By Sharon Hoyer The Dance Theatre of Harlem was established in 1969, following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. Arthur Mitchell, the first black principal dancer with the New Yor…
By Sharon Hoyer Heidi Latsky is a New York-based modern choreographer who works with mixed-ability dancers to create pieces that investigate and celebrate the beauty and uniqueness of the in…
RECOMMENDED Movement is personal. Our bodies and the way we inhabit them is integral to our identity, our sense of self. And for Billy Siegenfeld, founder of the Jump Rhythm Jazz Project, pe…
RECOMMENDED The headlining piece in Giordano's fall program is a commission from Broadway and television choreographer Ray Leeper. Leeper makes commercial dances for music videos and TV danc…
Two tremendously gifted groups of craftspeople working in different mediums have joined their toolboxes and been set loose in one of the biggest workshop playgrounds in the city. A massive a…
RECOMMENDED "I was surprised," choreographer Ivan Perez said when I asked how it was to work with the dancers of River North Dance Chicago. "They're very jazz-based and I was surprised how i…
RECOMMENDED A long-growing partnership between Jan Bartoszek, founder and director of Hedwig Dances, and Susana Pous, resident choreographer of the Havana-based DanzAbierta, comes to fruitio…
RECOMMENDED "Rosas danst Rosas" is a dance out of time. Even though Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker created it thirty years ago at the tender age of twenty-four, the quietly captivating piece …
RECOMMENDED Our country's highest-profile ballet company returns to the Auditorium Theatre with a performance of works by American choreographers from the American century. Two pieces by Twy…
RECOMMENDED To whet audience appetites for the fall season, the Joffrey presents a special one-weekend amuse of short narrative ballets. Two pieces are from the Joffrey rep: Antony Tudor's 1…
RECOMMENDED Chicago meets another world-class contemporary company this fall in a mixed-rep program from Philly's delightful, knockout Ballet X. Like other great companies making fresh, reso…
RECOMMENDED Cerqua Rivera brings together their full ensemble of collaborating musicians and dancers to the Ruth Page Center for their fall concert. Composer Joe Cerqua and choreographer Wil…
RECOMMENDED Happydog performance company was formed when three artists"Chicago-based designer Annie Novotny, Portland-based choreographer Muffie Connelly and New York dancer Leslie Cuyjet"em…
RECOMMENDED The best time to be in the city is, unquestionably, the summer. These are the months that remind us why we endure such brutal winters (aside from sheer Midwest obstinacy): Chicag…
In the early nineties, a dancer with the Joseph Holmes Dance Theatre named Keith Elliott was, like many artists of the time, losing friends and colleagues to complications caused by HIV/AIDS…
RECOMMENDED The fourth and final season of critically acclaimed dance-and-music-improv mashup PRODUCE is a must-see. Hosts Lauren Warnecke, dancer, writer and educator behind Art Intercepts,…
RECOMMENDED The long-distance choreographic team of Lucy Vurusic-Riner and Wisconsin-based Michael Estanich have produced, over the last five years, a body of work that is notably calm and i…
RECOMMENDED The only downside to Chicago Human Rhythm Project's wrap-up performances of their annual Rhythm World festival is trying to decide which show to attend. The series of showcases a…
By Sharon Hoyer For dancers, summer is a season of creative experimentation and growth, with ample opportunities to participate in residencies and intensive classes both in the city and with…
RECOMMENDED This summer marks the second year of a three-year collaboration between Deeply Rooted Dance Theater and the South Africa-based Flatfoot Dance Company, entitled the JOMBA! Initiat…
RECOMMENDED Amidst concrete and apartment complexes, skyscrapers and trains, our interconnectedness with nature may not be immediately apparent. Wendy Clinard's “Watershed” is fu…
By Sharon Hoyer Choreographer Ron De Jesus returns to his roots in a collaboration with Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater, the company that introduced him to a career he never planne…
RECOMMENDED When it comes to courting crossover audiences, one most often sees dance companies trying to convince mass audiences that the art form isn't just for the champagne-sipping opera-…
RECOMMENDED Hubbard Street closes out their season on the big screen, with a Friday night simulcast to a forty-foot LED screen in Millennium Park. The free seats may be some of the best ones…
RECOMMENDED Nothing says summer quite like a good old-fashioned sweaty dance party. And when it comes to dance music, the roots of Chicago house run deep, building bridges across culture and…