On the heels of Deeply Rooted’s successful winter series at the Logan Center, the company kicked off its 21st year with a rep program that largely looked to the past. A bit strange, considering the name of the one-night-only program at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts was called “Looking to the Future.” Instead, accompanying the evening’s single premiere were works spanning more than 30 years, a primer on the roots of Deeply Rooted, particularly those of artistic director and co-founder Kevin Iega Jeff.

March has diabolically conspired to taunt Chicago Dance audiences with a choice they simply cannot make! Two of our city’s most dazzling companies—Giordano Dance Chicago and Hubbard Street—perform at the same time on the same dates a mere  grand jeté down Michigan Avenue from each other, March 23rd and 24th. What to do when faced with such a dilemma? Follow baseball’s wisdom, of course, and in the famous words of Yogi Berra, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it!” In other words, DON’T CHOOSE! Do whatever it takes and SEE THEM BOTH!

We were asked to sit close – uncomfortably close – at the edge of the performance space in Hamlin Park’s second floor theater for “Listen…” Feb 22 and 23. It wasn’t about making us uncomfortable, but about giving a collective hug to the collaborative effort of performers Emma Draves and Andy Slavin. The other arm of the hug was the exposed upper stage, highlighting the space’s architectural oddities often hidden by black drapery.

Japanese native Ayako Kato has been living and working in Chicago as an independent dancer/choreographer and artistic director of Art Union Humanscape for twenty years. In that time, much of Kato’s artistic output has been committed to solo practice in collaboration with musicians, including several projects with double bassist Jason Roebke, her husband. For the past eight years, Kato has maintained a studio practice at Hamlin Park Fieldhouse, where she is an artist in residence with Chicago Moving Company.

An ever-expanding definition of dance increasingly includes people with disabilities, and there are an array of interpretations and opinions which surround the topic of integrated dance.

As a kid, Doug Varone loved MGM musicals. He was a young tapper, and he idolized Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. What most intrigued Varone about them was “how they could move from being an incredible dancer to just a person,” moving in the every day ways that real people move.

It’s always fascinating to behold a great artist continuously reinventing himself in new and unexpected ways. We exalted Mikhail Baryshnikov’s brilliance as a ballet dancer without equal. We marveled that he was more than a competent film and stage actor, a gifted photographer, a director and producer, an impresario and champion supporter of developing artists in interdisciplinary projects.

February sweetens Chicago’s winter with dance valentines for every taste. Ballet lovers can gorge on delectable programs from both the Joffrey and American Ballet Theatre in seasons of contemporary works.