It takes real gumption for a choreographer to tackle a piece of music as iconic as Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero,” but life has a way of re-informing the past with new context. The past year of unimaginable life-altering events may be the very catalyst choreographer and Joffrey Ballet dancer Yoshihisa Arai needed to inspire a new take on the familiar tune.
The Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project is taking action to combat the discrepancy between sustainable funding and the systematic underserving of dance in Chicago, particularly for Black dance forms and artists. There are currently eight member organizations that make up the CBDLP collective: Ayodele Drum & Dance, Chicago Multiculural Dance Company, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, Forward Momentum Chicago, Joel Hall Dancers & Center, Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago, Najwa Dance Corp and Red Clay Dance Company.
Join T. Ayo Alston, Executive Artistic Director, Mashaune Hardy, Business Manager, and Contessa Green, Company Member of Ayodele Drum and Dance, in conversation.
Moderated by Dr. Queen Zabriskie.
If you’re into time travel, grab a free ticket and hop on board “Balanchine + Beyond,” Ballet Chicago’s 2021 virtual season, with seven weekly installments beginning Saturday and continuing through April 2.
Ballet Chicago artistic director and former New York City Ballet principal dancer Daniel Duell has faced the restrictions of the “stay-at-home” mandate and cancellation of the company’s annual live seasons at Chicago’s Harris Theater with glass-half-full resilience.
Dancing set to spoken word, poetry and speeches is a good idea that does not always come across as good dancing. Several years ago, I saw tap dance set to a stand-up comedy routine. The end result was lackluster and clunky, because the choreographer and dancers were, in no way, comedians. Their argument was that if something like stand-up contains rhythm and meter, like music, then it can be danced to. That is true, but not when the choreographer cannot pin down what the rhythm is and where the meter begins.
The contemporary dance collective Synapse Arts will present its long-running artist incubator called "New Works," with emerging choreographers Rahila Coats and Maggie Bridger announced Thursday as the 2021 cohort. Each artist receives a choreographic mentor, rehearsal space and production budget, leading to a virtual or socially-distanced performance (dates to be announced).
As part of M.A.D.D. Rhythms' ongoing 20th anniversary season, assistant director Starinah "Star" Dixon, rehearsal director Donnetta Jackson and principal soloist KJ Sheldon will premiere new works on the company's YouTube channel in February and March. Each piece is centered on themes related to Black History Month and Women's History Month.
Dear Chicago Dance Family,
My first six months at See Chicago Dance have flown by! I’m eager to share news about some of the work we’ve been doing that may not be visible to you, plus announce a few changes and new opportunities.
Building on last fall's live and digital events, Winifred Haun & Dancers announced new programming Friday, beginning March 5 with "Press On, Regardless." The dance film, presented on Facebook Live and filmed by Sean Rafferty, explores Links Hall's lesser known spaces.
In two separate Zoom calls I briefly got to know two pairs of artists as part of a new and ongoing series by Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC) and Chicago Dancemakers Forum (CDF). My conversations with Jumaane Taylor (a 2017 CDF Lab Artist) and Adam McGaw (HSDC company member since 2019), and Anjal Chande (2019 CDF Lab Artist) and Craig Black (HSDC company member since 2017) left me feeling full—with a hopeful glimmer for the future of dance during year two of the pandemic and for the ability of what often feel like isolated groups of the dance community to work together.