way," Wheater notes. Some other restorations are more technical. Wheater recalled that the rising of the Christmas tree--a critical dramatic moment in any "Nutcracker" production--should occur while most of the scenery for the house remains intact. In other words, the growing of the tree itself is what knocks away the walls and introduces the world of make believe. That had gotten muddied. Also, Wheater credits ballet master Willy Shives with polishing Gerald Arpino's lyrical snow scene. "He restored some of the subtler patterns that had changed over time," Wheater says.

One set of changes that is irreversible, of course, is that of the cast. Dancers like Wheater from the original 22 years ago have since retired. This year's "Nutcracker" will show off both new and rising talents in the company, beginning with Miguel Blanco, the handsome, striking newcomer from Cuba, who will partner with Victoria Jaiani as the star couple at some productions.

Though proud, of course, of all his dancers, Wheater also cites Valerie Robin, Fabrice Calmels, Kara Zimmerman, Megan Quiroz, Temur Suluashvili and John Mark Giragosian among dancers to watch. Mauro Villanueva, an increasingly silky acrobat, will dance at some performances with another newcomer, Yumelia Garcia, originally from Venezuela. And, in a bittersweet dollop, the great Calvin Kitten, retiring at the end of this season, will dance his last outings in the Fritz-Snow Prince-Tea from China assortment, scheduled to do so at both Friday's opening and the finale of this engagement Dec. 27.

Some time ago, the Joffrey announced plans to some day mount another, newer "Nutcracker," originally hoping to do so by 2011, though last year's financial crisis now makes that unrealistic. Wheater and the troupe are contemplating a version by a contemporary choreographer, with an updated look, though Joffrey's version wouldn't be permanently mothballed--the two versions instead would endure side by side.
"When you do a production like ours year after year, inevitably some families and fans say they'd like to see something different," Wheater says. "I'd never get rid of our current production. But I do think having a choreographer who is someone of today look at the story fresh could be very exciting."

For tickets to this year's production, call 800-982-2787 or ticketmaster.com.

Amidst all the holly, holidays and humbug, the hoedown doesn't let up. Even those inclined to say "nuts" to "The Nutcracker" will find the December calendar busy and full, with both secular offerings and non-nutty seasonal fare aplenty.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago open the festivities with engagements beginning Dec. 3. Hubbard presents its winter line-up of Ohad Naharin's "Tabula Rasa," Alejandro Cerrudo's explosively manic "Off-Screen" and Johan Inger's humorous "Walking Mad" in an engagement Dec. 3-6 at the Harris Theater. Muntu offers "The Sankofa Project," including Amansu Eason's tribute to Michael Jackson and "Bride from the South," by Abdel Salaam, Dec. 3-Dec. 6 at the Gary Comer Youth Center, 7200 S. Ingleside Av.

That same weekend, Shirley Mordine and her Mordine & Company Dance Theater team up with Doug Lofstrom and the New Quartet Dec. 4-6 at the Galaxie gallery, the beginning of a collaboration that promises to be both tantalizing and different. Save $5 through SeeChicagoDance&Save!

Links Hall plans a busy month, its programming free of mistletoe. AquaMoon and choreographer Ni'Ja Whitson provide "Love Does Not Hurt..." Dec. 3 and 5; Rebecca King presents a work on gender identity, "Trans Form," Dec. 11-13; "collision_theory," exploring the relationship of dance and music, returns Dec. 14; a staged reading of Sharon Bridgforth's choreographed work about New Orleans, "blood pudding," arrives Dec. 18 and 19; there will be new work by Links' "mentees" Dec. 20; and the Winter Solstice Percussion Concert plays Dec 19-21.

But the sugar plums and their tulle-tinged fairies won't be denied. The Salt Creek Ballet, that outstanding west suburban institution, performs its "The Nutcracker" Dec. 5 at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora. The production resumes Dec. 12 at Governors State University in University Park. And Dancenter North offers "The Magic of the Nutcracker" Dec 5 and 6 at Libertyville High School and a special school performance Dec. 11 at the Genessee Theatre in Waukegan.

The Joffrey Ballet opens its annual "Nutcracker" run at the Auditorium Theatre Dec. 11, playing through Dec. 27 this year, and the casting should prove interesting, with plenty of new dancers taking on some of the roles. Meanwhile, Chicago Tap Theatre reprises its own original holiday tradition, "Tidings of Tap," Dec. 11-13 at the University of Illlinois Chicago Theatre. And the Civic Ballet's "The Nutcracker" plays Dec. 12 and 13 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie.

More than a dozen troupes are on tap to participate in the grand finale to this year's Dance Chicago series, an eclectic and original potpourri on view Dec. 12 at the Music Institute of Chicago in Evanston. Keeping with the fest's diversity, tap, ballet, hip hop and jazz stylistics are all part of the melange.

Kenneth von Heidecke and the Chicago Festival Ballet present their "Nutcracker" Dec. 13 at the Francis W. Parker School and Dec. 18-20 at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. Ballet Chicago will present its "Nutcracker" for the seventh year Dec. 18-20 at the Athenaeum Theatre, a production including George Balanchine's Act II grand pas de deux for the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Cavalier. Luna Negra Dance Theatre's Hamilton Nieh is guest artist dancing the Cavalier this season, and other guests come from Deeply Rooted Productions as well. Artistic director Daniel Duell will play Herr Drosselmeyer.

From the downtown, Broadway commercial theater standpoint, there are three important engagements with choreography worth noting. Cirque du Soleil's "Banana Shpeel," at the Chicago Theater, is rumored to glimmer with bright choreography. "The Addams Family," opening its pre-Broadway run officially on Dec. 9 at the Oriental Theater, includes, among its stars, the gifted Broadway dancer Bebe Neuwirth (as Morticia) and choreography by Sergio Trujillo, the talented dance maker who delivered the smart retro moves in "Jersey Boys." And praise galore has been heaped on choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler for his contribution to "In the Heights," the Latin-influenced Broadway hit arriving Dec. 15 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre.

The gifts just keep on giving.

View Trailer

Frederick Wiseman is one of the world’s leading practitioners of the observational documentary. His films include TITICUT FOLLIES, HIGH SCHOOL, BASIC TRAINING, PUBLIC HOUSING, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, and BALLET (on the American Ballet Theater).? Critic Philip Lopate has called Wiseman "the greatest American filmmaker of the last 30 years."

"One of the finest dance films ever made."
- A.O. Scott, New York Times

"Sublimity on earth!"
- David Edelstein, New York Magazine

"Glorious. Typically rigorous and compelling. Wiseman not only highlights many stellar performances by the company's star dancers but subtler matters of labour and logistics.
A superb portrait of the perennial pas de deux between art and commerce."
-Jason Anderson, Eye Weekly (Toronto)

"An absolute treat for balletomanes."
- Leslie Felperin, Variety

LA DANSE: THE PARIS OPERA BALLET (2009, 158 mins.) Director, Editor and Sound: Frederick Wiseman. Produced by Pierre-Oliver Bardet, Frederick Wiseman, Francoise Gazio. Photography: John Davey. Note: See press kit for a complete list of dancers and ballets. France/USA. In English and French with English subtitles. An Ideale Audience, Opera National de Paris, Zipporah Films production.

A Zipporah Films release.

Whew. Now that the hectic month of October--one of the busiest and most accomplished single months in Chicago dance history--is behind us, we can relax a bit and enjoy a more modest, maybe even sleepy November.

Not quite. While not as crazy, and slowed by the usual lull around the Thanksgiving holiday, November promises to be no slouch when it comes to important events. It's not really that slow, either, but another fall month with lots to see, some of it potentially dynamite.

Tap raises the curtain Nov. 1 as M.A.D.D. Rhythms winds up its fifth Chicago Tap Summit with an all-star line-up in a concert saluting the late, great Ernest "Brownie" Brown and others at the Harold Washington Library. Reggio "The Hoofer" McLaughlin (a Brown colleague and friend), Be the Groove and the Hip Hop ConnXion are among those on the bill.

The Seldoms finish up their collections of new short dances Nov. 3 at LUMA, the art museum of Loyola University.
Also continuing from last month is Dance Chicago, with a full list of activities. Programs at the Theatre Building include New Moves Nov. 4, 5, 11 and 12; Extended View Nov. 6; the Jazz Cabaret Nov. 7; Dance Romance Nov. 8; the Fringe Carnival Nov. 13; Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre Nov. 14; and the Choreographers Showcase Nov. 15.

The MCA is on a retrospective roll. After October's incandescent presentation of Lucinda Childs' "Dance," with composer Philip Glass on hand with Childs to discuss the collaboration, this month French choreographer/dancer Anne Collod will bring her reprise of Anna Halprin's performance classic "parades & changes, replays," a 1965 postmodern touchstone. Collod worked with Halprin on the remounting.

Closer to home, River North Chicago Dance Company turns 20 this season, a reflection of how much the Chicago dance community has grown and strengthened in the past two decades. Artistic director Frank Chaves will provide two works on the Nov. 7 program at the Harris Theater, including a new one, "Forbidden Boundaries," inspired by his struggle recovering from illness, and a revival of his wonderful "Habaneras." Co-artistic director emerita Sherry Zunker is returning with a new take on her "Reality of a Dreamer."

After reuniting groundbreaking artists from the early days of Chicago's modern dance movement last month for its anniversary, Links Hall returns with a busy line-up of current practitioners in November. The schedule includes the provocative "collision_theory," wherein dance and music artists collide in improvised performances, curated by Rachel Damon and Dan Mohr, Nov. 9; a host of new works by various choreographers from the Innervation Dance Cooperative labeled "Our Own Devices" Nov. 13-15; the always interesting Same Planet Different World featuring new work (Paige Cunningham, Liz Burrit, Ashleigh Leite and Eduardo Vilaro among the choreographers) Nov. 19-22; and Spanish and African art combined in Les Guitarras de Espana's "Music and Movement" Nov. 27-29.

Zephyr Dance, so often on tour, will presents its fall Chicago engagement Nov. 12 at the Holstein Park Auditorium at 2200 N. Oakley St.

That weekend offers a host of performances reminiscent of some busy stretches in October: Thodos Dance Chicago reunites with legendary Ann Reinking for another project involving even more legendary Bob Fosse. Reinking is staging three short Fosse trios from his TV variety days Nov. 13 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, with a follow-up concert Nov. 28 at the Harris Theater downtown. A new work from artistic director Melissa Thodos and a sampling from last fall's new dances enterprise are also on the bill.

Meanwhile, the Nov. 13 weekend also boasts Deeply Rooted Productions Nov. 13 and 14 at the Harold Washington Cultural Center. Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, a hot group these days, visits Nov. 14 and 15 at the Auditorium Theatre.

The month also includes two other noteworthy programs at the Harris: the second installment Nov. 17 of the lunchtime "Eat to the Beat," featuring a new work from Brian Enos starring artist-beat boxer Yuri Lane and the DanceWorks Chicago ensemble, and the Chicago Human Rhythm Project--like River North, turning 20 this year--celebrating with a presentation of Washington, D.C.'s acclaimed and popular Step Afrika in their Chicago debut Nov. 19-21.

November may prove very sweet indeed.

Born in San Fulgencio, Spain, Sansano trained as a dancer with the Instituto del Teatro of Barcelona and danced with several companies including Ballet Contemporaneo de Barcelona, Ballet de la Comunidad de Madrid, Nederlands Dans Theater II, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. He has received numerous awards for his choreography and has created works for prestigious companies such as Compania Nacional de Danza (Spain), Hamburg Ballet (Germany), and Nederlands Dans Theater II (Holland). Since 2005, Sansano has served as artistic director of his own company in Valencia, Spain: TITOYAYA Dance Project.

"Gustavo was one of the very first outside choreographers that Eduardo brought in to work with Luna Negra when he created Flabbergast in 2001. He is an exceptional artist - one of the most inspiring and creative talents I have ever worked with. I look forward to seeing the company flourish under his direction."
- Michelle Manzanales, Acting Artistic Director of Luna Negra Dance Theater
We look forward to an exciting journey ahead, continuing our commitment to the very best in Latino contemporary dance.

For more information, click here.

For just about all of the 21st Century so far, the Other Dance Festival has been a part of us.

The plucky, three-week festival featuring work by 16 Chicago troupes celebrates its eighth outing this season with concerts Sept. 17-Oct. 2 in its home at the Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater, on the second floor of the park building at Barry and Hoyne Streets.

"It was two weeks our first year, with only 11 companies," says Kay LaSota, co-founder with Elizabeth Lentz. "There wasn't a lot of money, but the artists came into it knowing that. That year we all took a split of the gate."

But the genesis behind the fest remains a prime motivator today. "It just seemed Chicago was developing this healthy, vibrant, talented modern community, and there was a need for venues and performance opportunities to show it off."

And a need to minimize mundane pressures so dancers could maximize the artistic ones. "They don’t have to worry about anything but performing," LaSota notes. "When you self-produce, you have to raise money, find a place, do your own promotion, it's exhausting. But after our first two years, once we were successful, we were able to get funding and access more money. It helps to have a buzz around it. You can come and see almost everyone in the modern community."

And see them in a theater LaSota treasures. In addition to home to the Chicago Moving Company, which produces the festival, "The Hamlin space is intimate and warm. It reminds me a little of MoMing," LaSota says, referring to the cozy North Side arts center that played such a key role in Chicago dance for so many years. "I think the artists feel that, too. There's a sense that it's home."

This year's line-up is truly an amazing cross-section of Chicago troupes. Week 1 (all performances are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday) boasts Lucky Plush Productions, Same Planet Different World Dance Theater, Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak, the Chicago Moving Company and a team made up of Darrell Jones and Paige Cunningham.

Week 2 will feature Breakbone DanceCo., the Cindy Brandle Dance Company, the Dance COLEctive, Mordine & Company Dance Theater, Matthew Hollis and, the fest's only newcomer this year, Janet Schmid, whose "Craptastic" LaSota describes as more theatrically influenced than a lot of the modern dance the fest typically embraces.

The final week stars Hedwig Dances, the Humans, the Seldoms, Ayako Kato/Art Union Humanscape and work by Peter Carpenter. Two selections suggest the novelty and experiment the fest invites: The Humans are premiering a work staged in the shape of an ellipse, while the Seldoms’ piece is inspired in part by the drama classic "Death of a Salesman."

"Once they're selected, the troupes have carte blanche to bring what they want," LaSota explains of the process. "A lot choose to bring new work. But you can present existing repertory, too."

LaSota and Lentz act as curators and choose who participates each year. The 16 companies this year were picked from around 40 or so who expressed interest. "There's not a formal process, not an official application," LaSota says. "But once the fest took off, people began contacting us." The 15 repeats are not accidental, and LaSota makes no apologies for that consistency. "We do have a commitment to continuity."

The fest members, as a result, have aged a bit. In the eight years so far, LaSota, who goes out and samples as much Chicago dance as she can throughout the year to buoy her curator skills, says some very young artists have matured a bit and succeeded, though they're still relatively young in their careers. "They're not in their 20s, but to me they're still young, and they're producing distinctive, professional and individual work. To me, that's the fabulous-ness of this. It demonstrates the growth of the community."

Admission is $15; $12 for students and seniors. There's also a $35 festival pass for admission one night each of the three weeks.

Single tickets available online at brownpapertickets.com (event #72294); single tickets also available at 800-838-3006. Fest passes are available online at brownpapertickets.com (event # 72388); fest passes not available by phone. Fest info available at www.brownpapertickets.com, www.chicagomovingcompany.org, or by phoning the Moving Company at 773-880-5402.

Mr. Long was born October 30, 1936 in Des Moines, Iowa, but spent his formative years in Los Angeles, California. Mr. Long was recognized as one of the preeminent ballet teachers in America. Mikhail Baryshnikov in an article in the New York Times named Mr. Long as one of six ballet teachers in America who have distinguished themselves as the best in developing students into professional dancers.

Mr. Long began his training with Alexandra Baldina, an illustrious Leningrad ballerina. His first professional performance was with Alicia Alonso in a production of Coppelia. He came to Chicago in 1958 beginning his long association with Ruth Page’s Chicago Opera Ballet at the Lyric Opera, and later Ms. Page's International Ballet Company. After becoming a principal dancer with Ms. Page's International Ballet Company, he was appointed Ballet Master, a position he later held with the National Ballet of Washington, D.C. and the Harkness Ballet of New York. In 1973, he was co-founder and director with Ruth Page of the Chicago Ballet. Three years later, Mr. Long became Artistic Director of the Ballet International in London. Mr. Long was the long time (1965-1997) director of the Chicago Tribune Charities' production of The Nutcracker ballet which ran in Chicago for 31 years. Mr. Long and his wife, Dolores, co-founded the Civic Ballet of Chicago, the youth training company of the Ruth Page School of Dance, in 1998 in order to continue to develop serious young dancers with advanced training and performance experience as a prelude to a professional career in ballet. In 1989, he received the Ruth Page Award for "lifetime service to the field of dance." In 2006, the city of Chicago honored Larry and Dolores Long with a commendation for their contributions to the Arts in Chicago.

Larry Long will be remembered for his enthusiasm and tremendous energy; a motivational force in the lives of his family friends and dancers everywhere. An important calling for Mr. Long was also his loving devotion to his wife, Dolores, for 47 years, who was always beside him devoting their lives to the dance world. Besides his wife, Mr. Long leaves behind his nieces and nephews: Deborah and John Carroll; Marti-Jean Gross; Tracy Somers and Chris Long; grand nieces and nephews: Cassandra Carroll, Jenny and Jimmy
Darukhanovala, Danni Maxson and Julian Jasiniski.

Time was when August signaled a dance holiday, the art returning only near the end of the month for the annual get-together and AIDS benefit Dance for Life.No more. This August boasts a busy calendar, as bright and breezy as the better days of the season.

For starters, tap, that tonic for the soul, launches the month via the Chicago Human Rhythm Projects Rhythm World festivities with performances Aug. 2-9 in various venues. A free outdoor showcase is set for Aug. 2 at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, with some top Chicago groups and out-of-towners, too. Participants (and the line-up could change) include the Jump Rhythm Jazz Project, Jus' Lis TeN, the South Shore Drill Team, Chicago Tap Theatre, Be the Groove and BAM!, the CHRP resident troupe.

But thats just the beginning of Rhythm World activities, part of a larger offering of classes and workshops that actually start July 27. Other public performances include Tap Jam, an improvisational session Aug. 3 at the Chicago Cultural Center; a Tap Slam contest of Rhythm World participants and a Cutting Contest, an improvisational competition, scheduled together Aug. 4 at Roosevelt Universitys Ganz Hall; and a student showcase Aug. 5 at Ganz Hall.CHRPs annual JUBA! Masters of Tap and Percussive Dance arrives Aug. 6 and 8 at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The two separate line-ups are scheduled to include Jason Samuels Smith, Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Chloe Arnold, Lane Alexander and BAM! (Aug. 6) and Dianne Lady Di Walker, Sam Weber, Jason Janas and various ensembles (Aug. 8).

Elsewhere, Breakbone Dance continues its engagement (began in late July) of Excavation of Remains, directed by Breakbone founder Atalee Judy, but consisting of work forged in collaboration with the dancers, who were given carte blanche to use movement, multi-media, text, vocals and live music to navigate stories of death pulled from personal experience, fictionalized events, inspiring stories and headline news. The program continues Aug. 5-7 at Hamlin Park.

On Aug. 6, DanceBridge: Works in Progress with Nicole Gifford Dance and Archana Kumar is set for the Chicago Cultural Center. Admission is free for this collection by artists participating in DanceBridge, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs program that provides professional dance artists and choreographers with free rehearsal space for a 12-week period.

Probably the most high-profile element of the citys expanded calendar is the burgeoning Chicago Dancing Festival, adding another night this year and boasting some of its glitziest participants yet. The series of free events begin Aug. 18 at the Harris Theater with Aszure Barton & Artists in Barton Ah! Crudel; Virginia Richmond Ballet in Jessica Lang To Familiar Spaces in Dream; River North Chicago Dance Company in Robert Battle Train; the Joffrey Ballet in Edwaard Liang Age of Innocence; and the Oregon Ballet Theatre in Trey McIntyre Just. On Aug. 19, Art of the Duet, a lecture-discussion hosted by Joffrey artistic director Ashley Wheater and performances of three pas de deux from the overall fest, is scheduled for the MCA State at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Public performances continue Aug. 20 at the Harris with a program including New York City Ballet Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall in Christopher Wheeldon Liturgy; Aspen Santa Fe Ballet dancers in a pas de deux from William Forsythe Slingerland; Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in Nacho Duato Gnawa; the Joffrey Ballet in a duet from Jerome Robbins In the Night; Luna Negra Dance Theater Company in Jose Limon There Is a Time; and Lar Lubovitch Dance Company in Jangle (Four Hungarian Dances). All three indoor sessions of the fest are free, but require tickets, which are already sold out via pre-reservation. However, a stand-by system has been set up for all three events. For details, visit harristheaterchicago.org, mcachicago.org or chicagodancingfestival.com.

The festival culminates with an outdoor concert -- requiring no ticketing-- Aug. 22 at the Pritzker, including the high-powered Dayton Contemporary Dance Company in Ulysses Dove Vespers; Linda Denise Fisher-Harrell in Alvin Aileys solo Cry; the Houston Ballet in Forsythes The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude; American Ballet Theatre members Hee Seo and Cory Stearns in the pas de deux from Le Corsaire; the Lubovitch troupe in a preview of his new Coltrane Favorite Things; the Chicago Human Rhythm Project and Step Afrika! in a collaboration; and the all-male Les Ballets Grandiva, in their Chicago debut, in Star-Spangled Ballerina. Also Aug. 22, DanceWorks Chicago performs Twyla Tharp The one hundreds: 1-50, a work with audience participation, all of it conducted in three separate park locales, at three different times: 12:30 p.m. at Wrigley Square, 3 p.m. at the Cloud Gate sculpture; and 6 p.m. on the west side of the Pritzker Pavilion, as folks gather for the performance.

During this period, the Natya Dance Theatre performs Aug. 19 and 20 at the Pritzker, part of the On Stage at Noon series. Kalapriya takes on the Bollywood craze in Masala Bollywood Aug. 21 and 22 at the Vittum Theater, and the Josh Weckesser Dance Spectacular presents Big Time? Aug. 21 and 22 at the Building Stage, 412 Noble St.Finally, no summer would be complete without Dance for Life, slated Aug. 29 at the Harris Theater, featuring a host of top Chicago troupes and premieres from the always delightful Harrison McEldowney and always inspiring Randy Duncan.

By Sid Smith:

June was indeed bustin' out all over with dance, a busy time for a reputedly vacation month. The real lull, in fact, arrives with July and a lighter calendar, though far from an empty or, for that matter, arid one.For starters, a novel idea will be explored in a novel space. The Epiphany Dance Experiment continues its perusal of adventurous dance and performance art July 12 in the gorgeous, historic, west Loop Epiphany Episcopal Church, whose movable pews allow for a flexible playing area. Post-show discussions will be held to further shed light on the works and their relevance to current aesthetic, philosophical and composition issues in Chicago dance. The program includes "(s)he," directed and improvised by JulieAnn Graham, performed with Todd Kiech; "there is a way in which the body sleeps," choreographed by Britt Posmer, in collaboration with sound artist Lisa Abbatomarco and movement by Joshua Kent; "Weak," by Marissa Perel, in collaboration with Snorre Sjonost Henriksen and Colin Self; and "Not about Elvis Dance," choreographed and performed by Rachel Thorne Germond.While it's by no means exclusively dance, the one-of-a-kind spectacle "Cavalia" features plenty of choreography, albeit some involving horses. A kind of "Cirque du Soleil" on saddle, "Cavalia," July 14-26 under a big white tent at the intersection of Racine and Jackson streets in the west Loop, is a multimedia extravaganza involving music, song, dance, aerial acrobatics and, most of all, equestrian artistry--the 100-member cast includes 30 Lusitanian stallions.It may be July, but that doesn't mean there won't be plenty of new work, a great deal of it on view during Thodos Dance Chicago's presentation of the ninth annual "New Dances" festival July 17-19 at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. In addition to work by special guest Elijah Gibson, choreographers include Christine Marie Rohde, Jessica Miller Tomlinson, Dori Santarsiere, Wade Schaaf, Justin Sears, Jackie Stewart, Natalie Tursi and the collaborative team of Jeremy Blair and Mollie Mock.The richly varied, ever lively Jazz Dance World Festival returns to wake up even the most languorous summer deck chair potatoes--cool in style, maybe, but red hot in energy. The concert series that's part of this year's 16th installment will be held July 22-25 at the Harris Theater and include some 15 companies. Participants on tap include Japan's Masashi Action Machine (with two world premieres), Mexico's Cuerpo Etereo Danza Contemporanea, LehrerDance from Buffalo, and, of course, Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, the host troupe. River North Chicago Dance Company, the Joel Hall Dancers and the Jump Rhythm Jazz Dance Project are also on the bill. The various programs each feature a different roster picked from the overall list of participants--no two concerts, in other words, are the same.The always striking, always brave Breakbone DanceCo returns with "Excavation of Remains," a bill of new exploratory works, July 29-Aug. 7 at the Hamlin Park Theatre. It's devised via a new working process for artistic director Atalee Judy, one she describes as more cerebral, for what she calls a "slimmed down company."And DanceWorks Chicago's ongoing series, DanceBytes, will be on view July 30 at the Harold Washington Library. The program blends dance performance with behind-the-scenes information and insight. The creation of new work and the dances themselves serve as vehicles for performers and audience members to investigate a wide range of techniques, styles and aesthetic approaches.

New Features Include Professional Preview Articles and Reviews, User Reviews, Sharing Options for Social Networking Sites, RSS Feeds and expanded Hot Deals.CHICAGO - Audience Architects launches the redesigned version of the Chicago area's most comprehensive dance website, SeeChicagoDance.com (SCD), June 25. New features include professional preview articles and reviews, user reviews, sharing options for social networking sites, RSS feeds and expanded hot deals."The original version of SeeChicagoDance.com was extremely well received by both Chicago's dance community and dance audiences," says Sarah Nelson, content manger for SCD and the sister site TakeChicagoDance.com, "but we wanted to encourage more user interaction and engage audiences on a deeper level. As a nonprofit organization, our primary mission is to build audiences for dance. By providing a more interactive user experience coupled with behind-the-scenes articles and video previews we are taking important steps to make Chicago area dance even more accessible to audiences."SeeChicagoDance.com premiered in September 2005 as an audience development tool for dance companies and presenters in the greater Chicago area. At its core has been its comprehensive calendar searchable by date, company, venue, location and genre; and a directory of companies, presenters, venues and events. Visitors to the site have been able to sign up to receive eBlasts with last minute discounts and a monthly eNewsletter.In addition to the existing features, the redesigned SCD will also include:

- Professional critic reviews and articles - Veteran dance writer Sid Smith who also writes for the Chicago Tribune will serve as editor heading a team of freelance writers including Zachary Whittenburg. These writers will provide reviews and advanced stories to be published exclusively for SCD;

- User reviews - Site users will be able to comment about companies in general or about a particular performance;

- RSS feeds - SCD Facebook and Twitter pages will automatically be updated when critic reviews are posted and when the monthly e-newsletter and discounted ticket offerings are updated on the site. In addition, users will have the ability to share event information on their Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and De.li.cious accounts or invite a friend to a not-to-be-missed dance event;

- Expanded Hot Deals - Hot Deals will now promote other arts events in an effort to promote audience crossover and expand public awareness of dance;

- Online Ad Manager - This new function will give companies the abilities to reserve and purchase ads online for SCD, and list performance as a featured listing to make them show up higher on search results pages;

- Back end - The redesigned SCD will feature an easier interface for companies to upload, post and edit their information.TakeChicagoDance.com, SCD's companion site focusing on dance instruction, will relaunch with similar enhancements later this year.The site redesign has been made possible in part due to valuable support from Arts Work Fund. Additional support provided by The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and The Sage Foundation. For more information about SeeChicagoDance.com, or sponsorship opportunities, contact content manager Sarah Nelson at 773.327.3830x117 or email sarah@audiencearchitects.com. # # #Audience Architects, NFP. Carol L. Fox and Niki Morrison formed Audience Architects in 2006 and received 501(c)3 not-for-profit status in January 2008. Audience Architects maintains SeeChicagoDance.com and its companion site, TakeChicagoDance.com. Its mission is to build new and broader audiences for Chicago area dance organizations by providing community-wide audience development initiatives for dance performances and instruction, professional development opportunities, and direct service to the field.