I distinctly remember Stephanie Martinez telling me she didn’t want to run a dance company. For more than a decade, Martinez has carved her niche in choreography, and in that time, built an impressive resume that includes commissions for some of the biggest names in the country (Ballet Hispanico, Charlotte Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, Eugene Ballet, Nashville Ballet, Ballet Memphis and Kansas City Ballet, for example).

Flashback to February, pre-COVID: I’m sitting in the front row at Emma Draves and Project Bound’s split bill performance “The Nearest Place” at Links Hall. A pair of musicians play a lilting melody on violin and xylophone in the upper right corner of the stage as a woman in a long, silky dress flits about the space. Drave’s limbs fly every which way in her self-choreographed solo.

What makes a tap dancer fearless? The combination of passionate dedication to the art form, dogged determination to persevere in the face of daunting obstacles, blind faith in the goodness of others, the adaptability of a contortionist, business acumen, an unstoppable imagination, and the energy and talent to transform dreams into reality. Oh, and one more thing—the heart of a saint! Mark Yonally, artistic director of Chicago Tap Theatre, has been such a one!

This year, the Ruth Page Center for the Arts and affiliated Civic Ballet of Chicago presents an inside look at an historic Chicago institution with “Visions: A Nutcracker Experience.”  Selections from dance icon Ruth Page’s “Nutcracker” are performed by two casts, presented à la carte and streamable at home. With social distancing in mind, solo and lead performances are broken up by brief character cameos—blink and you’ll miss an adorable Arabian (Essamuel Kuntz), a famished Mouse King (Xavier Lillig) and two cheeky Bon Bons (Isabella Moore and Klein Khim).

“Time flies,” Ida Velez said as we discussed her long career at Le Ballet Petit (LBP), a neighborhood dance studio in Ravenswood Manor. Founded in 1954 by ballerina Kitty LaPointe, LBP has overcome many challenges becoming the little studio-that-could. It is still chugging along, most recently adapting to the reality of virtual teaching (Velez is not a fan) and performing during a pandemic. This weekend you can watch the studio’s free live stream of the annual holiday favorite, “The Nutcracker.”

"Black performance is Black life. And Black life is the future."

~Gabrielle Civil, performance artist

The sky isn’t the only thing that was different in Hubbard Street’s “The Sky Was Different,” a world premiere and one of season 43’s virtual performance offerings for these pandemic times.

But first, a big hug and thank you to former Hubbard Street dancer Jonathan Fredrickson for his homage to the Hubbard Street dance artists and their plight during the pandemic. “The Sky was Different” opened free to the public online Thursday and runs through Dec. 6.

Even though we are still in the throes of the COVID-19 global pandemic and witnessing the majority of dance virtually, the Loyola University dance program has found a way to showcase the things that brings us all together—the common denominator of humanity. “Spectral Heartbeats” is an apt title for a program which takes personal stories literally to heart creating a ghostlike vision of what we are missing during this pandemic: human connection.

The Loyola dance program presents “Spectral Heartbeats” Saturday and Sunday online.