Today I taught my Exercise Physiology students the concept of dynamic constancy. Imagine any physiological variable, like body temperature, blood pressure, or heart rate, and one generally accepts certain set values as “normal.” Our bodies like to be 98.6 degrees, 120/80 mmHg, 60-80 beats per minute. These aren’t constants, exactly. There’s an undulating variance to these markers, but, on average, they generally stay the same.

Chicago’s dance season opens full force in September with exciting festivals, company seasons, and premieres of new choreography. New and noteworthy this year for both balletomanes and neophytes is Audience Architect’s Dance Around Town Sampler Pack, a first of it’s kind, limited time offering for dance lovers AND for those who want to discover more dance in Chicago. Get discounted tickets to your favorite Chicago dance company’s Fall 2016 performance and try a few new shows as well!

The Chicago Dancing Festival is the only free festival of its kind in the nation, and each year, it’s founding directors, Lar Lubovitch and Jay Franke, knock themselves out to give Chicago a full week of the best dance works from the best American and International dance makers and performers.  This past week, the tenth annual Chicago Dancing Festival brought five days of free performances by eighteen acclaimed dance companies to five different performance venues around the city. 

You have to go back ten years to put the Chicago Dancing Festival into perspective, when co-founders Jay Franke and Lar Lubovitch pitched an idea that was likely met with mixed, if not tepid, responses.

Dance For Life once again celebrated the vitality, solidarity, and humanity of the Chicago dance community with stunning performances from five different Chicago companies, ten contributing companies, and fourteen independent artists. This unique event stands as a shining monument to the power of art to unite a city behind a humanitarian cause by showcasing the rich creative life and bounty of talent that thrive here.

“Attention Passengers!” Who hasn’t heard those words with a sense of dread? For Tango 21 Dance Theater, flight delays become the dominant metaphor for “Feathers,” the company’s third multi-disciplinary tango production (August 19-21, Ruth Page Center for the Arts).