Chicago Tap Theatre’s Love Letter to Tap Dancing Marks A Return to Live Performance

“For The Love of Tap” epitomizes Chicago Tap Theatre’s return to live performance at the Athenaeum Theatre this Saturday, February 19th. Throughout the pandemic, that love has sustained the company, its dancers, its students, and the community at large with initiatives that have harvested unexpected blessings from dire circumstances.
 

Explore the cultural diversity of the Mexican diaspora with Ballet Folklórico de México de Amelia Hernández at the Auditorium Theatre.

In 1970, Ballet Folklórico de México graced the stage of the Auditorium Theatre for the first time, featuring a troupe of one hundred dancers performing their signature style, baile folklorico, a mixture of ballet, Spanish foot-stamping zapateado and Mexican folk dances from across the diaspora. The creation of dancer and choreographer Amalia Hernández, the company is still delighting Chicago audiences with selections from Hernández’s extensive repertoire.

Life, death and survival: Beyond performance and into relationship with Eiko Otake’s The Duet Project: Distance is Malleable

The collision of bodies, objects, generations and concerns in The Duet Project: Distance is Malleable ranged from gentle to brutal with overlapping tenderness, urgency, and resilience. Admittedly, I walked into The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago on Friday night longing for closeness–for the possibility of touch, whispers of breath, and glimmers of sweat that come with proximity to live performance. It soon became clear however, that I didn’t need to be within reach of the performance to be absorbed into it.

Eiko Otake’s “The Duet Project: Distance is Malleable” examines how people deal with life, death, race, age and gender.

Whatever you think you are going to see at an Eiko Otake performance, forget it. Prepare yourself to be surprised, or startled, or experience unbearable intimacy. Expect a never-ending stream of papers with words like “stone” and “I will not” to be scattered in heaps across the stage. Expect raging gods and monsters, or the ghosts of distant relatives, who live in the brushstrokes of colossal paintings projected against the wall. Anything is possible! If Otake’s long history of work is any indication, expect something special, thought-provoking and deeply personal.

Giordano Dance Chicago begins the new year with a program of overarching joy in “Illuminate” at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts.

The North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie has been, for some time, an alluring oasis for Chicago dance companies adrift in the hustle and bustle of the city—spacious lobby, great backstage facilities, an opulent auditorium (and easy parking!). Chicagoans don’t mind the short trip, either, especially when there is as high a quality of performance as was presented by Giordano Dance Chicago (GDC) last Saturday evening.

Red Clay Dance Academy’s new class series honors the diversity of the African Diaspora

Red Clay Dance Academy announces the continuation of its exciting African Diaspora Dance Series.

Founded by renowned choreographer, artivist and Red Clay Dance Company Artistic Director Vershawn Sanders-Ward, the February series features a dreamy line-up of both traditional and contemporary African-centered dance styles.

Trinity Irish Dance Company Returns To The Stage With Cross-Cultural Innovation

What’s extra special about Trinity Irish Dance Company this season? “Everything!” said associate artistic director and Trinity dancer Chelsea Hoy in a recent phone interview. Enthusiasm has never been in short supply for Chicago’s Irish cultural treasure, but Hoy, just off the plane and catching her breath from the company’s live stage performances in Overland, Kansas this past weekend, could barely contain herself.

2022 is the #YearofChicagoDance

 

See Chicago Dance is excited to announce our involvement with Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events in 2022's #YearofChicagoDance!

This citywide focus on dance is the first-of-its-kind in the U.S. and will address critical issues facing dancers and the Chicago dance industry at large including funding, space and capacity building — not to mention PLENTY of chances to watch the pros and get moving yourself!

Screendance Club: Where Water is Not Thirsty

 

Artist & Filmmaker Millicent Johnnie 
Conversation Moderated by Surinder Martignetti 

 

Millicent Johnnie produces different forms of storytelling using various mediums and platforms, centering Black and Indigenous cultural communities. Where Water is Not Thirsty is a short film that follows a seventy-year-old woman, who returns to the magical world of her mind, where she reunites with her mystic self and learns of her true unbridled nature.