Ethereal Abandonment

Event Type
Performance
Event Description

There is something about ruins that calls to us to come explore, look closer. There is at once a sense of discovery and a feeling of long ago. A slipstream of hope. In the accumulated debris are the seeds for tomorrow, the roots of reclamation.” - Photographer Candace Casey

 

Ethereal Abandonment is the newest dance theatre project by Ellyzabeth Adler and Lucy Vurusic Riner. After 18 years as professional colleagues and friends, Adler and Riner joined executive director forces to collaborate on an evening length dance theatre work combining members from both Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble and RE|dance group. Set in a theater that once was an epicenter of life, art and community, Ethereal Abandonment with a blended cast of 12 actors and dancers explores the historical connections between the ethereal world that once was and the reality of what it has become. Through storytelling and physical memories, the people and stories of the theater in the ethereal world make themselves known to modern day explore’s who sense their hidden vignette stories.   The dance theatre work toggles between soft, melancholic moments between two best friends and a mother and daughter to more joyful episodes featuring chorus girls and a traveling salesman turned tap dancer. The modern explore’s bear witness to the heart breaking loss of the spaces and the experiences contained within the theaters that line our streets. Ethereal Abandonment reflects the current decay and reality of reclamation of the culture changing and the world moving on. Adler and Riner are teaming up with Bread and Roses Productions for Lighting Design and Jacob Fisher on Sound Design to create a set, lighting plot and sound score to trigger audience members senses and draw them into an ethereal experience.  With original music written by Isaura Flores, inspired by the photography, The Music Remains, is a testament to the theater building and the art that it once held.

 

Ethereal Abandonment was first inspired by photographs published in a picture book by Candace Casey with stories by Ellyzabeth Adler. Casey states, “I see each piece as a story or part of a larger story. There are layers here that need to be uncovered.”  Side by side, we see the past grandeur, the present decay and something in between. Another world, an unearthly beauty that shines through. Ethereal Abandonment is a step back in time and, yet, also reveals an aspect not seen before.

Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble’s Auditorium will be transformed each night into the abandoned theater with a lively preshow gallery of Candace Casey’s Photography and Visual Art. The special $25 ticket for the reception includes food, drinks and art work from Ethereal Abandonment on display starting at 7p.m. 

 

Ethereal Abandonment premieres at Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble on Friday and Saturday, May 12-20, 2017 at 8:00 pm. Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble (part of the Ebenezer Lutheran Church Complex) is located at 1650 W. Foster, Chicago, IL 60640.

 

Follow the behind the scenes blog at: http://www.danztheatre.org/-blog

Photography Website: www.candacecasey.com

Video Teaser of Ethereal Abandonment: https://youtu.be/e9uCCBkXk7g

 

Tickets are available at: www.danztheatre.org or 773.486.8261

$25 |  Food & Drink Pre-show Art Gallery

$15 |  General Advance

$20 | General Door

$10 | College Students and Seniors (with ID)

$15 |  College Students  and Seniors (with ID) Door

FREE to high school students

 

 

 

Dance Styles
Multi-disciplinary
Modern / Contemporary

Location

Ebenezer Lutheran Church

1650 W Foster Ave
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 561-8496