Dance lovers visiting Chicago are in store for a hot time on just about any given night. Dance in Chicago is booming! With over 200 professional companies performing on stages downtown and throughout Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods--from grand theaters to tiny storefronts, in public parks, museums, and universities, from world-class ballet, modern dance, jazz, tap, and culturally-specific traditional dance forms--Chicago Dance has something for everyone. 

February may be the shortest month of the year, but it’s jam-packed with holidays, like Ground Hog Day, Valentines Day, and Mardi Gras, Presidents’ Day, the Chinese New Year, and Superbowl Sunday. And what better way to celebrate than by seeing a dance concert! Chicago dance is kicking up its heels in every way imaginable this month, from jazz to ballet, tap, Mexican, Spanish, Indian, and African American traditions, modern, contemporary and avant-garde. 

At age 14, Sono Osato auditioned for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo onstage at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. She would become the youngest dancer to join the company, and the first of Japanese descent. Osato would go on to dance for American Ballet Theater and on Broadway, despite widespread anti-Japanese sentiment throughout the United States during World War II. On January 9, Osato, now age 96, will return to the place where her story began for “Sono’s Journey,” a world premiere by Thodos Dance Chicago.