Feel the beat through the first professional dance company dedicated to the tradition of stepping. The compelling artistic experience is full-force energy that will have audiences on your feet!
“The enthusiasm and energy to send you soaring into next week.” —The Washington Post
This year, I’ve been floored by the quality of work being produced by our Chicago choreographers and dance companies. As soon as I’m done reeling from one exceptional performance, another gets me all worked up again. Case in point:
Masterclasses are 80-minute, one-time classes with a single teacher. Choose 4 different advanced or 4 intermediate classes each weekend, but it’s all up to the “master” in the room. The masterclass is an audition style setting. Meaning, you pick up whatever they put down. Faculty will share their masterful ideas with warm-ups, traveling phrases, a combination, or all of the above but particularly structured for the students in that room. Be aware of the artistry these tap masters share with you . . . It will take you a step closer to understanding this art form.
On November 8, 1989, a joint resolution was passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate proclaiming that May 25th would be hereby known as National Tap Dance Day. On the Senate floor, the proposal was read aloud by then delegate from Delaware, Joseph Biden, and signed into public law by the then President of the United States, George H.W. Bush. Included in the resolution was the following call to action:
Celebrate Chicago Dance Month and get up close and personal with dance and dancers through a performance of New Dances 2022! DanceWorks Chicago and Thodos Dance Chicago enjoy a partnership centered around a shared tradition of developing choreographic talent and serving Chicago’s dance commUNITY. New Dances has been part of Chicago’s dance history for 39 years, originating with Chicago Repertory Dance Ensemble.
A sense of spatial abstractions hit me as soon as I entered the theater to take in “rejoinder,” the latest work presented by dropshift dance, a collaborative cohort of contemporary artists, founded in 2010 by Andrea Cerniglia. The company focuses on creating abstract artistic works through collaborative processes. True to mission, both works on the program claim no choreographer, only collaborators.
Chicago Tap Allstars was established by Bill Barrett, Founder of M.A.D.D. Rhythms and Mark Yonally, Founder of Chicago Tap Theatre as a way to lessen the divide between tap dancing communities on the North and South sides of Chicago. Initially sparked by an open letter written by Barrett addressing inequities in the tap community during the civil unrest of June 2020, the collaborative performance “Bridging the Gap: One Step at a Time” sought to make due on some of the changes promised by both tap communities.
In the lobby of the Hamilton Park Cultural Center, a river of bodies flows down a pair of symmetrical stone staircases, pooling into a high-ceilinged foyer, spilling into the astonished audience. They play with the onlookers, one dancer languidly unfurling their arms mere inches from my face. These sprites are then whisked away towards a large double door and into a dark room, an auditorium with a blonde wood floor and a stage, a white proscenium framing a turquoise and lavender background. Caught in the rush of the current we follow them.
Wanna see something mythical, healing and interactive?
Nejla Yatkin’s “Firebird,” May31 – June 18. FREE!