Preview

The Merry Month of May is blooming with dance in Chicago.

Go crazy! Whether you’re a dancing fool or a fool for dance, April is Dance Month in Chicago, so kick up your heels and head out for a month that showers the city with the breadth, diversity and artistic richness of the Chicago dance community. In addition to the dozens of dance performances and classes taking place throughout the month, Chicago Dance Month Open Doors, Open Spaces partners are offering FREE events that welcome dance fans to an open rehearsal, a site-specific performance in an unusual venue or a discussion about the creation and presentation of dance.

Funky, steely-strong, soft and seductive, hip, cool, gutsy, or slinky, Giordano Dance Chicago hits all notes on the jazz scale for its Spring Engagement  at the Harris Theater Friday, March 31st and Saturday, April 1st at 7:30 PM. 

Hailed as America’s original jazz dance company, Giordano Dance Chicago continues to expand its founding director Gus Giordano’s original vision of bringing jazz dance to the concert dance stage in all its many permutations. 

PBS.org’s Child Development Tracker lists the characteristics of an average five year old: creative and enthusiastic problem-solvers, language is well-developed, speak in complex and compound sentences, and recognize that art can tell a story. As Chicago Repertory Ballet (CRB) celebrates its fifth anniversary, it is tracking right along in its development. Artistic Director Wade Schaaf is nothing if not creative and enthusiastic, and by keeping his ensemble functioning, clearly he is a problem solver.

There is enough wonderful dance happening in Chicago to keep you on your toes almost every night throughout the month of March. Local and touring companies from out of town grace stages small and large throughout the city. The town is fairly bursting with new, creative collaborations between choreographers, dancers, musicians, filmmakers, videographers, actors, poets and more.

Now that February is upon us, the new year is off and running with a jam-packed roster of exciting and varied dance events. Genre lines blur as modern meets tradition, with Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre’s modern dance Valentine and Thodos Dance Chicago’s “Timeless Motion”  at North Shore Center for the Performing Arts. The Shen Yun Show highlights ancient Chinese tradition the Harris,  while challenging programming from The Joffrey Ballet’s “Game Changers” sends us to the cutting edge in contemporary ballet at the Auditorium Theatre.

SeeChicagoDance and our entire Audience Architects Staff wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year, filled with all the energy, excitement, drama, intrigue, imagination and discovery of dance! The year is off to a healthy start, with lots of exciting events coming up through winter and spring from both Chicago and touring companies, so plan ahead and mark your calendars!

2017 WINTER AND SPRING HIGHLIGHTS:

It didn’t take more than a quick glimpse of Deeply Rooted Dance Theater in breathless grands jetés across the studio at the end of company class last week to feel the solidarity of a company that has reached its twentieth anniversary charged with unified purpose and spirited determination.  

Snowflakes and icicles are on the march, along with an army of toy soldiers, marauding mice, and delicious dancing treats, as multiple “Nutcrackers” once again launch Chicago’s holiday season.