We gathered underneath string lights that drape the ceiling like stars in the intimate Filament Theater. Fitting for an evening-length work inspired by the moon and its pull on the tides, on the mystery of night and on ourselves. As co-founder and executive director Lucy Vurusic Riner’s first choreographic work in five years, RE|Dance Group’s “What The Moon Pulls,” running Nov 21-24, celebrated the end of their 10th anniversary season by immersing the audience in an evening of swirling momentum, athletic rigor and quiet contemplation. 

Ailey II—the second company of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre (AAADT)—stopped in Glen Ellyn, IL for a one-night-only performance at the MacAnich Arts Center (MAC) at the College of DuPage last weekend.

The evening began with a dark stage, only a small puppet visible. The puppet, who foreshadowed a larger-than-life puppet to come, appeared to speak as a woman’s voice radiated through the theater:  “The struggle is not between ourselves, but within us.” In this moment of modern performance mixed with sage advice, the audience was transported into a story that although mystical in experience, brought to life the very-real division that plagues our world today while advocating for the kind of change that starts in our everyday lives. 

Their bodies were “cosmic instruments,” as the dancers would later say, living in the bluesy piano that filled the room. Their dancing was poetic, phrases repeating with variation, and series of hand gestures and sweeping, extending-then-breaking arms ebbed and flowed with the connotation of the music—carrying the same inflection as someone would in their voice as they spoke. Their shadows painted the walls. 

For “Panopticon,” an immersive evening-length performance at Studio5, an audience of about 40 first gathered in the lounge at Dance Center Evanston, the north suburban music and dance venue’s next-door neighbor. It’s the dance studio where former Evanstonian Annie Arnoult used to teach, so it felt fitting that this is where the Midwest premiere of her Houston-based company, Open Dance Project, would begin.

Whether one’s had the pleasure of meeting Molly Shanahan in person or simply enjoying her work as a spectator, it’s impossible to deny the brilliance of her artistic mind. With a BA, MA, and PhD to boot, Shanahan navigates choreography and performance with an inherently academic and somatic bent. Even by listening to the audience Mad Shak draws in, one can hear the echo of Shanahan’s intelligence as the Dovetail theater, a converted studio space, is filled with musings on the benefits of experiential anatomy and imagery.