Preview

Composer Amanda Harberg wrote “Hall of Ghosts” in 2020, a piece for solo piccolo created as an elegy to the collective loss of the pandemic, particularly in the performing arts. Premiering Thursday on CSOtv, “Hall of Ghosts” stars Chicago Symphony Orchestra piccoloist Jennifer Gunn and dancer Alyssa Allen of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. 

The streamable dance film, part of CSO Sessions Episode 16, is available through April 23 with additional selections by Gabrieli and Bach.

One year ago, no one at the Joffrey Ballet saw a silver lining in the cloud that COVID-19 cast over its 10th anniversary season of “Winning Works” choreographic competition which was set to open at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art mid-March of 2020: not the four young choreographers of color who had been chosen from among dozens of applicants to receive a prestigious showcase for their work; not the Joffrey’s Trainee and Studio Company dancers, who had been rehearsing exciting new works for the highly-publicized public performances; not the Joffrey administration.

If you’re into time travel, grab a free ticket and hop on board “Balanchine + Beyond,” Ballet Chicago’s 2021 virtual season, with seven weekly installments beginning Saturday and continuing through April 2.

Ballet Chicago artistic director and former New York City Ballet principal dancer Daniel Duell has faced the restrictions of the “stay-at-home” mandate and cancellation of the company’s annual live seasons at Chicago’s Harris Theater with glass-half-full resilience.

In two separate Zoom calls I briefly got to know two pairs of artists as part of a new and ongoing series by Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC) and Chicago Dancemakers Forum (CDF). My conversations with Jumaane Taylor (a 2017 CDF Lab Artist) and Adam McGaw (HSDC company member since 2019), and Anjal Chande (2019 CDF Lab Artist) and Craig Black (HSDC company member since 2017) left me feeling full—with a hopeful glimmer for the future of dance during year two of the pandemic and for the ability of what often feel like isolated groups of the dance community to work together.

Last spring, a couple of artist friends hopped on a call to brainstorm ways to “make something.” Fast forward almost one year later and that simple conversation has grown into an international series of 15 films and a team of 12 producers, three presenting centers, one magazine and 150 artists whose roles span cinematography, wardrobe, dance, direction, musical composition and choreography. Did I mention these artists are spread across 25 different countries? 

Under normal circumstances the beauty of a dance film festival is far from underappreciated, but when you factor in a global pandemic, the screendance landscape changes. Dance on film quickly becomes the safest and most creative way to engage audiences while everyone is cooped up in their homes. Which means In/Motion, Loyola University Chicago’s eight-year-old international dance film festival, is more essential than ever.

I was on a lunch break. Tuning in via YouTube, I thought I’d catch up on the day’s events as the 2020 election was due to be certified by Congress, a governmental process I didn’t know existed until this year. Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma was arguing his case, hoping to persuade his colleagues, without evidence, that a grand conspiracy had taken place and that our election was fraudulent. Mid-sentence, everything changed.

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago kicks off its 2021 season with "The Dreamscape" on Jan. 16, a digital showcase accompanying the MCA's current exhibition, "The Long Dream" (recently extended until May). Over four hours on Zoom, "Dreamscape" audiences will choose their own experience as they navigate through livestreamed music, video art, meditative performances and intimate conversations—much of those works-in-progress. With a focus on process over product, this is for folks who are interested in accessing and observing artists' experiments during quarantine. 

“Time flies,” Ida Velez said as we discussed her long career at Le Ballet Petit (LBP), a neighborhood dance studio in Ravenswood Manor. Founded in 1954 by ballerina Kitty LaPointe, LBP has overcome many challenges becoming the little studio-that-could. It is still chugging along, most recently adapting to the reality of virtual teaching (Velez is not a fan) and performing during a pandemic. This weekend you can watch the studio’s free live stream of the annual holiday favorite, “The Nutcracker.”

Even though we are still in the throes of the COVID-19 global pandemic and witnessing the majority of dance virtually, the Loyola University dance program has found a way to showcase the things that brings us all together—the common denominator of humanity. “Spectral Heartbeats” is an apt title for a program which takes personal stories literally to heart creating a ghostlike vision of what we are missing during this pandemic: human connection.

The Loyola dance program presents “Spectral Heartbeats” Saturday and Sunday online.