MARCH NEWSLETTER
2010-02-25 12:23:30 PM
By Sid Smith:
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!"
