Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Eleven years ago, a 20-minute phone call between Katie McCann and Krista Bryski-Richard resulted in Dance in the Parks, a nonprofit organization whose mission is pretty simple: They dance in…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 08:00AMSunday, June 24, 2018
The always daring Chicago Tap Theatre premiered its first rock spectacular in 2016 — an extravaganza blending tap dance with the music of Queen for a summer tribute to LGBT Pride. “Kille…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 11:50AMSaturday, June 16, 2018
Ensemble Espanol ends each season — of which there have now been 42 — with “Flamenco Passion,” the main attraction of the annual American Spanish Dance & Music Festival at Skokie’s…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 12:30PMMonday, June 11, 2018
This weekend, the Hyde Park School of Dance celebrates its 25th anniversary with four performances of “Amira: A Chicago Cinderella Story.” This world premiere, a modern, abbreviated take…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:45PMTuesday, June 5, 2018
At age 69, Joel Hall is preparing for the next phase of his career, officially naming Jacqueline Sinclair as heir apparent to the Joel Hall Dancers & Center. Sinclair has danced with the com…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 01:00PMWednesday, May 23, 2018
Since April, the Chicago Human Rhythm Project has been traversing the city, bringing percussive dance into neighborhoods far and wide as part of a two-month festival called Stomping Grounds.…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 04:40PMSunday, May 20, 2018
Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Jose Limon, Erick Hawkins and Paul Taylor. This is a short list of pioneers who shaped and transformed 20th century modern dance in America. Taylor started h…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 12:55PMSaturday, May 19, 2018
The last time Ballet Nacional de Cuba (BNC) came to Chicago was 2003. Prima ballerina Viengsay Valdes was 26 at the time. Her performance at the Auditorium Theatre was anticipated by Tribune…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 11:30AMFriday, May 11, 2018
When visiting Hamlin Park Theater for the annual Dance Shelter series, it’s important to know a couple things: 1) This is an iconic modern dance space, developed by Chicago Moving Company …
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 11:30AMTuesday, May 1, 2018
Tanztheater, or “dance theater,” is a post-World War I expressionist art form originating in Germany and Austria which blends dance and theatrical techniques. Ellyzabeth Adler studied ta…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 12:30PMFriday, April 27, 2018
The Harris Theater’s main curtain opened Thursday to a cast of familiar characters swaying their hips back and forth and bopping to the beat of their own tunes. If you listen closely, you …
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 01:05PMThursday, April 26, 2018
“Think Shakespeare? Think again,” says the Joffrey’s Ballet advertising campaign for the North American premiere of Alexander Ekman’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the final home …
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 02:40PMFriday, April 13, 2018
“There was a time, way, way back, when Oprah was a human being,” said Thuli Dumakude near the beginning of Okwui Okpokwasili’s “Poor People’s TV Room,” running through Sunday at …
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 02:55PMFriday, April 6, 2018
In 1955, a 14-year-old African-American boy was kidnapped and murdered in Mississippi. His name was Emmett Till. Till’s mother insisted on a glass topped casket for his funeral. The story …
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 01:35PMSunday, March 25, 2018
“How does any organization make it to 55?” asked executive director Michael McStraw on stage at the Harris Theater Saturday. A valid question, though Giordano Dance Chicago, which McStra…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 10:30AMTuesday, March 20, 2018
A tidal wave of dance is upon us. Each April, See Chicago Dance, the city’s dance service organization formerly known as Audience Architects, shines a spotlight on the wealth of dance offe…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 01:45PMSaturday, March 17, 2018
The Silk Road, consisting of ancient trade routes that connected Asia, the Middle East and Africa with Europe, shaped modern American culture today. Trade between Eastern and Western culture…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 11:30AMThursday, March 8, 2018
The last 36 minutes of every performance artistic director Robert Battle programs for his company is predetermined. As an audience member, I find this grounding; no matter how far Battle str…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 01:05PMSunday, March 4, 2018
Hailing from Monaco, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo makes its Auditorium Theatre debut this weekend with “La Belle,” by choreographer and artistic director Jean-Christophe Maillot. Princess …
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 12:05PMTuesday, February 27, 2018
“I started Cloud Gate with no professional experience behind me,” said Lin Hwai-min in a phone interview with the Tribune. The Taiwanese writer begin seriously studying dance at age 23 w…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 08:00AMFriday, February 23, 2018
Ballet is about legacy. Works are passed down from mentor to student, until the student becomes the mentor to someone else. It was three years ago Feb. 22 that Ivan Nagy, one of ballet’s g…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 02:55PMTuesday, February 20, 2018
While growing up in the northwest suburbs, I have vivid memories of my parents bringing me downtown to the Auditorium Theatre to watch American Ballet Theatre. For a young student of ballet,…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 02:00PMFriday, February 9, 2018
Heavy snow couldn’t keep dance fans away from the Dance Center of Columbia College for opening night of New York-based Doug Varone and Dancers. Braving the weather was wholly worth it, if …
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 12:35PMThursday, February 8, 2018
This season, it seems as though there is no challenge the Joffrey Ballet can’t meet. Last fall, “Orphee et Eurydice” marked the company’s first collaboration with the Lyric Opera. St…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 01:25PMTuesday, January 30, 2018
The work of famed Russian poet Joseph Brodsky is on tap this weekend at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, in a piece of avant-garde theater devised by director Alvin Hermanis. It’s t…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 08:00AMMonday, January 22, 2018
The State Ballet Theatre of Russia, a professional company of 55 dancers touring the U.S. with a collage of full-length classical ballets, stopped in town Sunday for two performances of “T…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 04:35PMTuesday, January 9, 2018
It was at the Chicago Dancing Festival that dance audiences first got to know contemporary choreographer Brian Brooks. Brooks, a particular favorite of the festival’s organizers, showed th…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 08:00AMThursday, December 28, 2017
In Tania Castroverde Moskalenko’s first press conference as CEO of the Auditorium Theatre in October 2016, she pointed to the success of the theater as a world class dance venue, but said …
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 11:20AMThursday, December 14, 2017
For dance, 2017 was about taking risks. Companies tried new things, celebrated milestones and took on ambitious projects. The year had a “go big or go home” feel to it, and for these pro…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 02:20PMTuesday, December 12, 2017
Whether your household is filled with serious dance enthusiasts or you’re a once-every-couple-of-years kind of family, “The Nutcracker” has crept its way into Chicago’s holiday tradi…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 02:55PMThursday, December 7, 2017
“They dance to give voice to the voiceless,” said education director Nicole Clarke-Springer at the top of Deeply Rooted Dance Theater’s 20th anniversary season finale, a weekend of per…
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 05:40PM 
