Monday, July 6, 2015
By Sharon Hoyer Ahmad Simmons and Kacie Smith are the recipients of the Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Grant. Their project, “THEM” is a dance theater exploration of fear, love and the ba…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:07AMTuesday, June 16, 2015
RECOMMENDED It’s been nearly forty years since England’s Royal Ballet visited Chicago, and its production of principal dancer (and budding author) Carlos Acosta’s “Don Quixote” is …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 09:31AMMonday, June 15, 2015
RECOMMENDED While appropriate, the term “layered” is a bit of an understatement when applied to the dance theater creations of Erica Mott. Meanings, ideas and historical referenc…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 09:42AMTuesday, May 12, 2015
RECOMMENDED To create a concert celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of Hedwig Dances, founder and artistic director Jan Bartoszek turned to her earliest works. “I think I’ve grown as a…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:27AMFriday, May 8, 2015
The Chicago Human Rhythm Project is a cultural magnet; the organization pulls percussive and folkloric dancers—along with a good number of drummers—from around the world to collaborate, …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:24AMMonday, May 4, 2015
RECOMMENDED If one had to select the work of a single twentieth-century playwright for translation from spoken language to dance, Tennessee Williams would likely top the list. Brooding, swa…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:18AMWednesday, April 29, 2015
RECOMMENDED Independent choreographer Peter Carpenter teams with Margi Cole and her company The Dance COLEctive to write the fourteenth chapter in his ongoing dance serial that puts a critic…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:13AMThursday, April 16, 2015
Soft-spoken and self-effacing, Nicolas Blanc sits in a folding chair in a sunny studio room of the Joffrey tower, gently cueing the entrances and changes for five dancers in his short ballet…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:02AMMonday, April 13, 2015
RECOMMENDED We usually have to wait till June and bus, bike or train down to the Loop to see great free performances but, thanks to the Chicago Human Rhythm Project—that mighty advocate o…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:03AMTuesday, March 24, 2015
Hanna Brictson grew up in River North Dance Chicago, first as a student, starting at the age of twelve, then as a company member straight out of high school, eventually working her way up t…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:43AMTuesday, March 17, 2015
RECOMMENDED Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, inspired by her upbringing in an African-American neighborhood of Kansas City, founded her all-female company to give voice to the disenfranchised, partic…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:45AMMonday, March 16, 2015
By Sharon Hoyer Whether addressing climate crisis, as in the 2012 “Exit Disclaimer: Science and Fiction Ahead,” the economic meltdown and Keynesian theory, as in the 2011 “Stupormarket…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:00AMMonday, March 9, 2015
RECOMMENDED The name Gustavo Ramirez Sansano can bring pangs to those who were busy developing an addiction to his work at the helm of Luna Negra Dance Theater, both as artistic director—i…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:17AMWednesday, March 4, 2015
RECOMMENDED Thodos Dance’s winter concert at the Harris gathers short rep pieces from a half dozen Chicago-based choreographers, including a new work by founder Melissa Thodos. The program…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:11AMTuesday, March 3, 2015
RECOMMENDED Michael Estanich’s newest creation for RE|Dance glides on gentle waves of sweet nostalgia and romance, ruffled at points by eddies of humor and the chop of desire. Dancers…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:07AMMonday, March 2, 2015
RECOMMENDED The power, reedy elegance and remarkable precision of LINES Ballet returns to the Harris in two weeknight programs. On Wednesday, the San Francisco-based company participates in …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:03AMMonday, February 23, 2015
RECOMMENDED Brazil’s Grupo Corpo visits Chicago for the first time, adding some welcome fire to our cold winter months. The brothers Rodrigo and Paulo Pederneiras have created a muscular m…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:00AMFriday, February 13, 2015
RECOMMENDED “Unique Voices,” at the Auditorium Theatre, adds three strong contemporary pieces to the Joffrey rep in a program that strikes a gratifying balance between classicism…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:27PMMonday, February 2, 2015
RECOMMENDED In David Roussève’s tender new work, the fragmented, abbreviated language of texting becomes the building material of a story that is at once funny, sad and deeply humane. The…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:35AMMonday, January 26, 2015
RECOMMENDED The Auditorium Theatre’s “Made in Chicago” series—part of the programing for the 125th anniversary season—has opened the historic, gold-rimmed stage to a couple hometow…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:21AMTuesday, January 20, 2015
RECOMMENDED As a dance form based on the most subtle, understated, imperceptibly small communication between lead and follow, Argentine tango doesn’t necessarily lend itself to perfor…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:00AMMonday, January 19, 2015
Erica Mott’s love for performance blossomed from her work in international development and foreign diplomacy. “I was working on microeconomics and microlending in Latin America,” she s…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:54AMFriday, January 16, 2015
RECOMMENDED When asked how Nexus Project performances are structured, Ben Wardell pulls a stack of little, hand-torn slips of paper from his pocket. On the floor of the rehearsal studio, he …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 12:00PMRECOMMENDED Two years ago, in an extended interview with Alejandro Cerrudo about the premiere of his first evening-length work, the conversation momentarily turned to a side project he had b…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:16AMMonday, December 15, 2014
Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak’s ongoing “Stamina of Curiosity” project dives deep into the underwater caves that form when one person performs for another, and her curiosity uncovers phenome…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:31AMWednesday, December 10, 2014
RECOMMENDED The Seldoms share the bill for two weekends at Links Hall, presenting the first chapter of a new work by the company’s intellectually driven artistic director Carrie Hanson. �…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:00AMFriday, December 5, 2014
RECOMMENDED The Joffrey presents five programs throughout their season, showing works by about a dozen leading choreographers of past and present, but there’s one show that keeps the l…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 04:00PMMonday, December 1, 2014
RECOMMENDED Princess Grace Awards are distributed each year to emerging artists of formidable talent in the fields of dance, film and theater (one measure of Chicago’s strong and growing d…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:00AMMonday, November 24, 2014
RECOMMENDED Adler and Sullivan’s dazzling landmark Auditorium Theatre turns 125 this year, and part of the celebratory programming is a welcome “Made in Chicago” music and dance serie…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:19AMMonday, November 17, 2014
RECOMMENDED The collaboration between dancer Cristina Tadeo and sound designer Nicholas Davio openly discusses the invisible hand in the arts that dictates whose work is seen, where and by …
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 11:58AMFriday, November 14, 2014
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…
SOURCE: Newcity Stage at 10:18AM 
