CHICAGO – CDI/Concert Dance, Inc. returns to Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), 3701 West Bryn Mawr, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Ruth Page Dance Series with A World of Dance, Friday, March 4 and Saturday, March 5 at 7 p.m. The limited engagement not only celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Ruth Page Dance Series but also commemorates CDI’s Artistic Director Venetia Stifler’s retirement from the NEIU Department of Music & Dance Program. Both evenings will feature live musical accompaniment and five of Stifler’s favorite works, ranging from her earliest choreography in 1981, “The Chicago Project,” to last year’s stunning Ravinia Festival-commission, “Fly Me To The Moon,” as part of the Frank Sinatra Centennial Celebration. Also on the program will be special guest Ruth Page Civic Ballet, with a preview of its world premiere dance created as part of a 2015 cultural exchange with Cuba’s Escuela Nacional de Ballet and partially funded by The MacArthur Foundation’s International Connections Fund.
THE FULL PROGRAM INCLUDES:
The Chicago Project: Future Present (work in progress)
Choreography: Venetia Stifler
Movement Development: The Company
Visual Design/Photography: Frank Vodvarka
Music: TBD
Overweight, Overwrought, Over You (1996)
Choreography: Venetia Stifler
Baritone: Bob Heitzinger
Piano: Jane Kenas-Heller
Music: Thomas Pasatieri
Controlled Chaos (2011)
Choreography: Venetia Stifler and CDI Dancers
Music: Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald
Fly Me To The Moon (2015 Ravinia Commission)
Choreography: Venetia Stifler
Movement Development: The Company
Music: Frank Sinatra
Soundscape: Venetia Stifler, Victor Sanders
When All Is Said And Done/German Songs (2008)
Choreography: Venetia Stifler
Movement Development: The Company
Music: Richard Strauss, Franz Schubert
Soprano: Christina Kaloyanides
Movements (Work in Progress)
(Collaborative project between Cuba’s Escuela Nacional de Ballet
and the Ruth Page School of Dance)
Choreography: Victor Alexander
Music: Max Richter
Performed by Guest Artist: Ruth Page School of Dance
The March 5 performance also includes a benefit for the Ruth Chakos Scholarship Fund. The Ruth Chakos Scholarship Fund at NEIU is in honor of Ruth Chakos (1927-2009), mother of Venetia Stifler. The Fund was created by Stifler in 2009 as a means to help further the training of performing arts students. The benefit ticket includes the performance followed by a post-performance reception with the artists. Tickets for this benefit package are $40. For any questions, please contact Silvino da Silva at 312-337-6543. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit www.ruthpage.org.
About Venetia Stifler
Venetia Stifler, Emmy-nominated choreographer and director, is the executive and artistic director of The Ruth Page Center for the Arts and is also the Artistic Director of CDI/Concert Dance Inc., the official contemporary dance company of the Ruth Page Center, which performs choreography by Stifler and other leading contemporary artists while also exploring and re-envisioning Ruth Page’s work. Since becoming The Ruth Page Center for the Arts’ Executive and Artistic Director in 2000, Stifler has helped to bring into greater focus the its mission of ensuring that children and dance artists have a place to study, work and perform at the highest level of excellence Stifler has choreographed over 35 major works, including the critically-acclaimed “The Chicago Project,” a collaborative work combining original music and photography that used Chicago’s rich architectural landscape as a vibrant backdrop. Her re-envisioned production of Ruth Page’s groundbreaking 1947 “ballet carton” “Billy Sunday” came alive again in 2007 with several stage productions and in the PBS documentary produced by HMS Media. A two-year project, “Billy Sunday” not only brought this masterpiece work to new audiences, but also garnered several Emmy nominations from The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Stifler served as artistic director for the Ruth Page Dance Series (RPDS), a festival of dance she created in honor of Ms. Page to showcase the rich variety of dance styles and artists in Chicago and which is produced in conjunction with Northeastern Illinois University. The RPDS has produced over 40 Chicago area dance companies in the last 25 years in venues throughout the Chicagoland area and in 1999 was part of the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival, garnering a “Best of the Fest” by the Sunday Times of Scotland.
About CDI/Concert Dance Inc.
Founded in 1981, CDI/Concert Dance Inc. is the official contemporary dance company and an Artist In-Residence of the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. CDI creates and presents contemporary works that evolve from a choreographic collective under the artistic direction of Emmy Award-nominated choreographer, Venetia Stifler, often using live music, video and other media to enhance the process and product. This approach to dance and choreography drives the company’s artistic vision and sets an example of artistic collaboration. CDI has evolved from a repertory company into a dance collective and artistic incubator; a unique community of collaborators within a growing organism that changes with every new dance that is made. The choreography that is currently presented by CDI comes out of this creative process. Because the dancers are both highly trained technically and active in the development of the movement vocabulary, their skills of improvisation and ability to create visual imagery results in work that is not only of the highest caliber, but also artistically proficient and emotionally satisfying.
About the Ruth Page Center for the Arts
An incubator of artistic energy and excellence and the center of Chicago’s dance history, the Ruth Page Center for the Arts carries forward the vision of international dance icon Ruth Page to make dance accessible to everyone, ensuring that children and dance artists have a place to study, work and perform at the highest level of excellence. Located at 1016 N. Dearborn Street, the Center serves the Chicago dance community by being an incubator, providing a home, office space, rehearsal space, performance opportunities, professional dance training and marketing support for the up-and-coming companies and artists of Chicago’s vibrant dance scene. Founded by Chicago icon and internationally-renown performer and choreographer, Ruth Page, the Center reflects her vision of supporting dance
excellence in Chicago. Emanating from the Illinois heartland, the visionary work of Ruth Page
influenced the growth of theater design, opera-ballet and dance. She achieved worldwide recognition as a true pioneer of dance in America by creating at the forefront of social, political and artistic issues. As a prominent force in the Chicago arts community, the Ruth Page Center for the Arts continues that legacy through its initiatives and programs that nurture the art form of dance, and by being an arts incubator for emerging and established artists and organizations.
CDI/Concert Dance, Inc. returns to Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), 3701 West Bryn Mawr, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Ruth Page Dance Series with A World of Dance, Friday, March 4 and Saturday, March 5 at 7 p.m. The limited engagement not only celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Ruth Page Dance Series but also commemorates CDI’s Artistic Director Venetia Stifler’s retirement from the NEIU Department of Music & Dance Program. Both evenings will feature live musical accompaniment and five of Stifler’s favorite works, ranging from her earliest choreography, “The Chicago Project,” to last year’s stunning Ravinia Festival-commission, “Fly Me To The Moon,” as part of the Frank Sinatra Centennial Celebration. Also on the program will be special guest Ruth Page Civic Ballet, with a preview of its world premiere dance created as part of a 2015 cultural exchange with Cuba’s Escuela Nacional de Ballet and partially funded by The MacArthur Foundation’s International Connections Fund.
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Ruth Chakos Scholorship Fund_Pictured Ruth Chakos (Photo courtesy of Ruth Page Center for the Arts).
Ruth Page Center Executive and Artistic Director_Venetia Stifler_Photo By Cheryl Mann.
