Preview
Feeling a little spring in your step? It's the warmer air, the longer days—and the dance calendar
Mar 3, 2020 | By Lauren WarneckeAs winter winds to a close, it becomes easy to get stuck in the daily grind. Shower, shot of coffee, work, dinner, sleep, repeat. As the days get longer and our coats get a little less fluffy, why not use that extra little jolt of springtime energy to see dance? Our city is bursting at the seams with opportunities to experience performances of all kinds this month, as we ramp up toward Chicago Dance Month in April.
Here are a few of the things I’m excited about.
Alexa, Play Chloe Johnston—exploring the voices of our every day lives
Feb 27, 2020 | By Lauren WarneckeIf you take public transit in Chicago, you hear Lee Crooks' voice every day. Crooks, a voiceover actor from Milwaukee, is the person who announces your next stop, and lets you know when the doors are closing. Susan Bennett responds when you ask Siri to tell you today's weather, or, for fun, ask her how much wood a woodchuck can chuck. There's a real person behind these seemingly automated experiences, just as there are real actors voicing animated figures in cartoons and video games.
Trinity Irish Dance Company breathes crossover rhythms Into traditional forms for leap day dancing at the Auditorium
Feb 24, 2020 | By Lynn Colburn ShapiroThe biggest news-maker on Trinity's upcoming engagement at the Auditorium is a world premiere with MacArthur "Genius" Michelle Dorrance. It's part of Trinity's continued efforts to find intersections between percussive cultural dance forms.
Performing a book: NIC Kay launch of 'Cotton Dreams' started with a bouquet of cotton, and became about textiles, labor and the history of slavery
Feb 10, 2020 | By Jordan KunkelOver ten years ago, NIC Kay started taking performative walks down the streets of New York City—merely exploring a glimpse of an idea. Carrying a bouquet of cotton, a mannequin and other seemingly random objects, the NYC-based artist (who uses gender-neutral pronouns) sparked discussions and interesting public visuals. They had no idea those walks would grow into the book “Cotton Dreams,” which would then lead to a live performance and book release at Links Hall.
Mixed-rep from the here and now defines Joffrey’s 'The Times Are Racing'
Feb 10, 2020 | By Lynn Colburn ShapiroPunxsutawney Phil says spring is on its way—so does our dance calendar
Feb 3, 2020 | By Lauren WarneckeIt’s my job to watch dance. How cool is that? I wish I could see everything. I wish I could clone myself. I wish we had a bigger budget. I wish it didn’t take 90+ minutes to go 10 miles in this city I love. Until more money, clones or more efficient transit options are a thing, our wonderful SCD writers and I simply have to do our best.
The Cambrians dance to each other’s different drummer in 'Chicago Dances 2020'
Feb 3, 2020 | By Lynn Colburn ShapiroIn Chicago debut, Kimberly Bartosik/daela turns hunger for connection into a visceral performance experience
Jan 27, 2020 | By Jordan KunkelFor Kimberly Bartosik, creating work has often meant relying on lineage as much as it has turning away from it. A former dancer with Merce Cunningham who now runs her own company, Kimberly Bartosik/daela, Bartosik is no stranger to jumping between her roots tomore contemporary and experimental movement styles.
Dance rings in 2020 with experimentation, provocation and a lot of works-in-progress
Jan 7, 2020 | By Lauren WarneckeThere was barely enough time to clink flutes and ring in 2020 before several Chicago dance artists found themselves in final rehearsals and performances kicking off the winter dance season in earnest. With Nutcrackers a thing of the past, experimentation is on tap this January.