Ron De Jesus’s “The Osiris Legend” premiered in its only Chicago performance at The Ruth Page Center this past Thursday. The production, a Chicago/Detroit collaboration, was performed at The Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts in Detroit the following Saturday.
Experimentation with process is an essential component of creating a new work for any artist, but few dance companies can devote the kind of resources Cerqua Rivera Dance Theater has brought together to develop four new works, premiered this past weekend at Links Hall. The company’s fall season was the culmination of CRDT’s innovative “Inside/Out” initiative, with residencies at Old Town School of Folk Music, Stage 773, and High Concept Labs over the past seven months.
Corporate buzz words abound as a disparate collection of out of work comic book superheroes tries to reinvent itself into a corporate entity for today’s marketplace in Lucky Plush Productions’ “Trip The Light Fantastic: The Making of SuperStrip,” presented at The Dance Center, Columbia College September 29-October 1.
Heated politics take the stage in October, but the presidential debates aren’t the only arena for political discourse. Dance theater offers graphic interpretation of a variety of highly-charged political issues in several major productions this month, from Joffrey’s production of Krzysztof Pastor’s reimagining of Romeo and Juliet to The Seldoms' hackstory, “The Fifth,” Natya’s investigation of cultural miscommunication at the root of discord, and Nora Chipaumire’s examination of black maleness.
OCTOBER HIGHLIGHTS:
The 43rd season opener at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, a one-night-only performance Sept. 17 of solo artist Tadashi Endo, ended with a heartfelt speech by the man, flowers strewn at his feet, describing in poetic English the experience of witnessing a catastophe unfold at home from an unreachably far distance.
The annual Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival has become a staple in the fall calendar, presenting a wide variety of local and regional artists at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. The first of the festival’s two weekends of programs Sept. 16 and 17 introduced Harvest audiences to some new groups, and also brought some familiar faces back to the stage.
Visceral Dance Chicago opens their fourth season with their Fall Engagement at the Harris Theater. This evening of dance includes new works by LA Choreographer Erica Sobol, and Atlas, a new duet by Artistic Director Nick Pupillo. Returning are two audience favorites; Vital by Nick Pupillo, with live music by Peter Ferry, described by LA Splash as “flawless," and Marguerite Donlon’s Ruff Celts, a work with “a fierce sense of humor and invention” (Chicago Sun-Times).
The premier presentation of Ascendence Dance Chicago along with several guest choreographers, performers and Chicago area dance companies, coming together presenting pieces with one unified theme: Resilience. An evening of movement art, dedicated to the design, creation and passion for performance pieces that resonate with anyone in need of healing or inspiration. Ascendence Dance Chicago distinguishes itself by its unique concepts and ability to give back to the Chicago community, and rally them to “Ascend”.
It wasn’t long after the Harris Theater for Music and Dance was built that the Chicago Dancing Festival (CDF) was born. A staple venue for the entirety of the festival’s 10 years, the Harris has proved an essential partner in the week of dance freebies taking place every August in downtown Chicago. The festival opener shifted back to the big, opulent Auditorium Theatre this season, making the Harris’ 1,500 seat cavern feel somehow more intimate.