Dance is featured prominently in the Auditorium Theatre's upcoming season, which unofficially begins with American Ballet Theatre's "ABT Across America" tour stopping in MIllennium Park July 8. This fall, the theatre reopens its doors with a full slate of dance performances plus music and the popular National Geographic Live lecture series.
The annual Made in Chicago dance series—imagined several years ago as a platform to feature local dance companies in one-night-only performances—begins Oct. 16 with Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater. The following weekend, on Oct. 23, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater presents a mixed-rep concert in their first solo appearance at the Auditorium. Completing the local offerings are the Trinity Irish Dance Company on Feb. 5, 2022 and Giordano Dance Chicago on June 11, 2022.
Also in 2022 is a triptych of some of North America's longest running and most-beloved dance companies. On Feb. 12 and 13, Ballet Folklórico de México de Amalia Hernández returns to celebrate its 70th season in Chicago. Various styles of traditional Mexican folkloric dance depict thousands of years of history though dances created by Hernández and pristinely preserved. Per tradition, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater rolls through town March 2-6 with three separate programs for Ailey fans of all kinds.
New York's Ballet Hispánico, rarely seen in Chicago, presents a full-length work by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa inspired by the life of Eva Perón on March 26 and 27. Ochoa sealed her choreographic reputation in Chicago far before achieving superstar status; her 2015 work "Mammatus" for the Joffrey Ballet is one of the best in that company's recent repertoire. But even before that, her spectacularly quirky "Nube Blanco" premiered on Luna Negra Dance Theater in 2009.
Wrapping up the International Dance Series is the high drama Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg on May 20-22 with a reimagination of artistic director Boris Eifman's "Russian Hamlet."
For music fans, the theatre's annual Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration, "Too Hot to Handel: The Gospel Jazz Messiah," returns Jan. 15-16, 2022. Plus, National Geographic Live has three presentations planned: Photojournalist Ami Vitale discusses her experiences documenting the war in Kosovo and wildlife conservation in the Middle East, Africa and Asia on Jan. 23, 2022. On Feb. 27, paleontologist Nizar Ibrahim introduces dino fans to spinosaurus, the largest known dinosaur. And Ronan Donovan, a biologist and photographer, speaks on April 17 about social mammals and their similarities to humans.
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Individual tickets will be released on two dates: Aug. 13 and Oct. 27. For more information, click the organization page below or visit auditoriumtheatre.org
